When my Olympus camera failed to work on me, I knew it was time to invest in a brand new digital camera. I had a budget of no more than £130. It had to be big and heavy enough for me to feel and notice it being there but not to the extent that it would weigh me down.
*The hunt begins*
Jessops, Dixons (now known as Currys Digital), Boots, Currys and PC world were probably the top on my list of places to visit. As the cameras are getting smaller and smaller by the minute there was a very limited selection in all these stores to choose from. I discovered too that my Olympuscamera (which I loved till it broke and was beyond repair) had been discontinued and the only ones they had for me to choose from were so small that you could easily fit it in a normal jeans pocket. Relunctantly for this reason alone I had to move away from Olympus.
In fact the only one that seemed to be of adequate dimensions in terms of size and weight was the Kodak EasyShare C330. This one weighs, according to the Kodak website, 160 g (without AA batteries) and its Width, Height and Depth are 91.9, 65.3 and 35.3 mm respectively.
I looked in all these retail outlets but Boots at the time of purchasing seemed to have the best package for this model. If I bought the camera from here, I would get all the usual USB, CDROM, standard AA batteries, 16MB SD card plus a Kodak camera case and an extra 32MB SD card, money off vouchers and some free prints from their kiosk. I also gained 500 bonus advantage card points, from buying this, all for £99.99 (at the time of purchase). Price is well within my budget and sounds like it meets my requirements.
There was a slightly newer version of this camera (at time of purchase), the Kodak Easyshare C340 available in store on a simuliar package for an additional £20. At first glance, theres not much difference but according to the website it has audio output on the movie function. However my only concern was the size of it. It's very light, small and only weighs 145 g (without batteries), with its width, height and depth being 91.9mm 65.3mm and 35.3 mm respectively. I picked this one up in store and could hardly feel it was there. It looks so tiny compared to the cameras
I've used in the past too. Having held both of them up in each hand, I can definitely feel the difference in terms of weight. Which is why I went for the C330 as opposed to this one.
*Packaging*
I was abit shocked when the boots sales guy brought this out. I was expecting it all to come in one big box but instead I ended up with 5 little boxes with the camera and all its accessories. Was going to be a bit of a nightmare carrying it home on the bus but the contents was worth more than what the other places at the time were offering me.
*Contents*
Everything was there and in tact as promised.
~Carry Case~
I was abit disappointed with the size of the actual carry case it came with. The bag itself was the size of a shoulder style handbag and far too big for this camera. My main concern would be the camera would easily get scratched if I was to use its various compartments for non camera purposes. The thought of being seen with 2 handbags put me right off. Initially I did use this bag until I managed to get a cheap smaller one for it from Currys.
~CD ROM~
This was very easy to use and install into my PC. As far as I can remember it took no more than 10 minutes to load up all the relevant software required to view your pictures on the PC or laptop and came with a comprehensive step by step guide aimed for any techno beginner.
~SD~
This camera came with both the 16MB (approx holds one minute of just movies or roughly 25 purely pictures on standard settings) and 32 MB (approx holds 2 minutes of just movies or roughly 40-50 purely pictures on standard settings). Obviously if you mix and match it would be a combination of the 2. Not that many of either but it's enough to get you started.
When you've used these to their maximum capacity they can easily be replaced at most camera retail outlets such as Jessops, Boots, and Currys and vary in price depending on the brand and its memory capacity. I normally pay just under £30 for a Boots SD card at 512MB (which isn't bad considering you'd probably pay £30 for a 256MB XD card).
I have seen them advertise 2GB SD cards at £32.49 on the Dixons website but I'm always dubious about buying these things online. I am proud of taking photographs and have found that the quality of pictures with some branded memory sticks hasn't been as good as others on this basis. I like the fact that the sales assistant can test these products in store in front of you before you buy, putting you at ease which you cannot get by buying online.
Personally I wouldn't advise going for the larger memory sticks. True this means you can store more pictures and or video clips all on one stick. At the same time it can slow the whole uploading and viewing process right down (especially if you have over 100 or so shots). This can be a pain when your in a hurry.
~The Voucher Booklets~
I was excited about getting this with the camera but was abit disappointed as later found out they were of no use to me. In order to get free Kodak prints, I had to spend over a certain amount to qualify. The rest of the pamphlet was filled with adverts and trying to convince me to book holidays with Thomas Cook to get a discount. Again these don't help me so in the bin they went.
~The Camera~
Now we are down to business. At the time of purchasing, this camera was considered to be one of the biggest and chunkiest on the market. I consider it to be smallish (well it is definitely smaller than my Olympus one). With my new carry case, it fits easily into a normal sized handbag but you can definitely feel it's there.
The camera itself comes with 8 different modes on the rotating dial at the top right hand side. Out of the 8 modes I mainly use the movie and auto functions. I have experimented with the other modes but have found that they make no difference to the finished product and tend to over complicate things.
With the Movie function, you are able to record short clips. One thing I do not like about this particular function is I am unable to zoom in and out whilst recording. True you can preset it on zoom before you start your recordings but if you want to concentrate more on a certain object you have to stop the recording to change the focus point. That can be irritating, especially at gigs when they are in the middle of your favourite song or something unexpectedly funny happens and bang you miss the moment just because this camera won't allow you to focus in.
I was tempted to go for a Kodak camera, because one of my friends had one whose recorded movies came out very clear with excellent sound quality. Admittedly I was hoping this would be the case with mine. Boy I got a shock when I taped one of my sister's dance shows and played it back. Yes I could see her move but where was the background music. Nil, later did I realise that this one doesn't record sound, despite the sales guy re-assuring me it would. Perhaps he was getting confused with the Kodak C340.
As I wasn't able to zoom in on the action, everything appears a little distant and hazy on the display screen. I've been used to clear movie pictures on my Olympus camera, where I have been able to zoom in and out whilst filming so this came as another shock.
The auto function is a standard point and press feature used to take pictures. If the setting is a little dark or too bright, the camera sensors this and will adjust how much or little flash it needs to use to give optimum results. Okay this is annoying because sometimes it thinks the room is too dark to get a good shot so the flash comes on so bright that it blinds everyone. True I can manually adjust this but it's a pain
Pictures of Kodak EASYSHARE C330
Original Kodak Camera Case as taken with camera
to have to scroll down the menu bars every time this happens which can be extremely time-consuming. I never seemed to have this problem with my previous camera.
Another problem I have with the auto function is, I have the perfect frame all set up, press the shoot button and there seems to be a slight delay. A second later the picture is taken and bang there goes the moment and I end up with total darkness or someone's foot. Arrrrrrrrrgh if only it took the picture when I asked it to. I haven't set the camera to self timer mode so there shouldn't be this problem. I thought there was a fault on my camera but having read other people's reviews on this they have experienced this too.
The other modes on this camera include favourites, sports, Landscape, Party, and Portrait and close up. As you scroll through these features using the dial, it gives you a brief description of what they do. Personally I haven't benefited by using these modes. I've found it takes a while for the camera to adjust itself. Nightmare when you are in a hurry. If you try to switch quickly from one mode to another, the camera gets confused, slows itself down and in some cases it has switched itself off so I wouldn't recommend this. Besides if you are only after a very basic camera and not too familiar with digital I'd stick to the movie and auto modes.
~Battery Life~
If you are after a camera whereby you don't have to spend loads on batteries, I wouldn't recommend this one. I put in a new set of AA batteries today so I could view my holiday pictures. Within 40 minutes they are totally drained and the red light has come on, indicating they need to be replaced. Arguably you can use rechargeable batteries but you may be faced with the same problem (if not worse). There are cameras out there whose battery life lasts longer than this one.
~Robustness~
This camera is quite strong. I have dropped it a few times. It has been knocked about and bruised at gigs, on rides etc, - and it still works fine (almost as if nothing had ever happened). So far apart from its quirks I've not had to have it repaired (touchwood). It's lasted me just over a year so far and still going strong. :-)
~Date and Time~
Yes with this camera you can personalise your pictures by adding the date and time to them, which needs to be manually set. This is a pain as whenever you replace the batteries it always asks you to set this. So if you forget to do so, you may get a random day inserted instead.
~Review~
You can easily look back at photographs that have been taken on this camera by simply pressing the review button next to the LCD display. The screen is very good at giving you a true image of what you can expect your photograph to look like. The date (if you have opted to have this appear on your prints) is covered up by the picture or video symbol. Pain because if you want to check this bit you have to zoom in and out.
~Delete~
This is at the top right hand side of the LCD display and can be used to discard any photographs that your not satisfied with. If you click on this option it will always prompt you to confirm, enabling you to change your mind at the last moment.
~Menu~
This feature can be used to change the overall settings on the camera such as exposure, picture size, colour balance etc. If you are a beginner I wouldn't recommend changing this as the default settings are adequate to suit your needs.
~Self-timer~
This allows you to delay the length at which it takes the picture even further. As I have had problems with auto mode I wouldn't recommend using this feature.
~Flash~
There is an option to enhance the flash on your pictures. Very good in those extremely dark, gloomy and dim settings but if it's sunny or enough light I wouldn't use this. You may lose some important detail. When the picture comes out it illuminates anything that appears darker or looks black from the photo.
Finally the Zoom in and out feature on this camera. - It's not the most powerful zoom I have used. If I stand a few hundred yards from the object and try to zoom in, the photograph comes out all blurred and hazy. Yet when I don't use the zoom it's quite clear but the objects in focus look or appear more distant than they really are. Very disappointed because this means unless I'm right at the stage at gigs I cannot get decent pictures with this camera. Managed to get a few good holiday snaps with the friends and family but any live gigs and or events it has failed. I've often ended up having to ask mates to e-mail me their pictures due to the images appearing a little blurry and hazy on many occasions.
~Conclusion~
I have had this camera for over a year now and although it wasn't quite as I had expected it to be, it has taken some good shots. It is a very basic camera and a good one to start off with if you are techno-phobic or never owned a digital before.
However if you like taking pictures as I do and like there to be detail and quality in your shots I wouldn't recommend this one. To me the zoom is just not powerful enough, the delay it takes to take one shot is annoying and I seem to spend a fortune on batteries purely for this camera.
I have seen this camera advertised on the Dixons website today going at £59.88, but there's probably other sites which may sell it cheaper. You may not get as many accessories as I did but to be honest with you apart from the extra memory stick, the others didn't really help me and at that price you probably can get better cameras on the market.
For more information on this product, you may want to visit www.kodak.com and type in Kodak Easyshare C330 in the search box that appears at the top right hand side of the website.
Thanks for reading!!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Great review very detailed, everything I would need to make a decision on buying this..Thanks
hannahmc3 29.08.2006 11:48
Very thorough, detailed review! It totally deserves an E but for some reason my ciao is still poorly and my Es havent been sticking for a couple of days!x
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