Kodak Easyshare LS753 Review
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Review
Date: Aug 11, 2004 |
User's Experience
Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004 - Here's what I receive
in the box:
- Easyshare LS753 Zoom
- No memory card; (32MB internal memory)
- Neck Strap
- Interface Cables: USB and Video
- Custom camera insert for optional Camera Dock
6000 (which I also receive for the purpose of
this review)
- Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery
- English Instruction Manual: User's Guide
- Software CD: Easyshare Software 3.4
The first thing I notice about the Kodak Easyshare
LS753 Zoom is the different tones -- I count
no less than four tones that, together with the
rounded corners, make for a very handsome looking
digital camera.
The LS753 is quite compact and definitely JeansPocket™
Certified. In a pocketable camera, it is important
for the power button to be recessed so that the
camera does not turn on accidentally as you pocket
it. The LS753 power button is both recessed and
has a cool blue light in the middle that shimmers
("blink" is a too strong word for it)
when the camera is turning on and then glows steady
when the camera is on. There is also a red light
that goes up and down the shooting modes labels
on the right side of the LCD monitor as the camera
powers on or off. Very cool and fun effects.
I like the battery/memory card compartment door
that opens wide, as well as the rubber flap that
swivels completely out of the way to give access
to the USB and other connectors. Of course, if
you have the optional Camera Dock 6000 or Printer
Dock 6000, you may not need to ever access the
rubber flap because you can recharge and transfer
your pictures (at the same time) using the docking
station. At "Best" 5MP resolution at
2560x1920 pixels, the internal 32MB memory can
hold about 17 images and a 256MB SD memory card
about 159 images.
The viewfinder is optical and though it gives
a tunnel and quite small view, it's very clear.
I prefer to use the 1.8 in. LCD monitor to frame
the shots since I can see exposure information
on the screen. At 134K pixels, the LCD monitor
is quite clear and very usable outdoors even in
the sun. I do find it a bit difficult to see in
very bright sun, especially if you are wearing
sunglasses too.
There's not much zoom power in this camera, only
2.8x, It is not possible to deactivate the digital
zoom, but it pauses slightly and you won't hear
any whirring noise when you move into digital
zoom.
The autofocus works very well. I like my AF to
snap when I take macro shots and the LS753 does
not disappoint. In Multi-Zone, the camera will
favour a foreground subject to lock focus on even
if the subject is not centered. The Framing marks
turn into a red square to indicate where and when
the focus has locked. You can change from this
Multi-Zone to Center-Zone via the Menu, but this
resets when you power off the camera.
In fact, this is the one feature that I would
have personally liked the LS753 to have, viz the
ability to save options set via Menu even after
power off. As it is, the LS753 defaults to Auto
mode on every power on, resetting ISO to Auto,
exposure metering to Multi-Pattern, and auto focus
to Multi-Zone. Considering the target audience
(Point-and-Shoot), this is probably not a bad
design decision on the part of the Kodak engineers
for it guarantees that if a user "messes"
up by playing around in the Menu, all it takes
is a power off and on to reset the camera back
to its default Auto mode.
The EasyShare software allows you to easily
perform common editing functions such as removing
red eyes, adjusting brightness and contrast, rotate,
even give it a +/- exposure compensation after
the fact, plus some fun effects such as converting
your picture into a cartoon or pretend you used
a fish-eye lens to take the picture. Lots of fun.
It also allows you to view a slide show, burn
your selected pictures on a CD, email to friends
and family members, and order prints online.
A couple of areas that the EasyShare software
could improve on:
- Provide more EXIF info. It does not display
all the EXIF info for a picture, and this may
or may not be important to you (though there's
enough of the essential info).
- Provide an option in Preferences to disable
auto start. It is currently not possible (except
through editing the registry or using something
like RegCleanr.exe) to completely remove it.
The User's Guide comes as one manual containing
both English and French (and Spanish) printed
on rather cheap paper but everything is explained
adequately with appropriate illustrations.
"Friends"
100mm, Auto, Pattern, 1/250 sec., F4.9 and ISO
80
I also received the optional Camera Dock 6000
for the purpose of this review. This works like
any docking station in that it saves you from
having to plug and unplug cords and wires to recharge
your camera's battery and transfer images from
your camera to your PC. Plug the Camera Dock 6000
into a power outlet, connect it to your PC's USB
port. Though the Camera Dock 6000 is optional,
a custom camera insert is included with the camera
kit. What you do is remove the plastic covering
on the Camera Dock and place the custom camera
insert in its place, providing a snug well to
receive the LS753. Now, whenever your camera is
not in use, just leave it on the dock to recharge
the battery (no need to remove it, and 3 green
diodes give an indication of the amount of charge
power remaining in the battery); to transfer images,
"just click share" -- press the transfer
bar for quick, simple and convenient image transfer.
Transfer is fast at about less than 2 sec. per
image using the Camera Dock 6000 (measured from
pressing the Transfer button on the docking station
to until the light stopped flashing to indicate
transfer complete). The LS753 provides a recharger
that plugs directly into the wall power socket
and recharges a completed depleted Li-Ion battery
in about 3 hours.
The LS753 does not have manual White Balance,
but its intended audience will probably not care.
It does not have an AF Illuminator or high-gain
LCD so you won't be able to see much if anything
in extreme low-light. You can still take pictures
in complete darkness with the flash firing and
the picture well exposed and, from what I can
see, in focus.
The LS753 has the features most certain to please
point-and-shooters, such as:
- the ability to create an Album name and record
all pictures into that album (makes organizing
pictures easy);
- a burst mode that allows capturing 4 images
in quick succession at 2.4fps (this highly facilitates
capturing candid shots);
- 15 scene modes to automate exposure setting
in the most common situations;
- a short Mode Description on screen for a
friendly reminder what a shooting mode is for
(no more guessing what the icons are!);
- a Favorites mode that allows the transfer
of selected ("tagged") pictures into
the camera's Favorites folder -- thus allowing
the LS753 to function as an electronic digital
picture wallet to share with family, friends
and coworkers (every image is saved at around
1 Megapixel, and there is a limit to the number
of favorites images saved). You can even show
your favourite images as a slide show.
The Kodak EasyShare LS753 Zoom is a delightful
compact digital camera that you can take anywhere;
don't let its point-and-shoot simplicity fool
you. See the image samples on the Kodak
EasyShare LS753 Zoom Photo Gallery for yourself!
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