I came by this camera by accident. My daughter bought it, with my help, and didn't like it. I had a video camera and had become disenchanted with it, so we swapped. It was the best trade I ever made.
For the first 2 years of use, I would have rated this camera a 5 in all categories, but after reading many reviews and having more critically looked at the camera, I have found many faults with it, but none to knock it off it's perch of an overall 5, for a camera of its' type.
I will gladly put most of my better photographs with this camera up against any other camera. I have used this camera in all situations from low light to fast action, and although I have had many failures, I have also had many more successes.
For a casual user, or a beginner, this camera will always give you high quality photographs that you will be proud to share. It is simple enough to use that my 4 year old granddaughter was able to figure it out quickly and was able to take excellent shots immediatetly. It is sturdy enough that although we have treated it very rough over the past 3 years, it is still in excellent shape.
I have taken over 20,000 pictures with this camera using a 256mb Sandisk SD card and feel that this camera may last forever.
Battery life is excellent. If I leave the monitor off, I can use this camera for about 6 hours of continuous use or about 250 pictures. With the monitor on continuously, I can get 1 1/2 - 2 hours of use and up to 200 pictures, depending on how fast I shoot.
As a novice, I never would have thought of these and I lack experience with other cameras, but having read many reviews recently, I have found things that I never understood before.
Speed - a bit slow and I have missed a lot of action because of this.
Design - small, but not bad for a p/s. My biggest complaint would be the position of the preview button. I continuously bump this button with my right thumb, sometimes causing missed shots because the monitor is turning on to preview.
Lack of WB control which is not something most consumers even know about.
Display not useful in full light situations.
Focus is a bit slow and a little noisy but not bad.
In closing, if all Kodak p/s's are this good then I would gladly recommend them.
Strengths:
Ease of use, compact design, good battery life, fair selection of settings including Auto, Sports, Night, Landscape, and Close Up. Movie setting with Sound is very good for a camera of this type.
Weaknesses:
No lense cover, review button in bad location for large hands. Lack of "manual" control of functions, ie, must always reset self timer after each shot, and are restricted to a 10 sec timer only.
Also those mentioned in my review summary.
Similar Products Used:
None
But have used various film ps's
Customer Service:
Online CS has always answered my questions immediately and very knowledgabley. Have not had to use CS for any repairs.
Paid $399 CDN
I think this is an awesome camera for the price. Don't bother with the dock. The transfer rate is really fast just using the usb cable and it's not hard on the batteries. I picked up a good set of 2100mah rechargeables. The battery that came with it lasted for about 250 pictures including download.
Strengths:
Optical zoom is awesome.
All glass lens is a must.
Lots of features.
White balance is perfect.
Close ups are amazing.
Battery life is excellent.
Even in low light pictures come out very bright and clear.
Weaknesses:
Can't see the lcd in low light.
It should have a built in lens cover.
Doesn't even come with a case. (Come on Kodak how much would a little case cost you to throw in?)
Overall I like the camera. It takes very nice close up shots of flowers. The 3x optical zoom is nice, and looking back, I am glad I purchased a digital camera with an optical zoom. I haven't used the digital zoom much, it decreases the image quality, and frankly, I haven't found much of a need for it. As with most digital cameras, the screen despite being an indoor outdoor screen, is difficult to see when outside. One thing about the price, don't let it fool you. After purchasing the camera, you really need to spend more money for various things. Count on about $%50 for a decent memory card, the internal memory only holds about 10 pictures. Then you also need a rechargable battery and charger. You can purchase the dock for the camera which includes both of these however it is $80. Since you don't really need the dock for anything and it is expensive, I vote to just get the travel pack for $40 which has a large travel case, rechargable battery and a charger. Overall I am happy with this camera and would purchase it again, however, continue to read about the strengths and weaknesses.
Please email me if you have any questions about the camera.
Strengths:
-Great close up shots of flowers.
-Good color balance.
-Camera takes excellent outdoor shots. Indoor shots are worse if the room is not well lit. Red eyes are common, but can usually be removed with the software.
-The movie mode is fun, it is fun to take movies with sound. The quality is okay, don't expect it to be a digital camcorder.
-You can hook it up to a TV to view pictures. Quality with this leaves a little to be desired, but it is an interesting feature.
-Pretty easy to use. It seems to focus pretty quick.
Weaknesses:
-The cost of "extra" things that you need to purchase.
-The software it comes with is not all that great. It mainly comes with a camera manager which lets you do some basic editing. My 2 biggest gripes about the software is that it seems to be missing some basic functions such as it is very difficult to rename the pictures. 1) You can't do it from the software, and if you use explorer to rename them, then the kodak software (which shows thumbnail pictures, etc) loses the picture and you have to manually load the picture back into the software. 2) You also can not view pictures by directory. In the photo organizer/viewer you view by last acquired, entire collection, by date, by keyword or by protected picture. Why not by directory since you probably put related pictures into one directory. Overall, the software is marginal, it does it job but nothing more. I received more and better software when I purchased a $59 web cam.
-The lense cap is not designed well, I wish it was a built in one.
-The knob to switch modes is hard to use when your hands are sweaty (i.e. during hikes).
Similar Products Used:
None, this is my first real digital camera unless you count my little web cam.
Customer Service:
I emailed technical support about ideas to improve their software, and they gave me a number to call. They handled my suggestions pretty well and said they would pass them on.
Rating Reviewed by: Mike Cinamon(Unregistered User)
(Intermediate)
Review Date April 29, 2003
Overall Rating 5 of 5
Value Rating 5 of 5
Used product for 0-1 years
Visitors rate this review 3.00 of 5,
1 votes
Review 5 of 20
Price Paid:
$338.00
from Sams Club
Summary:
My first digital camera was the dc3400 and it was excellent, in terms of quality etc, however, I dropped it a couple of years ago and have been un successful finding a kodak product till now that is even close to the quality that I was spoiled with with the 3400. in a word EXCELLENT, if you what to keep it @ $300.00 or less with the best quility, sign up NOW, as they are flying off the shelves.
Strengths:
Quality pics, Ease of use, Great flash compared to the most of its peers, battery life is un matched.
Weaknesses:
I like the old school lens cap, the video option is weak @ best, however if I wanted a camcorder I would buy one...
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