Kodak EasyShare Z612

Kodak, as a camera brand, is generally associated with consumer level point and shoot models, that promise to give decent results even if the operator doesn't know jack about digital photography. Their most common trait is the vivid colors you get from even the natural color settings in their camera models, which may be a little too inaccurate for a prosumer, but pleases the masses nonetheless.

On the other hand, superzoom as a category relates to the higher end users; the guys who have moved on from point and shoots and would like more features from their cameras and better control over their results.

So, when Kodak comes out with a superzoom camera model, it's a bit confusing trying to figure out what market category is it really trying to cater too. But I guess we'll find out by looking deeper into the camera model itself. Build

Like most superzoom cameras out there, this one too looks like a miniature SLR camera, only in this case, the camera body really is quite tiny at 104 x 74 x 69 mm, and somewhat light as well, at 330 grams. The camera body is completely made of plastic, except for the protruding lens area that's made of metal.

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The button configuration is pretty easy to figure out for anyone who's used a digital camera before. There's a user friendly jog dial on the top right, with all the shooting modes listed, along with a scene mode that lets you select from a range of shooting presets. You can preview your shot in the camera's 2.5 inch LCD screen or the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF), but as in most lower level superzooms, there's no optical viewfinder here.

Overall the camera may seem cute in its (relatively) small form, but it does get a bit tough to get a good grip for single-handed usage. The small body is not the most convenient for adult hands, especially because of the placement of the shutter release button. The grip of the Z612 should have had a rubber layer on it to make it easier to hold than the plastic that it currently has.

Besides that the Z612's buttons are very easy to operate and use.

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Features

6 megapixels seem a tad too low for a camera these days, but I guess it plays second fiddle in cameras like these, where the features and the image quality matter a lot more than megapixel count. The Z612's claim to fame is it's 12x optical zoom with image stabilization.

As expected from Kodak, the camera doesn't allow you to completely customize your shots. While you can set the exposure levels manually, you still have to rely on the camera's autofocus and white balance presets even in the manual mode.

Menu navigation was quite simple as there are separate buttons for all the important functions.

There are scene modes a-plenty to choose from, namely—Snow, Text, Beach, Candle, Flower, Museum, Sunset, Children, Fireworks, Landscape, Back light, Sports mode, Portrait mode, Self-portrait, Night portrait and Night landscape.

Performance

The first thing I noticed when I started using the Z612 was that it had a really fast start up time. Within a second of pulling the power-on switch, it was ready to take it's first shot without flash. Even the zoom speeds were pretty impressive, but the zooming distance was divided into four preset distances rather than giving the user an option to zoom in as much as he requires. While the LCD display worked pretty well, the EVF was quite unsatisfactory. The quality of display on the EVF was just plain bad! Everything looked flat and saturated and there was a high level of noise (in normal lighting conditions) even on it's tiny display. The results I got from the Z612 were very 'Kodak', if you get my drift. The colors were vivid all over, making even the most serious composition look like Willy Wonka's exotic fantasy. The brightening of colors worked well in low light areas, but the brightly-lit outdoor shots looked like childhood revisited.

__PAGEBREAK__ A problem I faced while shooting at any zoom level was the lack of focus. The Z612 was very selective about the objects it would focus on, at high zoom levels, which posed a big problem in a lot of situations, considering there was no alternative option for manual focus. With that said, it wasn't all that bad shooting with the Kodak Z612, in fact I did manage to get some pretty good shots eventually, it's just that the shots you take would be a total hit or miss type depending how well the camera manages to focus on your subject. Conclusion

With the street price of the Z612 being close to Rs. 19,000, I personally think the price-to-performance ratio here is way off. Sure it has some decent features to boast, but the end result is not really worth the moolah you're shelling out for it. Even Kodak has a lot better models in its lower end series. As for Superzooms, Kodak needs to try a bit harder next time.

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