take aim n snap (Kodak Easyshare LS443)

Member Name: fireball2002xl

Product:	Kodak Easyshare LS443
Date:	02/08/03 (162 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ease of use, loads of features

Disadvantages: pictures aint as sharp as they should be

This is a wonderful piece of kit for the money (£298 in February 2003).

The package includes the camera, docking station and cables, USB cable, A/V analogue output cables, A/C adapter for dock/camera, Li-ion rechargeable battery, strap and software.

The camera is extremely easy to use and is perfect for beginners. Medium-level users wanting more control over the settings will be satisfied with the level of manual control, with manual adjustments for exposure, white balance and film speed (ISO 100-400). There’s also a setting for long-exposures (up to 4 seconds) for low-light conditions.

There are options for exposure metering (multi-pattern, centre-weight or centre spot) and focus zone (multi-zone or centre zone). Needless to say there are full-auto settings for those who can’t be bothered to set them manually.

There are 5 photo capture modes – sports (including 3-rapid burst shots), night, landscape, macro (from 13cm to 70cm) and auto. For most users, the auto mode will suffice and will produce wonderfully bright, colourful and lively pictures especially under good lighting conditions.

There are also colour modes for Black and White and Sepia. The colours are very saturated and look livelier than in real life!

The macro mode is also useful for close-up shots (up to 13cm only) but is below par for low lighting conditions as the flash tends to overcompensate.

The lens is from the renowned German lens manufacturer Kreuznach-Schneider, and there is a 3x optical zoom (35-105mm equivalent to a 35mm camera).

The digital zoom is up to 3.3x, but use it sparingly as picture quality deteriorates considerably if applied to shots. The resolution is 4.0 Megapixel which Kodak claims enables print sizes of up to 20 x 30 inches, but this is doubtful. Surprisingly, for such a much-lauded lens, the pictures produced are not as sharp as one would expect, and the level of detail in pictures
would certainly suggest that the quality of resolution is more akin to 3.0++ m
egapixel rather than 4.0. Still, for the majority of users, this won’t be much of an issue at this price range.


Size-wise, the camera is quite compact and weighs under 230g without the battery. The camera has a sturdy and attractive build with a largely metallic silver exterior with some intervening bits of plastic.

The 1.8-inch LCD is pretty useful and displays clear images even under bright sunlight, but the resolution of images displayed is below average.

Menus are controlled by a multi-directional joystick which is a joy to use and there is a zoom/telephoto rocker button.

Other useful features on the camera include auto-focus, self-timer, flash (multiple modes), automatic shutter lens-cover (hence dispensing the need for an external lens cover), low-light AF assist light (which assists AF in low lighting conditions – marvellous!), and screw-threads for mountable accessory lens.

The threads are covered by a decorative ring which is extremely difficult to remove. For accessory lens, you’ll need to buy a lens adapter (£19-20) which enables 42mm screw-threaded 2x teleconverter lens, wide-angled lens or +7/+10 macro lenses to be mounted.

There are 16MB of internal memory built-in, but this only allows up to 13 pictures in high resolution. You’ll certainly need either an additional Multi-Media Card (i.e. MMC) or Secure Digital (i.e. SD) card to expand the memory storage.
The latter is the smaller (as small as a postage stamp) and more secure (!) of the two formats albeit more expensive (eg. 128MB approx. £40-50). A 128MB card will take up to 100 photos at high resolution.

The battery is a Lithium-ion rechargeable battery, rechargeable on the docking station (battery must be placed in the camera for this) or on an optional battery charger which enables the battery to be charged outside the
camera hence allowing you to continue snapping away. The battery lasts approximately 1.5 hours with the LCD monitor turned on continuously, but this increases to 8-9 hours if the LCD is shut off (hence relying on the old-fashioned small viewfinder; by the way there is a green/red focussing light adjacent to the viewfinder which will definitely annoy users!). A second battery (£19-20) is strongly recommended.

Perhaps most useful of all the features is that there is a video capture mode in colour and including sound (mono). The length of video depends on the amount of memory available (eg. 128MB will allow approximately 9 minutes of video). The format is in Moviefile, which on a computer can only be played back via Apple Quicktime player.
Alternatively, you can connect the camera to your telly via the analogue A/V cable but the resolution is very low and hence the video will look grainy and jerky on the telly. It’s best viewed on the camera or on your PC.

The provided docking station (which on other Kodak camera models need to be purchased separately and they are quite pricey) is useful for two things : for recharging (essential if you do not have a separate charger) and for downloading pictures/videos to the computer.

Once the software has been downloaded, transferring images and videos to the computer couldn’t be simpler : simply connect the docking station to the USB slot of your computer, press a button on the dock and the photos can be downloaded automatically, either one by one or en masse.

OR

Alternatively, you can connect the camera directly to the computer without the dock.

The Kodak Easyshare Software is very easy to use and you can edit, organize and email pictures quickly and without much hassle. But more advanced users who require higher levels of photo editing will need a more superior photo editing software.

Remember also to buy a camera bag as it’s not included. <
br>A sturdy tripod is also highly recommended – there’s a classy metallic tripod mount at the bottom of the camera.

SUMMARY
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In summary, things to buy include : SD or MMC card (get the most memory you can afford), spare battery and camera bag.

Optionals include battery charger, tripod and accessory lens. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading this review.

Good luck!

Summary: