The latest high zoom camera from Kodak offers plenty of controls, sleek styling, and of course a 12X zoom. But are its pictures too close for comfort?
Review summary of the Kodak EasyShare Z612:
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 The Kodak EasyShare Z612 offers a mix of advanced features and ease of use. If you’re looking to step up from a basic point and shoot, but aren’t ready for a DSLR, the Z612 is a good option. Photo quality suffers a bit in certain lighting conditions, but overall snaps look natural. With the Z612’s 12X zoom, you’ll be able to get closer to the action than ever before (without suffering image distortion). Release: June 2006. Price: $250.
Pros: 12X optical zoom; sleek design; optical image stabilization
Cons: Artifacts appear on many pictures; body made of plastic instead of metal
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Full review of the Kodak EasyShare Z612:
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Kodak's EasyShare Z612 is the most recent in its line of high zoom cameras, bumping optical zoom to 12x where previous Kodak offerings maxed out at 10x, yet retaining many of the features - like the camera maker's image stabilization.
Image quality - Good
Photos looked natural with decent color and saturation, although some indoor shots displayed a yellowish tinge, photos taken outdoors returned to normal, but bright light caused noticeable artifacts as well as a loss of certain details.
The zoom (even when extended all the way) produced little quality loss and got us very close to buildings across the street. Photos can be taken at full 6-Megapixel resolution up to ISO 400. If you bump the ISO to 800, however, it drops to a mere 1.1 Megapixels.
The Z612 also shoots VGA video at 30 FPS. Footage we shot looked decent in normal light, but gradually worsened as the lights were lowered. Use this feature for a quick fix, nothing more.
Ease of use - Very good
The Z612 seems durable even though it's made of plastic, a grip on the right side makes it easy to hold while shooting and the zoom rocker worked well, but the shutter release is recessed and would have been better if it were raised more.
16 scene modes (like children and sunset) and several other settings are accessed through a dial atop the camera, while flash controls, Macro/Landscape, and a self timer also have their own buttons for quick access.
Selecting the proper mode is easy and onscreen descriptions let you know what you're changing. As with the rest of Kodak's Easyshare line, the Z612 makes it simple to get your snaps off of the camera thanks to a convenient share button.
Price and availability
The Kodak EasyShare Z612 will start selling for $250 () in June 2006.
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