Kodak sues Panasonic and JVC over image sensors
Sometimes I wonder why we all just can’t get along. In the case of Kodak, it is claiming that both Panasonic and JVC have infringed on patents owned by the company.
It’s not just about the image sensors, it also wants to seek damages in addition to the image sensors regarding, image compression, storage, selectable image size and preview.
I think Kodak needs to wake up a little. All cameras have a selectable image size, all cameras store date on some type of memory card, just how many ways can the same data be written? Most cameras have some sort of “image preview” before capture. What is Kodak’s point?
Let’s look at it this way, Kodak used to make good cameras, its current line is just poor to mediocre, at best, in regards to image quality but it has the whole “ease of use” thing down. In my opinion that doesn’t really matter when your image sensors are below par as well as the noise compression algorithms. The current crop of cameras from Kodak are poor performers seeing as how the new models produce images that could be considered noisy and grainy under the best conditions.
Even if Panasonic and JVC have infringed on Kodak’s patents in some way, from a technological standpoint, Panasonic is doing something very vastly different from Kodak because images from the Lumix line of cameras could beat the best of the current Kodak line, any day of any year.
JVC does not make digital cameras though some of its camcorders are capable of capturing digital stills.
If anything, Kodak should be served a class action lawsuit for producing a line of cameras that are really below the current industry average. The old V-series circa 2005 were excellent units, two years later we have little more than junk from a once great company.
If you can find an older model Kodak then go for it but avoid the new M-series, V-series and Z-series, specifically the Z885. The Z712 is okay but the LCD display on it is grainy, not terribly bright and can be hard to view.
Or just avoid Kodak completely and buy something else, how about a Lumix?
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