Software CDs: EasyShare v6.0 software with
printer driver
Instruction Manual: Getting Started Guide
The Kodak EasyShare V803 may be affordable
but it is packed with some of the best features
that have made Kodak EasyShare digital cameras
so popular and easy to use. With no less than
8 different colours to choose from (9 if you are
buying in Canada), skins to further personalize
the camera look and feel, and other fashion accesories,
the V803 seems to be targeted to women photographers.
However, look past the smooth satin skin and chrome
buttons, and you'll see practical features that
are prized by the advanced photographer.
Four features are instantly available by simply
moving the mini Joystick up (Framing Grid, Live
Histogram), down (Infinity Focus), right and left
(Exposure Compensation).
The Framing Grid allows you to line up the horizon
perfectly horizontal and keep your buildings from
becoming a modern day Tower of Pisa. It is also
immensely useful when using the on-camera panorama
stitching to ensure your images are level and
do not slope up or down.
The Live Histogram gives you a feedback on whether
your image is too dark or too bright before you
take the shot.
Infinity Focus is more useful than you may think,
especially when it is difficult to achieve AF
lock on a distant subject due to low-light level.
Set the camera to Infinity Focus and you are confident
any subject 30 ft (10 m) or more away will be
in focus.
Moving the mini Joystick right and left dials
in a positive and negative exposure compensation,
respectively. I love this direct access to exposure
compensation, though the photographer should be
careful not to accidentally dial one in inadvertently.
That has not happened to me yet in about 200 shots,
so that's a good sign.
All other features are accessed through the MENU.
Take the Self-timer. Not just the usual 10 sec.
delay, but a conveniently short 2 sec. delay for
the times when you are using a tripod. Plus a
2-shot option with 10 sec. delay and then 8 sec.
delay. Yeah, come to think about it, we usually
always take 2 shots when using the self-timer
for group shots. Now, there's no need to run back
to the camera to set the self-timer again. Good
thinking!
The Kodak V803 has a high ISO 1600 but as the
image samples show, this is accompanied with lots
of noise and loss of image detail. ISO 400 is
as high as you should really go for an acceptable
level of image quality.
The slowest shutter speed available in AUTO mode
is 1/8 sec. For longer exposure time, you need
to go into MENU and select Long Time Exposure
and then experiment using a shutter speed from
0.5 sec. to 8 sec. At these long exposure times,
you need to set the camera on a tripod to prevent
camera shake -- and your subject should ideally
not move (unless you are shooting fireworks).
Great Panoramic Shots As Easy As 1-2-3
When I first started using digital cameras, the
possibility to take real panoramic shots (not
the pseudo "panorama" mode of APS film
cameras that simply cropped the top and bottom
portion of the picture to simulate a panorama
shot) was a powerful attraction. As I dabbled
into it, I found that the software you used mattered
as well as how helpful the panorama mode of the
camera was.
For example, did the camera display part of the
previous shot as semi-transparent to allow easy
alignment with the next shot? The more closely
aligned your shots are, the more seamless your
final resultant panorama shot will be.
Also, I found that the panorama software had
to be good or I could spend hours trying to get
the stitching right. There are some good ones
out there, but who likes spending time stitching
images?
That is why the Kodak V803's on-camera panorama
stitching is such a winner. It works well but
does require that you align your shots carefully
-- and that can be challenging using a relatively
small LCD screen (compared to a 17-in. or larger
computer screen). Our panorama image samples were
handheld and so suffers from some misalignment,
though you would not be able to see it unless
you view it full size. Overall, if you choose
your alignment points carefully, your panorama
shots should come out very acceptable.
[See our tips on how to take
great panorama shots with the Kodak V803.]
I don't believe Kodak has targeted those who
love wide landscape vistas strongly enough. This
is easily a new sub category that could take off
in new printers, paper types, etc. catering to
printing panoramas.
[Editor's Note: A note of caution is necessary
when you are taking only 2 shots. When you are
taking 3 shots, the camera automatically stitches
the shots together after the third shot is taken.
Not so with 2-shot panoramas. You must
press the mini Joystick in to start the stitching
process. If you simply power off, the camera does
not stitch first then power off; it simply turns
off and no warning is given that you will lose
those shots. The Kodak V803 has still not fixed
this design flaw first seen in the V570, then
in subsequent V Series digital cameras. We hope
Kodak fixes this "feature" in a future
firmware upgrade.]
How
To Take Great Panorama Shots With The Kodak
V803
It is easy to take great panorama shots
with the Kodak V803. There are two reasons
for this:
1) The on-camera panorama stitching gives
you a semi-transparent overlay of the previous
shot that greatly helps in proper alignment.
2) The Panorama scene mode is divided into
2 scene modes: Left-Right and Right-Left.
In case you're wondering what's the big
deal, it is. Read Tip #1 to see why.
Note that, unlike the Dual Lens V Series
digital cameras that come with an ultra-wide
angle lens, the V803 comes with a standard
36mm wide-angle lens. You will therefore
not be able to cover a full 180° with
the 3 shots; the angle covered is more like
90°.
Here are 4 tips that will help you nail
that panorama shot everytime:
Tip #1 - Select Your
First Shot Carefully
When taking multiple images for a panorama
shot, the first shot is used to meter the
exposure. This is important to keep in mind
if you want to have your panorama shots
correctly exposed.
Let's take an example where you want to
take a 3-shot panorama of a Family Room
- Breakfast Area - Kitchen (say, from Left
to Right in that order), as is currently
the design for many new houses in the Toronto
real-estate market. The Family Room usually
includes a large porch door that allows
lots of light in while the Kitchen is usually
the area with less light. So depending on
whether you take your first shot with the
Family Room or the Kitchen, the exposure
will be metered and set differently.
If you start with the Kitchen first (a
Right-Left shot), the camera meters for
the somwhat dark Kitchen and exposes it
correctly. Next you move left to the Breakfast
Area, and the exposure is still OK. But
when you move to the Family Room, the porch
door ends up being too over-exposed, resulting
in a not-too-successful panorama shot.
Reverse the panning order and select the
Panorama Left-Right scene mode instead.
Now, on your first shot, the camera meters
for the large porch door and correctly exposes
the Family Room. Next you move right to
the Breakfast Area and the exposure is still
OK. When you move to the Kitchen, depending
on how dark it is, you might either end
up with an under-exposed Kitchen shot, or
more probably (since the Kitchen also has
a window), slightly under-exposed but OK
exposure.
Overall, this Left-Right shot might come
out better than the previous Right-Left
shot.
For great panorama shots, always give it
a dry run first, checking the 2 or 3 shots
that you want to stitch together, and carefully
selecting the one to make your first shot.
A good rule of thumb is to start with the
shot that has the most light that may come
out way overexposed or the one with the
least light that may come out way underexposed.
If all 3 shots are lighted about the same,
it does not make a difference which Panorama
mode you choose. If in doubt, take two panorama
shots, one Left-Right, then a second one
Right-Left, then select to keep the best.
Tip #2 - Keep Camera
Level
A second important thing to keep in mind
is to keep your camera level. Keeping the
camera level keeps your horizon level, so
the ceiling does not slope up or down. It
also allows alignment of the 3 shots to
be as perfect as possible. Using a tripod
here is highly recommended. Use the Framing
Guide feature.
Tip #3 - Pivot Around
Camera
The third tip is to pivot around the center
of the camera, not your body. In other words,
it's the camera that should pivot, not you.
This is because we are not holding the camera
close against our face, peering through
the viewfinder. There is no viewfinder and
we are holding our hands out and looking
into the LCD monitor. So just pivot the
camera (imagine it's on a tripod). Of course,
as in the previous tip, placing the camera
on a level surface or a tripod is highly
recommended.
For group shots, you may not need to pivot
at all. If you are taking a picture of an
essentially flat and wide subject, e.g.
a mural, simply start at one end and walk
across the mural, being careful to keep
the camera level and the same distance from
the wall. Too bad Kodak restricts panorama
shots to 3 only; some murals may need more
than 3 shots.
Tip #4 - Be Careful When
Including People
The one thing to be careful of when including
people in your panorama shots is that, if
they are moving around, you may end up with
one or more persons appearing more than
once in your final panorama shot.
It's also quite difficult, even impossible,
to align 2 shots if you are using a moving
person as your alignment point. If the person
walks away when you take the next shot,
you may end up with a half-bodied "ghost."
Follow these 4 tips and your panorama shots
should come out great. As usual, practice
makes perfect.
Advanced Users
Though the Kodak V803 is targeted to beginners,
more advanced photographers will find useful manual
controls.
For example, its Auto mode is really a Programmed
Auto mode, allowing changes to WB, ISO, Exposure
Metering mode, and Focus Zone.
As I mentioned earlier, one standard feature
that I really appreciate with Kodak digital cameras
is that the Left and Right arrow keys default
to Exposure Compensation. No need to go into the
Menu to do it or press an extra button. The danger
is that you may inadvertently dial in an exposure
compensation but it surprisingly does not happen
easily here -- perhaps because the mini Joystick
does require a conscious and definite push to
dial in a change of setting.
Frustrated that the camera does not keep your
MENU settings [SETUP settings are kept]? Any changes
you make in the MENU apply only to the current
session. When next time you power on, the camera
will default back to its factory-shipped settings.
There are now 2 ways to keep your MENU settings.
The first way is to use the Custom scene mode:
Just press SCN, select Custom (it's the last icon),
and press OK. Then go into menu and set your favourite
settings. When you turn off/on the camera, it
will default back to Auto mode. Press SCN and
select Custom again (if that's where you left
it last time, the icon will still be selected)
to retrieve your saved settings.
A new way, which started with the V705 Dual Lens,
is the "Maintain Settings" option in
the MENU that allows you to save the most used
settings: Flash, WB, ISO, Color Mode, Sharpness,
Exposure Metering, and Focus Zone. This saves
you from having to go to Scene Mode to select
Custom.
EasyShare Software 6
Kodak EasyShare Software 6
The EasyShare Software 6 remains easy to install
and use. Anyone (even if you do not own a Kodak
digital camera) can download it for free. If you
are running an older version, you can download
the most recent one from Kodak's
site.
The default transfer directory on Windows XP
is the "My Pictures" directory on the
C: drive in Documents and Settings. I much prefer
to create a new directory under a name of my own
choosing so I can easily find the pictures when
I need to. You set this directory in: Tools -
Preferences... - Transfer - Browse. One improvement
suggestion here is to be able to create a new
folder while in EasyShare; as it is implemented
now, I need to launch Windows Explorer to create
a new folder and then come back to EasyShare to
specify it as my default transfer folder for this
camera.
If you use the EasyShare Software to edit your
photos, be aware that the default image compression
is set to less than the highest quality possible.
So the pictures you edit and save will be of less
quality than the original one. (Always save using
a different name so you don't muck up the original
picture.) This is all right if that's what you
want. But if you want the highest quality, go
to: Tools - Preferences... - General tab - select
Large File/High Quality JPEG compression.
The EDIT function allows you to Crop, Rotate,
remove Red Eye, auto Enhance, Scene Balance (exposure,
shadow, highlight), Color Balance (pseudo WB correction),
apply various Scene Effects (B&W, Sepia Tone,
Forest, Scenic, Portrait, Sunset), apply Fun Effects
(Spotlight, Coloring Book, Cartoon, Fisheye),
and create cards. You can also burn selected images
to a CD or DVD.
The one improvement suggestion I would have liked
to see is complete detailed EXIF info. Kodak probably
thinks the target audience for this camera would
not care one bit about EXIF info, but it's already
there in each picture, so why not simply display
it for more advanced users? Not much is missing:
Exposure Compensation, Macro, and other effects
used.
Summary
The Kodak EasyShare V803 is an affordable
and elegant looking digital camera. It is point-and-shoot
easy to use for beginners, though more advanced
users will appreciate some of the advanced features
and user interface. If you like to personalize
your belongings, then consider the Kodak V803:
it has enough accessories to help you make it
your very own.
