Kodak EasyShare Z740

I received a z740 as a wedding present. My first digital camera. Takes okay pictures. After getting them into photoshop I realized that they could be ALOT better. It's very touchy with lighting. A nice day outdoors makes the best pictures. I'm dissapointed with to auto focus. But this camera has great zoom. I might get some lenses to put on it til I can get a Digital SLR of somesort... or at least something with more megapixels.

Definitely the zoom. Size is good.. fits in my purse.

Eats batteries like no other. Uses less if you don't use the LCD screen to much... rechargeable batteries seem to last a little bit longer. Picture quality is about a 7 out of 10. And the Focus is slow... and even slower when the batteries are run down.

I got this camera for Christmas, fell in love with it right away it takes wonderful pictures very clear. I will probably never own another camera. I don't really care for the software, it has given me nothing but trouble since I installed it so I just use my hp imagining instead. I really like the zoom on this camera and the simplicity, it's so easy my three year old who is a photographer in training lol can use it and does.

The modes are really easy to use just a twist and a click and your camera is ready. the 10x zoom is awesome, it's very lightweight. Clear pictures.

The battery life is probably the only weekness i have found on this camera, but if you don't use the lcd screen all the time your batteries last longer but can't complain much about $10.00.

I won this camera in a competition run by a UK camera magazine.Because I already owned a Sony DSC-H1 I decided to sell it on Ebay. My curiosity got the better of me so I decided to open the box and take a peek at it,then I decided to open it up -then use it! I was amazed at the quality of the photographs and its sheer simplicity of use.For example the ISO can be chaged so easily with a swift click of the jog lever,likewise the exposure compensation. I obviously took it off Ebay and now use it quite a lot. I would think the Sony turns out SLIGHTLY better pictures but it is a very close run thing.So for the $200 or so difference in price I would certainly go for this Kodak. I have, up to now had no problems with the autofocus,nor exposure,which is excellent,I had some prints done at 10x8 inches and they were razor sharp.Sharper in fact than those taken with my Nikon D70 and Nikon 18-70 zoom,a camera I never bother to use now.The gap is closing on the quality obtained by p&s cameras and dslr cameras.Infact I do believe that most reviewers are so biased towards dslr cameras that I wish one would hold his hands up and be honest and say--guys without Adobe I would say the p&s is the better buy all round,I think it is a fact.A dslr cannot produce as good a picture FROM THE CAMERA as a p&s can do--because that what the p&s is designed to do.This Kodak has a super high quality lens,I would believe it is made by Schneider optiks,and 100% apo glass--a super lens.Stick that on the front of a dslr and it would cost you thousandsRemember,any camera is only as good as the lens.That also applies to digital. I would recommend this camera to anyone wanting a simple tool to take high quality photographs,at a very very good price.

Razor sharp photographs,excellent quality as is from camera.Superb exposure metering.Great build quality.Excellent quality macro,if there is enough natural light about.Great colours.Software is excellent.Register camera and you get to download the new 5.2.0.0 version which is even better than original.

For the price new this camera is one would have to be real picky to find any major weakness.Flash pops up each time camera is turned on,what Kodak had in mind when that idiotic feature was built in is beyond my scope of all logic.Thats not real picky,just a darned annoying nuisance.

Sony DSC-H1

ok--just

I bought the camera in early Nov'05 for $300, just saw it in Dec'05 for $275 at Sams Club. I added a 1Gig chip ($80) which offers about 500 images. The camera is incredibly easy to set-up and use. I felt totally comfortable with almost all the features within 15 minutes of testing. The easiest camera I've ever used! I see why Kodak is ranked by JD Powers for highest customer satisfaction for cameras in this price range. It's much easier to use than our Sony point-and-shoot digital camera. The 10x optical zoom is excellent and digital zoom adds even more range. The camera doesn't have image stabilization, which I thought would be a nice feature, but I've been taking sharp hand held pictures for years with long lenses without image stabilization. The limitations of long zooms for digital cameras is about the same as 35mm photography; you still need good outdoor lighting. Within ten feet the flash is adequate for most indoor situations. It does allow for short videos. This is more a gimic, but the results are decent and fun. By no means will this video replace my Sony Handycam mini-DV digital videos. (It's not even a close comparison!) The EasyShare software wants to dominate your computer, but it is managable once you figure out the settings. It's editing features are really easy and quite powerful. Almost one touch red-eye reduction and image enhancement. It guesses the right improvements nearly every time. I find with digital photography I tend to push the limits of the digital camera even more since I can either simply delete blury pictures or use the software to fix the exposure. Kodak wants you to print your digital images with their EasyShare printer (has a docking station for their cameras so you can print directly from the camera - NO pc needed) or upload them to their website. I have been using Snapfish.com for years so I have not tried their digital printing options.

Ease of Use Powerful 10X optical and digital zoom Sharp, colorful pictures EasyShare editing software Compared to the 35mm system it replaced, it's 1/3 the size and weight.

Flash has limited distance (10 ft max indoors) (I consider that normal) Battery ($10) (first one lasted about 200 images) (it would use less juice if I used the viewfinder and not the screen.)

I store tested Sony & Konica Minolta, both with image stabiliation. The are both nice cameras with higher price tags, $450 & $350, respectively.

NA

Excellant camera, a little bit bigger than a regular pocket camera but still easy to carry around. Pictures are really sharp. Excellant optical zoom 10x. A nice feature is when you shut off the LCD to use less battery. You can peep through the site glass and it still give you the display info. SWEET! Check out some pictures on my website that I am adding soon http://drupics.blogspot.com

Excellant pictures and zoom. User friendly.

None so far.

None, first other than compact.

Never had to call yet.