Kodak DCS 315

The DCS 315 was an "entry level" SLR for around 1998-2000. It was built on the Nikon Pronea 6i film body. It will take mount almost any F-mount Nikon lens and supposedly wil also take the IX (APS) film lenses.

Unlike the other Kodak DCS cameras that were built out of the N90 or F5, this one is decidedly consumer oriented, but has one redeeming virtue. While the other cameras have their AA NIMH cells in $90 packs that require an all but unobtainable charger, the DCS 315 has a small battery holder that takes standard AA batteries which can be recharged with a $10 charger.

At this stage of the game the question is why would you want one? It's only 1.5 megapixels, slow, and has a low maximum ISO of 400. The answer comes down to either novelty or a hardcore film enthusiast wanting to test the digital waters for a minimal investment. Anyone else should just buy something newer.

Dirt cheap now on Ebay, why buy one when you can have two?

Uses standard AA batteries.

Fairly durable, the body is thick plastic.

2.6X crop factor, which gives a long "zoom" but see below.

Gives a range of operation similar to the film camera it was based on.

Can take very sharp pictures.

It does have a manual focus mode, but I'm not clear if it meters properly with non-cpu lenses, and haven't been interested enough to try.

Did I mention it has a built-in flash? Well, it is a positive feature.....

Outdated, obsolete, and slow.

Requires a Firewire port, Stores pictures in a proprietary format and requires the DCS Camera Manager and the DCS Photo Desk to download and convert to JPEG. Both software packages are still available on Kodak's web site. Works on XP but not on 64 bit Vista. Don't know about 32 bit Vista.

Only 1.5 megapixels and the 2.6 crop ratio means practically no lens is able to take truly wide angle shots on it. The very similar DCS 330 is 3 megapixels with a 1.9 crop ratio.

Uses PCMCIA memory cards, but a workaround is to use a PCMCIA to compact flash adapter. Or if you really are gung ho you can use a compact flash to SD card adapter on top of that---it'll work.

The sharp pictures are because there is no anitaliasing filter. thin lines and patterns will exhibit moire--rainbow colors and effects.

D50, D90, D200, D700, DCS 620x

At this point......why bother?

This is a camera for someone that has SLR experience, this camera is not recomended for a beginner,as the instructions can be an overwhelming experience for someone who never shot an SLR, although its nice not having to pay to develope pics, so your practice is practically free. Other than that, go get one, shoot, and u will never look back at a "prosumer" model again..........

This camera is an SLR shooters dream, with all the options and adjustments one can make, it will be a long time before someone gets bored,this camera outright rocks. One of the best things is that it has interchangeable lenses so you can now "grab" that shot 125 yards away with the correct Zoom lens.This is by far an excellent outdoor camera that will blow u away with its distance shots....

Weight, Weight,Weight, is all i can say, but then again if u are a pro shooter,this is something that u are used too,also the indoor shots are not as easy to shoot as with other cameras,although it has an ISO range of 50-400, it is still hard to get the perfect indoor shot: Tip when shooting indoors with flash set flash to about -2 or so to get a more accurate shot and not so over exposed....

I have shot with a cannon pro 70 but could not "grab" those far to reach shots,although the indoor shooting with this cannon was unmatchable, but the cannon is in no league when compared to the DCS-315 Outdoor shooting and lens options out there....

I have not needed to reach out to customer service but from what i hear they are very good and you deal with the same engineer for the duration that u call for your Kodak model.....

The DCS315 is a Pro digital SLR camera that is affordable (USD1500 with lens) and provides a great entry to the Pro-level digital photography market. Images are very sharp and the colours are vibrant - as to be expected from a Kodak product. Image quality is sure to be a factor of the CCD, colour rendering and the lens. The images sure rivals the 3MPP consumer level digital cameras. White balance setting is done OFF-camera (via the computer) via the Kodak Acquire module. It is very easy to set the whitebalance. Images are saved in raw custom TIFF (1.8MB) or custom JPGs. The camera pauses after taking 3 pictures but as soon as enough space is available, you can take another photo. It is rated at 2 fps up to 3 frames and flushes in 11 seconds when used with a PCMCIA HDD - faster if Compact Flash cards are used. There is no concept of shutter delay since this is an SLR camera. A good camera for the serious amateur photographers and those Pro digital photography novices. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Would rather have this than a 3MPP consumer camera!

Affordable Pro Digital SLR (price listed on this site is old. New price is USD1500) Accepts *ALL* Nikon lenses All features of the Pronea 600i/6i except for 3D Metering BUILT-IN FLASH (again, not listed on this site)

Size and Weight Focal Length Multiplier (2.6x) 1.5Megapixel resolution No Built-in Whitebalance setting

DC260 DC290 DC4800 HP C500

Excellent. You deal with one engineer for the rest of your case.