DX6490 on it's last legs. What to get now?

Hey guy's

I bought the DX6490 when it first came out. It was my favorite camera. I upgraded to a DSLR and gave the camera to my mother. She still has it and uses it daily. Recently she dropped it and the lens is all screwed up. So my question to you Kodak lovers is what Kodak camera out there now can compete with the beautiful 4 Mega Pixel DX6490. I mean I have not seen a point and shoot compare in IQ and Color. Is there one close? She loves this camera and I do not want to buy her another used one. Thanks for your time. By the way, she just e-mailed me with some pictures from Florida and even with the lens broken it still takes great pictures. Man.... I wished they made them like that all the time.

Dominick
--

The 5 megapixel Z740 isn't mentioned here as much as the P880, but I liked the 38mm EFL to 380mm EFL range. I got good pictures, especially in bright lighting. I don't know if anyone can see the slightly darkened spot in the third picture in the sky near the water, but that eventually went away. I thought it might have been a some dust in the camera.

Here's a few sample pictures.

Kodak Z740, Velma Lakes near Lake Tahoe, California



Kodak Z740, cloudy day near Cape Lookout State Park, Oregon



Kodak Z740, Cannon Beach, Oregon



Kodak Z740, Beaverton, Oregon



Kodak Z740, cloudy day in Portland, Oregon

Great work with the Z740. I like them all.

I know how you feel Dominick, I've been "retro-ing" back to older Kodaks because they're just so special. Digirame has done some excellent work with his 740, but the newer models suffer from too many megs on a small sensor (IMO). Chuie has posted some nice shots from the C190, and you might look at the z915 or z950 or even the Z980 if she would like a super zoom. rick

Thanks for the replies guy's. :> ) I will look into those cameras.

--

djrocks66 said:

I bought the DX6490 when it first came out. It was my favorite camera. I upgraded to a DSLR and gave the camera to my mother. She still has it and uses it daily. Recently she dropped it and the lens is all screwed up. So my question to you Kodak lovers is what Kodak camera out there now can compete with the beautiful 4 Mega Pixel DX6490. I mean I have not seen a point and shoot compare in IQ and Color. Is there one close?

Click to expand...

I don't know what you've been comparing it to but it isn't difficult to find something with better image quality. The DX6490 is 6 years old and has a tiny 1/2.5" sensor.

The closest to the DX6490 in Kodak's current lineup are the Z915, Z950 and Z980.

The Z915 doesn't have manual controls or an electronic viewfinder and its lens is slower than the DX6490's. But it does have image stabilisation to compensate for the slower lens and it is smaller and lighter.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1201777@N25/pool/

The Z950 is much the same as the Z915 but it has a smaller sensor so I'd rule it out.

The Z980 is more like the DX6490. The only real let down with the Z980 is it has too many megapixels for the sensor size. I'll let you decide whether this is a problem from the images.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/z980/pool/

The Fuji S200EXR isn't much more expensive than the Z980 and is the best current model of this kind of camera. It is around double the weight though.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1246115@N22/pool/

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=kodak_dx6490%2Ckodak_z915%2Ckodak_z980%2Cfujifilm_s200exr&show=all

djrocks66 said:

She loves this camera and I do not want to buy her another used one.

Click to expand...

The key is why does she love it. Is it the electronic viewfinder, manual controls, zoom, ergonomics? Does she mind what size and weight the camera is? If you can find out which features she does and doesn't care for then you can find out which is the most appropriate model for her. If she is only interested in image quality then this is the wrong class of camera.

You can say what ever you want about the 6490 sensor size but it produced some of the best out of camera jpegs back then and still beats many of today's larger sensor point and shoot cameras. I have been through many point and shoots in the last 5 years and returned most of them. I don't know if it was the lens or the sensor or both but they got it right back then. I guess 4MP on a smaller sensor is ok. Anyway.... My mom is just used to it and does not like change so I was hoping there was another recent Kodak similar.

Thanks, Dominick

--

Note that Dpreview gave the Kodak Z740 a "recommended" rating, but sorted it with the "above average" cameras (I believe it's sorted in error that way). There are some shortcomings with this camera, and I think the review was pretty accurate. But since I didn't pay a lot for it, and I learned to work within its limitations, it did very well. Soon afterward, I purchased the Sony H2, which was one of those "highly recommended" P&S cameras that could be found, so I used both of them at the same time before I got my DSLR cameras. For landscape pictures at the beach, there were some times I preferred the Kodak Z740, but the Sony H2 was such a stunning performer. The Sony H2 did better in low light situations, especially when using the zoom. Now, it's hard to find any P&S camera, that is in the "highly recommended" category, compared to the DSLR cameras.

Here's a couple of photos of the Columbia River Gorge, taken from Beacon Rock in Washington State in late August of 2008.

Kodak Z740



Kodak Z740

Why not a similar model using the same battery and charger? At least, you'd be salvaging some parts of the DX6490 with a battery and charger to spare.