Kodak EASYSHARE DX4530

...outline why I think the Kodak EasyShare DX4530 is such a good buy. If you want to skip the initial section, jump straight to the paragraph headed “Why Kodak EasyShare DX4530?”

Why buy a digital camera?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The recent birth of our second son led to the inevitable photo-fest and the bank-balance-hammering cost of film development. Of course I’ve no objection to that, ...
...£200.

Why Kodak EasyShare DX4530?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw this model in the catalogue at £250… 5 megapixels, 3x optical zoom and 3.3x digital zoom (combined zoom approx. 10x).

Digital cameras were available from 2 megapixels up to 6 megapixels. Very few had greater than 5 megapixels, most with the handsome price tags I could not ... more

This review is a technophobe friendly zone. I appreciate that there are many people out there who just want a good digital camera but, like me, are a bit wary of the pages of jargon that usually dominates the information. I set out to buy a digital camera knowing absolutely nothing about them and with a simple bit of research have ended up buying an absolute beauty. I make no apology for the fact that this review will open with some simple explanation of the important jargon – vital in my opinion if you are a digital camera virgin, and some advice for finding a suitable camera. Then I will outline why I think the Kodak EasyShare DX4530 is such a good buy. If you want to skip the initial section, jump straight to the paragraph headed “Why Kodak EasyShare DX4530?”

Why buy a digital camera?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The recent birth of our second son led to the inevitable photo-fest and the bank-balance-hammering cost of film development. Of course I’ve no objection to that, until I realised that within the first week I’d spent £30 on developing films, money which could be better spent going towards a digital camera. We have the computer and a CD rewriter to burn photo-CDs, so it seemed that we may as well splash out and enter the 21st Century.

I have bought a digital camera before, but soon realised that it was one of those things where you get what you pay for, and I paid next to nowt, so guess what I got! This had put me off buying another as I’m not the most confident when faced with the endless lists of technical jargon. A friend of mine had a really good one, but at over £400 it was out of our price league and I assumed that was the kind of brass needed, so I resigned myself to keeping on with the old box brownie.

Ask yourself what you want from your camera
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

But now the time had come to bite the bullet and do my homework. What did we really want from a digital camera? The answer was simple – great picture quality and a zoom lens. And the important bit… a price tag below £200.

Megapixels and zooms
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A bit of research soon revealed that the greater the number of megapixels, the better the picture quality and that there were two types of zoom, optical and digital. The optical zoom works as on a conventional camera and digital zoom in effect zooms in on the optically zoomed view, magnifying the image but at a reduction in picture quality.

My decision… to find a camera with as high a mexapixel rating as possible, with both optical and digital zooms, for £200 or less.

Where do you start?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I looked through the Argos catalogue, which handily displays with each camera picture what they consider to be the most important information, including the factors I was looking for. I never intended to buy it from there… it was just to give me an idea of what I could get for my money on the high street. I fully intended finding what I want and then searching on pricerunner.co.uk and kelkoo.co.uk to get it cheaper. Which meant that in the Argos catalogue I could dare to venture above £200.

Why Kodak EasyShare DX4530?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw this model in the catalogue at £250… 5 megapixels, 3x optical zoom and 3.3x digital zoom (combined zoom approx. 10x).

Digital cameras were available from 2 megapixels up to 6 megapixels. Very few had greater than 5 megapixels, most with the handsome price tags I could not afford to pay at the moment. So I whacked Kodak DX4530 into pricerunner and kelkoo and both came up with Dixons online shop selling the model at just shy of £160! Fantastic value in my opinion. It did seem that better discounts were to be found on Kodak models than on other well known makes. A quick look around showed me that this was probably the best value for money I could get for the type of camera I wanted, so I was sold.

The camera
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Using the camera really is so easy… even if you’re not a big fan of instruction manuals, like me! Two CDs are provided… whack them into your computer… job done. One is the instruction manual, which can be saved onto your computer or just used when needed. The other is the EasyShare software, which I shall mention more about later. It will ask you about setting up a folder for the photos… I just let it do what it wanted and everything was fine, the result being that I now have a Kodak folder in ‘My Pictures’.

Now you’re ready to go. I opened up the instruction manual reluctantly (after my wife made me… “you’re not going to break a £160 camera through laziness, blah, blah…) I was relieved to find simple step by step instructions for all the different functions. Even I was prepared to use them.

Batteries
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The camera was supplied with a CRV3 lithium battery, but it can also take 2 lithium AA or 2 Ni-MH AA batteries. Having searched around on the web it seems that it’s probably going to cost about £8 a time to replace the batteries. How often they need to be replaced depends of course upon the usage of the camera as well as the battery type. The CRV3 battery is the best performing battery and should serve me for 365-455 pictures. I have already taken over 200 photos and mucked about with the movie mode a lot and there is certainly no dip in performance as yet.

Memory
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The camera has an internal 32 megabyte (MB) memory. That means it will store up to 21 highest quality photos before filling. The memory will then need to be downloaded onto your computer (later).

That worried me at first as I can go snap-happy, particularly on holiday! But I needn’t have worried… extra memory cards are available, ranging in price from £35 for a 64MB card (in other words tripling your storage space) to £80 for a 256MB card. Smaller capacity cards are available, but I have no idea as to cost.

Photographs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A dial on top of the camera has several photograph mode settings:

Auto: for standard ‘point and shoot’ photography.
Sport: faster shutter speed to avoid the blurring you get with moving objects.
Night-time: shutter stays open for longer to allow more light in.
Landscape: focus is set to infinity so that good distance landscape shots can be taken.
Close-up: for taking snaps of objects less than 28” (70cm) away.
Video mode: see later.

Taking a snap is as easy as with a conventional camera. Take aim using the viewfinder (as on standard cameras) or the 1.8” LCD screen (which I find much more user friendly and already couldn’t do without), press the shutter button (as on a normal camera) half way and wait until the camera has focused (signalled by a green light and the focus frame changing from green to red), then press the shutter button fully. Easy. The LCD screen is full colour and very clear when used both inside and outside. It will drain the battery quicker though, so if using the LCD makes no difference to you, best use the conventional viewfinder.

Having used all the photograph modes I can honestly say that each takes a great picture. Bright sunlight, dim room, action shots… the works… and not a bad quality shot among them. My only gripe is that there is a slight delay between pressing the button and the shot being taken, meaning that your object may have moved, particularly if you’re taking shots of the kids!

A great feature is the DELETE button on the back of the camera. If a shot is not to your liking, simply delete and take again. So, while the excitement of having photos developed is lost, so is the disappointment felt when the one you’re waiting for has a quality control sticker slapped on it.

Video
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The video mode is of a good quality and captures sound, unlike some other top brand names. The internal memory can store up to 2 minutes worth of video footage, less if there are photographs stored as well. Personally I don’t really care about this mode… it wasn’t a feature I was looking for and I opted to pay my money for photo quality. However, the video feature is good fun and I have used it to capture my eldest son doing some pretty daft stuff! All good to have in the bank for when he’s a teenager.

Review feature
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A review button is also featured on the camera. It simply allows you to look back through the photos and video footage taken. Anything you don’t want can be deleted. Whilst reviewing you can also magnify the photos, which while diminishing the quality, still leaves you with a remarkably clear picture. Tiny print on a sign in the distance was clearly legible in one shot I took. However, I see no advantage in this feature for me. Perhaps I might if I take some sneaky scenery shots on the beach and accidentally end up with some topless bathers in the distance.

Picture quality selection
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It is possible to alter the quality of photograph. The menu function (MENU button featured on the back of the camera) contains a ‘picture quality’ option. You can opt for 1, 2 or 3 star quality, the difference being the number of megapixels the photo consists of. One star is best for photos you might want to email or post on ciao reviews, two stars for photos you will print out in smaller sizes (including standard photo sizes) and three stars gives the best quality, allowing you to print poster size while retaining a high quality picture. I have printed out a few A4 size photos on my cheap printer and cannot find fault with the quality. I also use photos for my computer wallpaper and you really feel you can reach into the pictures, they are so life-like.

Worth noting – the lower the picture quality, the more photos the memory can store… up to 79 with the one star setting.

Downloading
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The bit that frightens my mother! It could not be easier. Idiots guide:
• Switch camera off.
• Connect USB end of lead (thin flat end!) to computer and the smaller end to the only hole it fits on the camera.
• Switch camera to ‘auto’.
• Computer recognises camera and invites you to transfer pics/video.
• Click on transfer.
• Switch camera off and pull out leads.
• Job done!

Now you just simply clear the camera memory by switching on, pressing delete and selecting ‘delete all’. Ready to go again.

EasyShare
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A ‘share’ button is featured on the camera, but I could well do without it. It simply allows you to highlight your favourite photos and earmark certain shots for printing or emailing when you download them. It is just as easy to take a look at your shots once they are downloaded and select ones for printing, emailing etc. I’d suggest this is just a gimmick to create a whole new series of ‘EasyShare’ cameras.

The EasyShare software installed on the computer has many, many features, all but two of which I find too faffy to use.

Firstly, the email function is good. First of all you must input the email addresses of your friends and family into the EasyShare address book. Select an address or addresses, choose a photo, write a message if you wish and send. You can choose to have the photo automatically sized to best fit the email and having tested it with our address it really is fantastic! I sent a top quality (3 star) photo rather than the recommended one star photo, so sending took about a minute. We have dial up and so I don’t think a minute is too bad at all for a hefty photo to be sent.

Secondly, you can sort your photos in any number of ways. Folders can be set up any way you wish, great for anally retentive people like me who like everything to have its place. However, I always make my systems far too complicated and can never find anything. No problem with EasyShare. You can search by folder, date downloaded, date taken, keyword (if you name your photos) or simply browse the whole collection.

A feature of EasyShare I will probably use at some point is the ‘Edit Picture’ function, allowing brightness etc to be tampered with and photos to be cropped etc… all the usual.

Printing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Printing can be done through EasyShare… but what a palava! After wasting loads of expensive photo quality paper trying to set up the right sizings through EasyShare I gave up, closed EasyShare and tried printing the normal way. I found the picture I wanted in ‘My Pictures’ and clicked on print. A photo-print wizard opened up (part of my bog-standard printer software) and sized everything up for me, popping out a great quality copy of my photo. Sooooooo much easier.

Other useful features
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

There are loads of other features on this camera, many of which I’m sure I’ve no need for. I do use the TIMER function for those ‘whole-family’ shots with Dad stood conspicuously by the side of a well-posed family, and having an awful memory I do love the DATE STAMP (which you can set to UK format… DD/MM/YYYY… hurrah!) And the ORIENTATION SENSOR is useful; it detects if the camera was not held upright and sets your picture straight. This can be turned off (as can the other features), allowing some artistic licence.

Disadvantages
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have mentioned a couple of negatives so far, but they are mainly concerning features I feel there is little use for. Others may find these features invaluable. However, a rather silly gripe concerns the lens cap. Instead of being the automatic lens cap you’d expect, it’s the old-fashioned type, dangling from a string and in need of clipping into place every time you’ve finished. Not too great a disadvantage, I agree, but one that rather frustrated me when taking a downwards shot (no, not a ‘personal’ shot… the wide angle is not great enough) and the bleeding lens cap kept swinging into view.

I also feel that a case would have been a nice addition. I will buy one eventually, but a cheap one to set me off would have been a nice touch.

Anything else?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

There is, but I certainly don’t intend listing countless features. If there is anything you want to know about this camera, check it out on http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=1155&pq-locale=en_US where you will find full specifications, or leave me a message and I’ll try my best to give you an accurate answer.

My recommendation? If you can afford up to £200 and want a top quality digital camera that takes great pictures (forget all the other features) then this is the ideal model. You will not be disappointed.

<< Ignore Durability, Reliability and Weight ratings below... I have not had the camera long enough to comment and have nothing else to compare to.>>
 

...less