Kodak to launch a 24x ultra zoom with 12 megapixels
By Gareth Powell
The new Kodak Z980 digital camera will be available in the spring for about $399.95 which is how marketing people spell $400. It has an incredible wide-angle to telephoto zoom at 24X.
Important to note this is an optical zoom, not a digital zoom. Or, if you prefer, a genuine zoom as opposed to marketing nonsense. A digital zoom does nothing much for anyone but is a marketing point. An optical zoom gives you the same range as if you carried a bag full of different lenses.
True, the quality might not be quite as good as with individual lenses but the advantage of having a compact camera with all the gubbins built-in makes the argument into a nonsense.
Indeed, as this is a Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon lens I would be willing to say few people could tell the difference. Further it has image stabilization built in.
Perhaps that should be explained. Image stabilization sounds like marketing jargon but it is not. Image stabilization will often permit the use of shutter speeds 3–4 stops slower (which means exposures 8–16 times longer).
Then it gets a bit technical but hang in there. To determine the slowest shutter speed possible for hand-holding without noticeable blur due to camera shake you take the reciprocal of the effective focal length of the lens.
An example will be helpful. At a focal length of 125 mm, vibration or camera shake would affect sharpness if the shutter speed was slower than 1/125 second. With image stabilization you could make that 1/15 or 1/8 second with almost the same quality.
But note carefully that image stabilization does not prevent motion blur caused by the movement of the subject or by extreme movements of the camera. What it is there for is reducing blur that results from normal, minute shaking of a lens due to hand-held shooting.
Would you use it at the telescopic end of the range? Perhaps. Possibly. Maybe. If it was a sunny day and you could add stability by leaning against something it would be worth giving it a go.
With this camera you should experiment and find out what the limitations are for you. Some people can hold cameras rock steady — possibly because they are built like a brick outhouse and have a low center of gravity. With this camera you need to play around a bit to find out what you can do.
It also boasts a 76mm (3-inch) screen and shoots high-definition video.
The Z980 has a detachable vertical grip. Turn the camera on its side, it has a comfy grip and a second shutter button. Great for portrait shooting.
In a sense this is a point and shoot camera but it has a lot of pro features. It has been referred to as a bridge camera being between true point and shoot and true DSLR. If anything will hold it back it is the Kodak name which is not normally associated with superb imagery and does not give the camera owner bragging rights. Pity, because the Kodak Z980 is inexpensive and has all the technical smarts to let you take great pictures.
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January 7th, 2009
This review was informative, if slightly “dumbed down”; but maybe I’m misunderstanding cliche humor as a slight air of condescension I disagree with the writer on one point. He claims “the Kodak name is not normally associated with superb imagery”. This is untrue. Kodak is a world-class imaging company and makes some extremely high-end cameras, and tons of top-of-the-line imaging equipment, and has done so for many, many years. The Kodak name has fallen from the top of the heap because of the company’s lack of competitiveness with foreign manufacturers, but it still is a name that garners respect, if not “bragging-rights”. Well, while you are out there bragging to others about the name brand of your over-priced camera, I’ll be out there snapping amazingly beautiful, high-res photos with my Z980, with plenty of money left over for a bunch of matte finish 11×17″ prints!!! Thanks for reading!
Eddie D. (Rochester, NY)
January 7th, 2009
A fair comment. As yet I am not sure of the expertise of the readers. I can write it high tech working on the assumption that readers do understand the complexities of, say, image stabilization. So far I have seen nothing to suggest this.
I am not alarmed at it being called ‘cliche humor’. Most humor is cliched. You can only go original and out on a limb when you know the audience.
The ’slight air of condescension’ worries me. That accusation has never been made before but even if one reader detects it than it is a warning signal. I will try to do better next time. And yes that sentence is a cliche but it is not condescending and it is true.
January 9th, 2009
Thanks for the plain English explanations. I’m neither dumb nor a techno whiz and appreciate explanations I can relate to - they’re not that easy to come by.
January 9th, 2009
Margaret
That is most kind of you and cheers me up no end.