REVIEW : KODAK EASYSHARE V1273

The Kodak EASYSHARE V1273 was launched in early January 2008. With the launch of this model, Kodak reaffirms its philosophy- You press the button, Well do the rest.

DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY

The Kodak EASYSHARE V1273 is a well-designed compact with the outer shell made from engineering plastic and metal. The design is sleek with minimalist buttons and the camera can be carried easily in a shirt pocket. The edges and corners and rounded, providing a nice comfortable grip. The camera is attractive except for the cheap-looking plastic sticker in the front. The tripod mount is made from metal.

KEY FEATURES

The Kodak EASYSHARE V1273 is a 12-megapixel compact using a 1/1.72-inch Type CCD senson. The camera boasts a SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON 3x zoom lens equivalent to 37-111mm in the 35mm format. The lens incorporates an optical image stabilizer along with blur-reduction technology that minimizes blur caused by subject movement. The camera has minimum number of buttons and instead has a large 3-inch LCD touch screen display with a user interface that requires a bit of practice before it appears user friendly. Basically, there are four shooting modes you can select from: Smart Capture, Program, Scene, and Movie.

Smart Capture Mode:

This mode is for general picture taking. Using Kodaks Perfect Touch technology (which image are enhanced during capture/review), this mode also detects faces, while the scene is analyzed for subject matter and lighting. You can even opt between various aspect ratio: 3:2, 16:9, and 4:3 (default setting).

Program Mode:

The Program mode allows creative control of images, wherein you have access to all picture taking settings.

Scene mode:

As the name suggests, this is a scene-related shooting mode. Available scenes are: Portrait, Panorama (left to right), Panorama (right to left), Blur reduction, Sport, Landscape, Close-up (closer than 70cms/28-inches) Night Portrait, Night Landscape, Snow, Beach, Text, Fireworks, Flower (general flower pictures in bright light), Manor/Museum, Self-portrait, High ISO, Children, Backlight, Panning shot, Candle light, and Sunset.

Video Mode:

For video clips with sound. As you can change the aspect ratios, the megapixel ratings change too. At 4:3 aspect ratio, the camera offers 12, 5, 3.1, or 1.2-megapixel output. At 3:2 aspect ratio, you get either 10.7MP or 2.2MP; at 16.9 aspect ratio, its either 9MP or 2.1MP. Color mode can be set to High, Natural, Low, Black and White or Sepia. Autofocus can be set to single or continuous. The V1273 lets you select the following Whte Balance settings: Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, or Open shade. Metering can be set to Multi-pattern, Center-weighted or Spot, while ISO can be set to Auto, ISO 64 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, or 3200. Autofocus can be either Multi-zone, Center-zone. The V1273 has a bult-in flash that offers the following flash modes: Auto, Fill (not available in Smart Capture mode), Red-eye Reduction and Off. The camera uses SD or SDHC card and also has a 32MB internal memory for storing images. Images can be tagged during viewing (for example, birthday, holiday or wedding) and they can be viewed in high definition on an HDTV.

ERGONOMICS

The V1273 takes a while to get accustomed to the Touch-Screen operation. The slightly recessed LCD lets you place the camera on its back without fear of scratching the LCD. The Power button too is slightly recessed, which is a good thing, as it makes it difficult to inadvertently put the camera on (for example, when putting the camera in a touch). The battery/memory card compartment door lock is a bit flimsy on our test sample, it opened up sometimes when it shouldnt have! User Interface was somewhat difficult to navigate and this was further compounded by the touch screen feature.

PERFORMANCE

The Kodak V1273 takes about one second to get ready to fire. Our testing confirmed that it is a good performer. In fact, Kodak claims that you can make a 40×30-inch print using this camera. (In all fairness, such a print should be viewed from a minimum 50-inch distance). Lets see if this claim is true. The V1273x maximum (native) resolution is 4000×3000. At the industry accepted resolution of 300dpi, that works out to a print size of 13.3×10-inches. If you need to make a 40×30-inch print, you either need to interpolate or print at a reduced dpi (which works out to 100 dpi). A printing machine like the Kodak LED II prints at 250 dpi. If you supply it with a 100 dpi resolution file, it will automatically interpolate the resolution to 250 dpi and print, For the test, we interpolated the file size to 40×30-inches and the overall image quality was good. Readers not very familiar with file upsizing may ask if the same does not hold true with other digital camera files. The quality of interpolated images has a lot to do with the data available in the original files (and the users ability with Photoshop). If the original files lack information, the interpolated files appear poor in overall quality. With the V1273, we were satisfied with the final results of the interpolated files (40×30-inches), though the image gets slightly soft. The in-built image stabilizer worked well (our test was conducted when the wind pressure was very strong and standing still was quite difficult) and the images were sufficiently sharp and with good contrast. Color rendition was neutral (We used Natural Color from the Menu). White Balance performance showed slight color casts at various White Balance settings though nothing that could not be easily corrected in Photoshop. Digital noice is well controlled up to ISO 800 but you could use the higher setting in a pinch. Barrel distortion was visible at the wide end; and so was vignetting at the corners.

And now for some brickbats: The LCD was very difficult to see clearly unless you were in total shade. Outdoors, even in cloudy dull conditions (and with the LCD at its brightest), at times I could not even see clearly what I was photographing!

On one occasion, the camera hung could not be switched off and could not proceed with picture taking. The battery had to be removed and re-inserted before normal operation re-started. Kodak must also improve the User Manual and not expect user to go to their website for the extended user guide.

VALUE FOR MONEY

The Kodak EASYSHARE V1273 is available at an MRP of Rs. 15,999/- (approx $380) At this price and performance, it is very good value for money.