Kodak EasyShare V803 reviewed, takes mediocre pictures
The new V-series cameras from Kodak are certainly stylish and come in at an attractive price but that does not make up for the lackluster performance of the new cameras.
Kodak’s V803 digital camera comes with standard issue features like a 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD display and an 8 Megapixel sensor for $200. That should set off alarms right there, an 8 Megapixel camera for $200 is bound to be trouble.
Granted, it isn’t going to perform like an $800 digital SLR but any point and shoot camera should produce “acceptable” images for viewing or printing but the V803 can’t even manage that.
The Washington post took the camera to its test “lab” and discovered that the V803 is quite far from the leader even in this class and not in a good way.
Images captured by the camera were sharp in the center but had soft edges, color accuracy was way off with poor white balance and noise was noticeable at every single ISO setting, not a good sign. Low light shots were particularly awful, even for what the camera as designed for.
The V803 had nearly the slowest startup time of any point and shoot, from time on to first image captured measured an agonizing 6.8 seconds, the autofocus system was also a slouch taking two seconds to focus and take the picture.
It does not meet modern requirements with its slow startup and focus times, a lower resolution LCD screen, noisy zoom system and a week flash unit that has trouble reaching even 10 feet.
If the still images rate horrible then the movie mode is abysmal featuring a nasty flicker resulting from a poor metering system though it does capture 640 x 480 resolution movies with sound at 30 frames per second but low light performance is non-existent.
The review is summed up like so, “The Kodak EasyShare V803 is outwardly attractive, but takes mediocre pictures. The camera’s weak components and automated modes unfortunately don’t warrant the $199 price tag.”
I’d agree with that, so if you are shopping in the $200 price range, check out the Canon PowerShot SD1000 which can be had for just over $200 online (in some cases coming bundled with a 1GB memory card) and offers everything the V803 doesn’t including better low light images, excellent overall image quality, superior movie mode and speedy performance.
It’s obvious that Kodak’s R&D division is on vacation.
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