Kodak EASYSHARE Z612

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The Kodak EasyShare Z612 really is a state of the art, easy to use and sleek-looking camera with a pop-up flash. It packs within it a huge amount of power allowing for TV-Quality photos and video to be produced with its 6 megapixels. When you consider that the average Mobile Phone has a 2 megapixel camera, you have some idea of the strength and clarity of the images that come from this beauty !!!

What do ...
...to make use of the Kodak Easyshare software (which also comes included).
The software really does make organising, saving, editing and printing your photos as easy as 1,2,3 and is as reputable a brand as you're likely to find in the imaging industry.

The battery charger and regchargeable battery come included also, and make it very simple to bring the camera back to a primed and ready status for more recording and snapping away.
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Well guys and girls, this is my first review in months. I'll do my best to explain the item rather than confuse with technobabble.. (Drum roll please!) .....

Without further a do I'll begin....

Like a lot of people, I'd consider myself an amateur at photography and camera purchasing. You can imagine my surprise when a chance visit to a major electrical retailer made me feel like I went from novice to expert in 20 minutes....

The Kodak EasyShare Z612 really is a state of the art, easy to use and sleek-looking camera with a pop-up flash. It packs within it a huge amount of power allowing for TV-Quality photos and video to be produced with its 6 megapixels. When you consider that the average Mobile Phone has a 2 megapixel camera, you have some idea of the strength and clarity of the images that come from this beauty !!!

What do I get FREE with it? (i.e. what DEAL can you do me??)
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Well I don't know about any freebies that the salesperson may or may not be prepared to give you, but the contents of the package as standard is pretty impressive.

Firstly you get a lens cover and strap, along with a neckstrap for the camera itself. These are all essentials for the keen photographer who needs to take the camera around with him or her, snapping away randomly or as soon as the 'good shot' comes into view.
Next come USB and AV cables. These are needed to plug the camera into your television to view photos and videos on there, and also to plug into your personal computer to make use of the Kodak Easyshare software (which also comes included).
The software really does make organising, saving, editing and printing your photos as easy as 1,2,3 and is as reputable a brand as you're likely to find in the imaging industry.

The battery charger and regchargeable battery come included also, and make it very simple to bring the camera back to a primed and ready status for more recording and snapping away.

You also have a 'getting started kit'. This is ideal for all those of you (are there any left?) who like to read the manual before so much as laying a finger on the item, betraying it's crisp and clean packaging and shiny silver lining. (I think I'm getting confused with a chocolate review here. Please forgive me, but the camera really is THAT SWEET!!)

What about the quality of the image?
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As I mentioned earlier, the image records at 6 megapixels, so you need to be thinking about TV or near-to-TV quality for most of the recordings and still photos. The great thing is that it records at 30 frames per second which in English means that you are unlikely to have jerky, sudden movements very often in your video recordings. The format is MPEG-4 format which would run on Quicktime on a PC for example.

With a 12x Optical zoom and the ability to take video recordings, freeze it at a point and print out a still of the freeze frame - you are extremely unlikely to have a bad image unless you have in some may misused the camera and not worked under the right conditions (e.g. if you're snapping away in a thunderstorm under lots of rain, you should still get quality images but you may encounter a reduction in clarity. Not to mention you may damage your camera due to the water).

Be forewarned though that some users of the camera have found that there is a slight loss of detail when recording in a high-contrast mode. This I haven't experienced myself, but I thought it best to mention in the event that it is a widespread issue. From what I've been told however, the loss is minimal and would only be very obvious to the trained eye of a regular photographer. Even then, it surpasses most of the other rivals out there in producing a crisp and sharp image.

Oh and by the way, when shooting with a full zoom activated, you can often find that there is no blur to be seen at all. This is amazing as far as I'm concerned, and clearly is to many others too as the general public gathered around and listened in to the demonstration the sales rep was giving me.

What is the coolest feature?
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Well this is a hard one to call. I would argue that the ability to freeze video and take snapshots from it as photos is pretty cool but there may be something that pips this to the finishing line as the frontrunner......

The IMAGE STABILISER. Cue images of a photo with little wheels at the sides while it learns to balance.

This does exactly what it says so in the name. You can record a lengthy video and have the inevitable hand movements and twitches ironed out automatically, so that the video is steady for viewing. How absolutely excellent is that ????
For someone like me trying my hand at a new and yet unfamiliary piece of technology, this was a saving grace and helped me adjust to the camera and take some cracking photos and videos (that's right, I said CRACKING! My videos are just too cool. LOL).

The redeye reduction feature (also comes as standard! woohoo!) is another contender as this should ensure that you come off looking more like a human being and less like a demon from the underworld, staring with that red-hot gaze at anyone who dares look at a photo of you.

When taking into account the relatively light-weight of the device at 300g and the 2.5in bright colour screen, I think that the camera is very good value. The price too is appealing at between 200 and 300 pounds, depending on where and when you were to purchase one.

Where and when should I buy?
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Both of these points are risky as you can always find a pricedrop the moment after you have bought something. I would personally check out kelkoo.co.uk or pricerunner.co.uk and compare the prices. Both of these search engines will compare the costs both on the internet and the high street.
While it's tempting to go straight into a photo-store, I would do some research first and then offer them the business, asking them to price-match if neccessary.

It's possible that there will be some price reduction after Christmas, but then again this doesn't usually happen until a few months into the year. By then, there may be something even better available. A bit like buying a car isn't it? If you held out for the best model, you would NEVER make a purchase at all, ever.

I'd highly recommend the Kodak EasyShare Z612 to both amateur and professional photographers and also anyone with a passing interest, and a few hundred to spare.
When buying it though, give some consideration to buying a Multimedia Card or SD memory card if you're planning on saving images and video. The 32mb memory that comes internally as standard wont get you very far, and it would be a shame to have to delete images and video all the time.

Hopefully, this has been a help to you all. Excuse the non-technical nature of the review. I could have gone into all the dimensions in cm etc but to be frank, I'm still learning myself and so I hope that others like myself can relate to my position in writing this review.

Happy snapping folks!!

 

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