Kodak EasyShare Z740 Digital Camera

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

I got this great camera for my better half a couple of months ago, it was a great investment as not only did it make the perfect gift, but now I get to use it as well

With its 10x optical zoom lens, 5.0-megapixel CCD, the EasyShare Z740 is a well-appointed addition to Kodak's popular EasyShare line of digital cameras. Compact and similar in style to a traditional point-and-shoot 35mm film camera, the Kodak Z740 measures only 3.9 x 3.1 x 2.9 inches (99 x 76 x 73 millimeters), without the lens extended. The camera's all-plastic body makes it light weight as well, at 12.2 ounces (347 grams) with the battery and memory card. The Kodak Z740 comes with a neck strap for carrying, which we do not use anymore as it keeps coming loose. Its compact design includes a retractable lens, protected by a removable lens cap that tethers to the camera's body (so you won't accidentally lose it while on the go). The 5.0-megapixel CCD captures high resolution, print quality images (up to 11x17 with good detail, or 8x10 with heavy cropping), as well as smaller image sizes better suited for distributing via email.

Built into the Kodak EasyShare Z740 is a whopping 10x zoom lens, equivalent to a 38-380mm zoom on a 35mm camera, with lens accessory threads for attaching accessory conversion lenses. (That's a moderate wide angle of 0.7 x multiplier, yielding about 26.6mm equivalent.) The camera's autofocus mechanism uses a multi-zone system to "find" the primary subject closest to the lens. The AF area is highlighted in the LCD display with a set of brackets. You can also change the AF area to read only the center of the frame through the Record menu. Also available through the Record menu are Single and Continuous AF modes, the Continuous option helping you maintain focus on a moving subject. The Kodak Z740 has a maximum aperture ranging from f/2.8 to f/3.7, depending on the zoom position. Focus ranges from 24 inches (60 centimeters) to infinity in normal mode, with a Macro mode ranging from 3.9 to 27.6 inches (12 to 70 centimeters). (The minimum Macro focus distance depends on the zoom setting.) A Landscape focus mode fixes focus at infinity, for distant subjects and scenery. In addition to the 10x optical zoom, the Kodak Z740 also offers as much as 5x digital zoom, which effectively increases the camera's zoom range to a total of 50x. Keep in mind though, that digital zoom decreases the overall image quality, since it just stretches the center pixels of the CCD image. For composing images, the Z740 offers an electronic optical viewfinder (EVF) as well as a 1.8-inch color LCD monitor.

The Kodak EasyShare Z740 offers full manual exposure control, as well as a range of partial manual and automatic exposure modes. The Mode dial on the rear panel offers options of Movie, PASM, Scene, Auto, Sports, Portrait, and Night Scene exposure modes. While Auto mode is best for general photography, leaving all of the exposure decisions up to the camera, the PASM option provides access to Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual exposure modes. Program mode lets you control options such as white balance and exposure compensation while the camera handles the basic aperture and shutter speed settings. Aperture and Shutter Priority modes let you control either aperture or shutter speed, while the camera selects the appropriate corresponding variable. As you'd expect, Manual mode provides complete user control over the exposure, with shutter speeds ranging from 1/1,700 to eight seconds (0.5 to 8 seconds are user-selectable; auto mode delivers 1/8 to 1/1,700). The Scene exposure mode offers no less than 14 preset shooting modes, including Children, Party, Beach, Flower, Fireworks, Snow, Backlight, Close-up, Night Portrait, Landscape, Night Landscape, Manner/Museum (for indoor settings without flash), Text, and Self-Portrait (for pointing the camera back at yourself). The more frequently used scene modes (Sports, Portrait, and Night) have their own designated places on the Mode dial.

The Kodak EasyShare Z740 employs a Multi-Pattern metering system, which bases the exposure on several light readings taken throughout the frame. Also available are Center-Weighted and Center-Spot modes. You can increase or decrease the overall exposure from -2 to +2 exposure equivalents (EV) in one-half-step increments. White balance options include Auto, Daylight, Open Shade, Tungsten, and Fluorescent settings, which take advantage of Kodak's proprietary Color Science technology to achieve an accurate color balance under most lighting. An ISO setting offers light-sensitivity setting equivalents of 80, 100, 200, 400, and 800 (with the 800 setting only available at the Good picture quality setting). An Auto setting is also available, whose range is limited to 80 to 160 ISO equivalents. The Kodak Z740 also offers Black and White and Sepia color modes, and High, Natural, and Low color saturation settings. You can also adjust the in-camera sharpening. The built-in pop-up flash is effective from two to 16 feet (0.6 to 4.9 meters) at ISO 168, depending on the setting of the zoom lens. (In our own testing, it worked great out to a distance of 14 feet, at ISO 80.) The flash operates in Auto, Fill, Red-Eye Reduction, and Off modes. A two- or 10-second Self-Timer mode provides a delay between the time the Shutter button is pressed and when the shutter actually opens, so you can get into your own shots.

In addition to its still photography modes, the Kodak EasyShare Z740 also offers a Movie recording mode for capturing moving images with sound. Recording stops and starts with a brief, full press of the Shutter button, but if you hold the button down for more than a second or two, the camera will automatically stop recording when you let it back up again. As you record, the duration of the movie appears in a running counter on the LCD monitor. Maximum movie lengths depend on the amount of memory space available. (The 32 megabytes of internal memory will let you record movies up to three minutes and 23 seconds in length.) Movies can be recorded at 320 x 240 or 640 x 480 pixels, at 20 and 13 frames-per-second respectively. Like most digital cameras that record movies with sound, the Kodak Z740 disables its zoom control while a movie is being recorded. (This keeps noise from the zoom motor from affecting the sound track.) A Burst photography mode lets you capture as many as five frames in rapid succession (approximately two frames per second) while you hold down the Shutter button, with First and Last settings. First saves the first five images taken, while Last saves only the last four in the series. The five-frame maximum number applies regardless of resolution, but may be hindered depending on how much available space is on the memory card or internal memory.

The camera also features an SD/MMC memory card slot so you can expand the camera's memory capacity. I highly recommend picking up at least a 256-megabyte card right away, given the camera's 2,576 x 1,932-pixel maximum image size, though cards are currently available as large as 2 gigabytes. Also packaged with the Kodak Z740 are USB and AV cables, as well as a software CD loaded with the EasyShare software for downloading and managing images.

Basic Features

-5.0-megapixel CCD delivering images as large as 2,576 x 1,932 pixels.
-Electronic optical viewfinder.
-1.8-inch color LCD monitor.
-10x, 38-380mm (35mm equivalent) lens.
-5x digital zoom.
-Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual exposure modes, plus 17 preset Scene modes.
-White Balance with five settings.
-Maximum aperture of f/2.8 to f/3.7, depending on lens zoom position.
-Shutter speeds from 1/1,700 to eight seconds, depending on exposure mode.
-Built-in pop-up flash with four modes.
-32MB internal memory.
-SD/MMC card storage (optional, card not included).
-Kodak EasyShare software included for both Windows and Mac platforms.

Special Features

-Movie mode (with sound).
-Burst photography mode.
-Black and White and Sepia color modes, as well as three color settings.
-Adjustable ISO from 80 to 800, with an Auto setting.
-10-second Self-Timer for delayed shutter release.
-Image sharpness adjustment.
-Three AF area modes, plus Single and Continuous AF modes.
-Macro (close-up) lens setting.
-Accessory lens thread.
-DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compatibility.
-USB cable for connection to a computer (driver software included).

Happy Shopping!

Kodak EasyShare Totally Explained