Kodak EasyShare Z1012 IS

Opinion: The Kodak Z1012 IS is a surprising little camera. I picked this camera up to be used primarily for birding and general snapshots in the field. I expected my field camera would get a bit abused as cameras go and needed something that had a good zoom, but was also easy to handle while creeping through the weeds. This camera has performed well above my expectations, especially considering it's price. After comparing the Z1012 IS to the Olympus SP series and Canon S-5is, I found myself quite happy with my purchase. The auto-focus motor is fairly quiet and while the zoom isn't as quiet as Canon, it isn't annoying either. Kodak also has a "sharpness" setting in the menu which seems to tone down the noise correction a little bit, but in true Kodak fashion, noise correction will still be a bit heavy handed for "pixel peepers". The viewfinder is nice and bright, as is the LCD display. All in all, it's a great value for the money and I think it gives Olympus and Canon some competition.
Things are not all roses, however. The camera will chew through a crv-3 lithium battery in about 300 shots. Though it will accept 2 NiMH rechareable batteries, expect only about 45 shots per charge. The Kodak clic8000 Rechargeable lithium is not included with the camera. The manual barely covers any advanced camera operations, so If you'd like to know how to display the live histogram, or how to focus manually, you'll have to go to the Kodak web site. That really needs to be addresed. Beyond that, Kodak has a real winner with this camera.

Opinion: This camera has excellent image quality. With newegg.com having the camera for $218.99, I couldn't resist buying it. I am very happy with the camera so far.

Opinion: This is my wifes camera, and she loves it. It giives sharp, colorful photos. Excellent battery life when using the Li-Ion Klic-8000. HD video mode is very useable this time. A big improvement over the Z812 IS, in photo output and also video output!!!

Opinion: Excellent Camera Value

Bought this camera to replace a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 that was dropped. Both cameras had/have big optical zooms and record video - important for us.

The camera takes great pictures in good lighting. As with all small digital cameras, the small image sensor gives poor results in dim lighting conditions.

We love the 720P HD videos this camera takes. And the stereo sound is a big plus. You wouldn't think the tiny separation of the microphone ports would result in such good sound, but it does.

There are two video issues that give us some trouble. The autofocus at long focal lengths tends to wander, making the subject go in and out of focus. I think this can be solved by going to manual focus (should be easy, since the subject is usually at infinity).

The other issue is that the video file format is Apple Quicktime mov, which is incompatible with all the set-top DVD players and XBox. Xbox will play wma files and divx files in HD natively, so it's a shame the camera uses the other format. Incidentally, Fujifilm is releasing the FinePix S2000HD this month (Aug 2008) that records at 720P in avi format, which should work in an Xbox.

Overall, we're very happy with the camera.