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Outdated, obsolete, and slow.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.

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.

Customer Service

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

Similar Products Used:

D50, D90, D200, D700, DCS 620x