Kodak DC4800 Review, Phil Askey, October 2000

Review based on a production Kodak DC4800, Firmware Version 1.04

A radical design change compared to the DC260/265/290. Kodak hit the press rooms with the DC4800 on 6th June this year, with a 3x optical zoom, 3 megapixel sensor and various manual features (though not overloaded) the DC4800 marked a new design and marketing ethos for Kodak. Looking far more traditional than their previous "square front" designs, the DC4800 has the curvy lines and cool metallic finish you'd expect of a quality product.

The DC4800 also doesn't feature the Digita operating system Kodak implemented in the DC260/ 265/ 290 series, the use of which has always been a mixed blessing.

FIRMWARE UPDATE: Half way through this review Kodak released firmware version 1.04, this review is now based on a camera using that firmware, all comparison images were re-shot using this new firmware and all timings updated (no changes).

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Photographs of the camera were taken with a Canon EOS-D30, images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 1024 x 768 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Adobe Gamma at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This review is Copyright 2000 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.