Cheap quality (Kodak Easyshare C813)

Member Name: alnilam

Product:	Kodak Easyshare C813
Date:	03/03/09 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, takes decent pictures, 8.2 mpx, a lot of features

Disadvantages: Not the prettiest camera on the world

I bought this one through e-bay and it is refurbished so it cost me around 70Euro, (with SD card + starters pack) but you can get a new one for just a little bit more money.

I bought this camera because I wanted to have something that takes decent pictures and since I will mostly use it outdoors and on field exercises, that I won't be very sorry if it gets damaged. And this one nailed it.

It is not the prettiest camera to the eye, it is kind of robust and comparing to newer neatly models a little bit big. But considering that it uses regular 2 AA batteries (comes in handy if you are on field where you can not plug in and recharge your camera, I always carry spares) it could not be smaller. It is also not really heavy, so it is not a burden to carry around, because of its weight I carry it around almost always. It also has a big display so viewing pictures is not a problem.

Picture taking itself is not complicated, you have a wheel at the top of the camera where you can set basic picture taking options (photo album, movie, automatic, moving person, micro) and SCN option where you can set more demanding options (portrait, self portrait, snow scenario, beach scenario... There is a lot of options). For a beginner user first few options are enough since the camera takes decent pictures when set on Auto.

You can modify the picture taking even further by pressing the menu button where you can set date, timer, contrast, brightness, colour (sepia, b/w), iso (up to 1250), set it up to 8.2 megapixel...

You can also naturally toggle the flash of and on. The camera also has a 3x optical zoom.

I am also pretty impressed with the video quality but one must be aware because the sound recording option is off by default and you must set it (I recorded two great funny videos to only realize afterwards that the sound was off).

There is also a feature called Perfect touch which really comes in handy, after taking a picture, it sometimes happens that the picture is to dark or too blurry and you realize that after you have taken it (not only with this camera but with others too), and in this case you just apply the Perfect touch on that picture and the camera will automatically repair the picture to I must say decent quality one.

You transfer the pictures taken via the USB cable that comes with the camera, if you have many pictures the process can be quite slow and annoying but otherwise works smoothly. You can also transfer pictures via SD card if you have a card reader.
There is also Easy share button on the camera which should make transferring pictures even easier and faster (you can prepare them for direct printing, emailing) but I really do not use it since it saves only a few seconds and I really do not mind but I guess this is an useful feature for the anxious ones.

To make it short, this camera is certainly not the best on the world but for the price in my opinion is the best one can get. Recommended!

This review may also appear on Ciao under the same nickname.

Summary: A decent buy if you want something reliable and for personal use

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