Kodak gets the picture (Kodak Easyshare V550)

Member Name: phensh

Product:	Kodak Easyshare V550
Date:	10/06/08 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fantastic build quality,easy to use ,great pictures

Disadvantages: takes time to make the most of the advanced features

introduction-
The digital photography market is one of the fastest growing markets around today,while camera phones seem to be growing ever faster you still get the best results from a dedicated product.Digital camera products range from 30 -upwards of a 1000 pounds so getting the right product will make a big difference to the quality of your precious photo's.
What to look for-
Digital camera's are usually set into three groups

1-budget camera's 30-120 pounds are good entry range camera's which will give good overall results,but are usually lacking in advanced features.These are ideal if you don't want to spend a fourtune on your first buy
2-mid range camera's(this is the range the kodak belongs to)120-400 pounds.This range gives you better results with more advanced features that allow you to improve your photo's.

3-top end camera's- 400+ pounds.These camera's are probably more suited to more advanced photographers or proffesionals and can be difficult to use for the less technically minded.
So when you've decided what range suits you best why should you try the kodak easyshare.

The camera-
Here are the features of the camera for the more technically minded people.

5.0 megapixel (2576 × 1932 pixels) Picture quality

Photo format JPEG/EXIF v 2.21

3X optical zoom

4x Advanced digital zoom

real image viewfinder

2.5 in LCD display. (6.4 cm) 230K pixel high-resolution indoor/outdoor color display with wide viewing angle (170º)
Performance features
Scene modes
sport, landscape, close-up, night portrait, night landscape, snow, beach, text, fireworks, flower, manner/museum, self-portrait, party, children, backlight, panning shot, candle light, sunset, custom

Color modes
high color, natural color, low color, sepia, black and white
Burst mode
Video mode
continuous MPEG-4 video with audio capture and plaback

Video resolution
30 fps @ VGA (640 × 480), 30 fps @ QVGA (320 × 240)

Video length
continuous up to 80 min. based on memory capacity
White balance
auto, daylight, tungsten, fluorescent, open shade

Software
Kodak Easyshare Software
Self-timer
10 seconds

1-ease of use
The kodak easyshare range of camera's are the easiest range of camera's to use,if you just want a point and shoot camera and don't want to adjust the settings then you just use the auto setting and let the camera do all the work for you(this is the default setting when you get the camera).This is the setting i use most of the time and the results are of a high quality.
2-Power
The camera is powered by a lithium ion rechargeable battery,digital camera's use a lot of power so if you want to reduce the amount of money you have to spend then the rechargeable option is the best.From a full charge (1hr) you should expect to get about 300+ shots(depending on flash settings and how much you use the zoom.With this camera you also get a charging cradle which also acts as a connection to your pc should you wish to transfer,edit or print your photo's

3-build quality
This camera has a metal case as opposed to plastic which you find on most of the budget models,this makes the camera a lot more durable and makes the camera fell a lot more expensive(i love the feel of brushed metal)
4-The lens
This is probably one of the most important areas of the camera because this captures the information so having a good lens is very important if you want to produce high quality photo's.The optical zoom is smooth and quick and focus is excellent.Optical zoom is the most important because no matter how much zoom you use the quality is not affected.However digital zoom does affect the quality the more of it you use(digital zoom works by enlarging the pixels so using to much can make the picture look grainy).I have never had to use the digital zoom yet because this camera has a very good optical zoom present

5-Megapixel rating
This camera is a 5 megapixel camera(that means this camera use 5 million pixels(dots)to make up the picture.This means that you will be comfortably able to print photographs up to 10x15 inches without any loss of quality.
6LCD screen
The kodak has a large lcd that works well both in indoor and outside in bright light(please note that if you want to save power then switch off the display and use the camera's view finder,i find this useful when i'm away from a mains point and i want to take as many photo's as i can)

7 memory
The kodak takes an SD memory card and you get 64mb with this camera (that will hold about 50 photo's on normal quality setting)which is a decent sized card to get free.Of course you can buy larger capacity memory and i find that the SD format is one of the cheapest formats to buy i would recommend at least 256mb because you will take a lot of photo's with this camera
8 shutter speed-
There is virtually no shutter delay with this camera,when you press the button to take a picture it captures the information quickly(i needed this because my kids won't stay still for a second)Another useful feature is this camera will warn you if there is camera shake before you tale the picture this helps to prevent getting blurred pictures

9Flash+white balance
You have several flash settings available on this camera but i tend to find leaving the flash on auto is best so the camera will detect when to use the flash or not.Whitebalance is a feature that makes the pictures look natural(sometimes pictures talen inside with lights on can look a little bit yellow this feature makes your photo's look more natural)
10 Advance Features-
with this camera you can alter the shutter speed,change the colour of your photo's,select sports settings edit your photo's with filter zoom and crop the list is endless .Of course these features are optional but the menu on the camera is excellent in telling you what each of the features do.

11 Movie mode-
This feature i find is fantastic quality and the sound is excellent,i have used this feature several times to capture moments with the kids when i haven't had mt camcorder with me.The quality when played back on my tv is surprisingly good and ideal footage for emailing to family

12 Transferring and connecting to PC
This is an optional feature as you can now get your photo's printed at most well known retailers,but if you wish to hookup you camera to your pc ypu are suppled with a cradle which has a usb connector and you also get kodak supplied software which is easy to use and gives good results for free.
Summary
With fantastic build quality,just about every feature you'll ever need and one of the easiest camera's to use i highly recommend this to all.

This review is listed on ciao under the user name phensh.

Summary: Fantastic mid-range camera with plenty of features

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