kodak z612 |
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Details at a glance
Megapixels: 6.1
Zoom: 12x (opt), 4.2x (dig)
LCD screen: 2.5 inch
Storage: SD/MMC (32mb int)
Size: 104 x 74 x 69mm
Weight: 300g
(full details at bottom of the page)
We clicked with
Eyepiece viewfinder, image stabilisation, h-u-g-e zoom, great image quality and full manual controls as well as a sensible set of scene modes.
Shots in the dark
Body is rather cramped, some controls are illogical, focussing can take some getting used to, defocused areas of pictures can look smeared.
Links
More Kodak information
www.kodak.co.uk
Price Comparison:
Kodak EasyShare z612
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Part of Kodak's bridge camera range the z612 weighs in with a 12 times optical zoom and image stabilisation. There's an eyepiece viewfinder and full manual controls to keep the purists happy.
Features
The z612 is a bridge camera - it is supposed to bridge the gap between compact cameras such as the Kodak “v” range and a digital SLR. As such it has some of the features you would expect in a top end SLR but in a more compact body. The camera has most of the features you would expect but here are some that set it apart from its rivals.
Huge zoom range
The slightly larger body of the z series allows Kodak to use a conventional moving zoom lens rather than their cunning twin lens system seen for example on the v610. The lens is an impressive Schneider Kreuznach, which goes from 35mm to 420mm. 35mm should get you some nice landscapes since it's a slightly wide angle (eyesight is normally taken to be 50mm). 420mm should be plenty long enough for the wildlife fanatics. At the bottom of this review you will see two beach scenes - one shows a boat far off in the distance, the other is a close up of the same boat. These were taken at opposite ends of the zoom from the same place.
Image stabilisation
With a lens that long you might think you would have trouble holding it still. The z612 has image stabilisation. This is the not the software kind of stabilisation often fund on compacts - it's the hardware optical image stabilisation found in some SLRs and lenses. It seems to work well. I was able to handhold the camera at speeds much slower than I would expect and still get nice sharp pictures.
Eyepiece viewfinder
The screen on the back of the z612 is pretty good. It is claimed to be an indoor/outdoor display and it's true that it works well in both dim light and bright sunlight. However, there will be times when it won't do the job and an eyepiece will work better. The one in the z612 is particularly good. It has 202,000 pixels which is a lot for a camera of this level and works well. When panning with the camera the screen flickers a little but there's non of the sea sickness inducing lag present in some other models.
My only reservation on it is that I tend to pull cameras right into my eye for added stability. If you do this on the z612 then it can look a little blurred.
Mechanical mode dial
You'll read below about the different modes of the camera. Switching from one to another is accomplished by rotating a wheel control. Turn it a couple of clicks and you move from aperture priority to shutter priority or auto or scene mode. This is a feature that's been disappearing as cameras become smaller and smaller but is so much faster than fiddling for a button or worse looking for a menu option.
On test
Handling
The z612 is small - and I'm not sure it's small in a good way. As you'd expect from a bridge camera, it is substantially more bulky than a compact. Where you'd expect a compact to slip into your pocket, the z612 needs you either to carry it by a strap or in a bag. However, I found it just a little too small for comfort. I have small hands but when I took it in a natural grip the shutter release was under my knuckle rather than my finger tip. To be able to use the camera comfortably I had to hold it in a very loose grip and this made me a little worried that I was either going to drop the camera or get cramp in my hand.
Again, it's no surprise that a camera of this specification is made of plastic but it seems to be the kind of plastic that can stand up to being handled without showing marks or scratching easily. The same isn't true of the lens cap. Turn the camera on and its lens extends a little. If you have left the lens cap on then it will smartly disengage to allow you to take pictures - OK, it falls off. Do this a few times and the cap will definitely look the worse for wear.
Other than that handling is fine - buttons are easily accessible (if little close together) and in sensible places. The 4 way selector on the back is a little awkward. It's low down so you will stretch to reach it with your thumb and the amount of movement is tiny. This isn't a control you will want to use while wearing gloves.
Image quality
After the disappointment of the way the camera handles the image quality is quite a pleasant surprise. The lens appears to pick up lots of detail and the image stabilisation works well. All my test shots were pleasantly exposed and rather better than I expected given the huge amount of zoom built in.
Chromatic aberration (aka “purple fringing”) was almost absent from normal pictures. I managed to provoke it by shooting some very high contrast pictures (dark leaves against a bright sky) and it provided a little more purple fringing then the v610 I tested on the same day. It seems that the long zoom isn't quite as good at controlling this as the twin lenses. Having said that, it isn't something that would ruin too many real world shots.
Again I felt that the images were a little soft out of the camera but this may actually be a good thing. Modern printing methods are set up to cope with slightly soft images and soft pictures have fewer problems with jpeg artefacts than super sharp ones. If you are printing at home then a little sharpening will be required but for mini labs the files should produce acceptable prints without editing.
Similar to other Kodak cameras, the out of focus detail looks a little smeary or plasticky and this may limit you to making smaller prints than you might imagine. It should certainly be happy at A4 but you will need the right subject and to think carefully about depth of field if you want top quality prints at Kodak's stated maximum of 30 X 40 inches.
Shooting
The spec sheet doesn't list a start up time for the z612 but it seems to take around 3 - 4 seconds from first press of the power switch to being ready - longer if you have to pick the lens cap off the floor...
Shutter lag is a respectable 0.3 seconds. Shot to shot time is quite good at 1 second. The camera offers 14 scene modes for different shooting scenarios such as beach, night landscape and sunset. You can also access sports and night portrait mode from the mechanical dial. Night portrait is a very odd choice to put here - I would have been less surprised to see macro mode, which instead is on a separate button. There is also full control with manual, aperture priority, shutter priority and program mode as well as a fully automatic setting.
S, A and M modes can be a little fiddly to use because these rely on a second thumbwheel. This is tiny and needs not only rotating but pressing in to access various settings. I found I was able to rotate it easily enough but to press it in I constantly had to change my grip on the camera.
As with other Kodaks, the info button lets you choose 4 different display modes. These range from a minimalist focus area only up to focus area, shooting information, alignment grid and live histogram. All of these work just the same if you are using the display screen or the viewfinder so you can get feedback on any aspect of the camera.
Battery life is fine at 2 - 300 shots per charge though the default setting of continuous auto focus eats through that. If you want to get closer to 300 shots than 200 you will need to turn the camera into single focussing mode.
What's not to like
I've already talked about the handling - to put it simply if you have big hands you are going to hate this camera. That's probably true of most bridge cameras - there are simply too many buttons to fit onto a small body for comfort.
I found a couple of strange things whilst I was testing the camera in the field. Firstly, it will let you take shots that are wildly out of focus. There is a fancy multi point focus system that shows you which areas of the picture have focus locked on them. If the camera can't auto focus then it will warn you but will not lock the shutter. This could be useful in some circumstances but caused me to take a lot of out of focus macro shots until I got used to this and the minimum focus distance.
The second is the flash and this really takes a bit of getting used to. In shutter priority and manual modes the options are flash, no flash and red eye flash. In aperture and program (and most of the scene modes) all these options are available plus automatic. This means that if you set the flash to automatic and change to shutter priority it turns on. The answer of course is to keep an eye on the flash symbol but it might catch you out if you swap modes quickly.
As with most cameras of this size, the pop up flash gives very hard shadows. The red eye reduction works by making a pre flash and then a main flash. As with all red eye reduction flashes the results from this aren't wonderful. The answer would be to use an external flash but there is no connection for an external flash so this is really your only option.
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I really thought I was going to hate this camera. It is small and plasticky and a lot of the controls can be quite fiddly. I forgave it a lot of this when I saw the pictures. The camera delivers some really nice images and the zoom has a fantastic range. Image stabilisation is essential on a camera this small with a 420mm lens but I'm pleased to say that it works well and removes a lot of blur from pictures. The screen is very pleasant to use and the eyepiece is great. It's a little flickery in low light but it gains up nicely so that you can always see what is going on regardless of how bright or dark the day.
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Kodak z612 specs
| Mega-pixels: | 6.1 |
Photo: | JPEG |
| Optical Zoom: | 12x |
RAW: | No |
| Digital Zoom: | 4.2x |
Aperture: | f/2.8-4.8 |
| LCD: | 2.5 inch |
Focal Length: | equiv. 35-420mm |
| Dimensions: | 104 x 74 x 69mm |
Shutter speed: | 16 sec to 1/1000 |
| Weight: | 300g |
Exposure: | ISO 80 to 800 |
| Storage: | SD/MMC (32mb int) |
Movie: | AVI (640x480@30fps) |
| Battery: | Li-Ion KLIC-8000 |
Microphone: | Yes |
| Interface: | USB 2.0, AV |
PictBridge: | Yes |
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Included accessories: Li-Ion Battery KLIC-8000, Battery Charger K8500, USB and AV cables, Lens cap with strap, Neck strap, KODAK EASYSHARE Software, Getting Started Kit, Custom camera insert for optional KODAK EASYSHARE Camera and Printer Docks |
