Kodak Easyshare LS753 Review
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Review
Date: Aug 11, 2004 |
IMAGE QUALITY
The Kodak EasyShare LS753 Zoom is a digital
camera targeted strictly to point-and-shoot photographers
who prefer to take most of their shots in Auto
mode. It has 5-megapixel resolution on a 1/2.5
in. CCD image sensor.
Though the CCD image sensor has 5MP, the image
taken at highest image quality of BEST *** at
2560x1920 (5M) pixels is heavily compressed to
less than 2MB, sometimes even less than 1MB, when
saved to memory card.
| 2.8x
Optical Zoom |
 |
 |
Wide-angle
6mm
(36mm, 35mm equivalent) |
Telephoto
16.6mm
(100mm, 35mm equivalent) |
In the above pictures, we show the coverage for
6mm (36mm), and then delienate the area covered
by 16.6mm (100mm). At only 2.8x optical zoom it's
not much, but just right for portrait headshots.
There is digital zoom but the image resolution
decreases to 1024x768 pixels.
| Macro |
 |
36mm, Auto, Pattern, 1/180
sec., F3.0, ISO 80
Macro, Tripod Used, 100% Crop |
In Macro mode, you can get as close as 5 cm
(2 in.) to your subject (measured from the front
of the extended lens).
The above shot is a 100% crop of the original
image taken in Auto mode. The camera automatically
chooses ISO 80 (as it does for most of the outdoors
shots where there is adequate light). The AF locks
easily making it a snap to obtain nice macro shots.
With macros, don't expect to be able to handhold
the shot: using a tripod is mandatory. Also ensure
the subject is not moving at all (e.g. in the
breeze); though a fast shutter speed can freeze
the movement, the subject may have slightly moved
into an out-of-focus zone. Out-of-focus macro
shots are usually caused by trying to handhold
the shot of a moving subject.
| Auto White Balance
Indoors |
 |
 |
| AWB |
WB = Fluorescent |
As the above two pictures show, the auto white
balance works quite well under fluorescent light
-- even better than setting WB=Fluorescent. AWB
works very well in natural light.
| ISO
Comparisons |
 |
| ISO 80 |
 |
 |
  |
| ISO 100 |
ISO 200 |
ISO 400 & 800 |
The LS753 has 5 ISO settings going from ISO 80
to ISO 800. The 100%
crops above (area delimited by the white square)
demonstrate the noise at the available ISO Speeds
of 80, 100, 200, and 400. At ISO 80, noise is
under control. At ISO 100 and upward, noise becomes
increasingly visible. Note that at ISO 800, the
image is only saved at about 1MP resolution.
| Chromatic
Aberrations |
 |
The image quality of the Kodak LS753 Schneider-Kreuznach
Variogon lens is very good (though the highlights
tend to be slightly blown). CA is under control
and barely noticeable in everyday shots, so we
are very pleased with the performance of the lens.
The corner delimited by the red square at top
right is reproduced at 100%
crop at top left.
The pictures in the Kodak EasyShare LS753
Zoom Photo Gallery page provide a good sample
of what the camera is capable of. I have provided
samples at 800x600 pixels (compressed to Quality
60/100 in Photoshop Elements).
You can safely assume that most macro shots
and slow shutter speed shots required the use
of a tripod. Any image that is adjusted for levels
in Photoshop has "_adjusted" appended
to the file name. Other suffixes are self-explanatory.
Images used as navigation background may have
been adjusted and the orientation flipped horizontally.
All pictures are taken at Auto mode (since users
of this camera will most probably use it on this
mode most of the time). Image resolution is 5MP,
though the Kodak firmware compresss each 5MP image
down to less than 2MB, which is quite severe compression.
I have defaulted the image size to 800x600 pixels.
For those who have their monitor resolution set
to 1024x728 pixels, everything should snugly fit
and you should not have to scroll to see the whole
image. If your monitor is set to 800x600 pixels
resolution, start the slide show and then scroll
to the right to position the image within your
screen width. Then, press F11 (if you are using
Internet Explorer) to switch to full screen mode,
and the image should fill your screen nicely.
Press F11 again at any time to switch your monitor
display back to normal mode.
To return to this page from the Photo Gallery,
click on the animated graphics of the camera.
Please open and download the original size version
only if you need to and only once
to your hard drive -- and save me some precious
bandwidth. Thanks!
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