Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best-selling in Digital Cameras
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Digital Cameras
I have found this camera excellent. It is obviously high quality construction and although I am an amateur its easy to understand & use but 99% of the time I just use the point & shoot facility and I havent taken a bad pic yet with it. Also it takes superb pics for eBay listings If you are considering this camera make sure you don't get it mixed up with the Z8612 which is a cheaper inferior camera, its easily done I know I nearly did
I had previously used two earlier Kodak compact cameras and found them to be very good generally especially as they tend to cost less than the competition. When I decided to upgrade to a "bridge" camera with extended zoom, I did quite a bit of research and eventually chose the Kodak Z812IS model. Mostly, I have been very pleased with the results - the 12X zoom is very handy; the image stabiliser works well; the electronic viewfinder offers a lot of info about modes etc while you are composing the shot; the controls and menus are reasonably easy to use. The results have been very good most of the time, but it does help to understand a little about the basics of photography. Most casual users would be very happy with this camera, but I will list some of the shortcomings I have experienced: On some shots there is visible vignetting (dark corners in the picture)- this may be caused by the image stabilisation Shooting at up to ISO400 gives good results, but above this the Noise Reduction makes the photos increasingly blurry. Alkali batteries will only give up to about 30 shots (without using the flash) so Lithium batteries are essential. The camera is surprisingly slow writing to the memory card after each shot and video turns out quite jerky on all but the lowest quality setting, even though it is supposed to be capable of HD. The lens gives barrel distortion at the shorter end of the zoom, though not as bad as some cameras I have used. Shooting in high contrast situations into the sun can give washed-out highlights, especially the sky. Although classed as a compact, it is quite bulky and won't fit in your pocket. In conclusion: The camera is as good as most of the more expensive competition in most situations and I have been mainly pleased with my choice. With a little experience, you can avoid most of the drawbacks listed above. I would recommend to camera for anyone who likes to take lots of photos on holidays, trips and excursions. The long lens does make it useful for candid people shots and portraits in natural light. I use mine nearly everyday for landscape and architecture shots.Read full review