Z990 Disappointment

Monte B. Olsen · Apr 18, 2011

I am especially disappointed in the Z990's low light abilities, to be honest. The pixelization on some slightly dark photos taken at ISO 6400 is so bad, that the shots are almost unusable. Perhaps Kodak shouldn't promise more than it can deliver with these cameras. I also tried some video. While there is no shake at 28 mm (of course,) when you use the telephoto, shake becomes impossibly bad and makes the video unviewable. Again, perhaps I just need to bite the bullet and accept that I will need a tripod in certain circumstances.

I did get a nice photo using the Macro+ on a small African Violet that my wife manages to keep alive under difficult conditions. Here's that photo.

Cooljb · Apr 18, 2011

Your pics look very nice. You can't reasonably expect a small sensor $300 camera to give you good pics at ISO 6400. I'm not even sure a DSLR would produce very good pics at that high of an ISO. We have seen some very nice pics here from the Z990 at ISO 800 - which is about all you can ask of a camera of this caliber and price.

Cooljb · Apr 18, 2011

Digital camera makers have been touting high ISO capabilities for a while (not just Kodak) and for the most part it's all been smoke and mirrors. It's marketing hype. Having said that, the Z990 does seem to produce relatively good pics at relatively high ISOs compared to similar cameras. Again, you're not going to get anything worthwhile at ISO 6400 on anything except maybe a DSLR - which is going to cost considerably more than the Z990.

Monte B. Olsen · Apr 18, 2011

Thanks for the replies. I probably should also state that I am coming from a D90 to this. The D90 was incredible in low-light conditions, of course. I guess what really had me interested in the Z990 (and I'm just learning it) was the information about the BSI sensor and Kodak's statements about how good it was under low-light conditions. I will post some more experimental photos I took if there's any interest.

There are many tweaks one can make to improve photo quality, many of which aren't even referenced in the Extended Manual, which is available online.

I really wanted to buy Kodak. As a 60-year-old f* rt, I grew up with Kodak and wanted to support the company. (Still do.)

Thanks again for the insight.

chiue · Apr 18, 2011

Monte B. Olsen said:
Thanks for the replies. I probably should also state that I am coming from a D90 to this. The D90 was incredible in low-light conditions, of course. I guess what really had me interested in the Z990 (and I'm just learning it) was the information about the BSI sensor and Kodak's statements about how good it was under low-light conditions. I will post some more experimental photos I took if there's any interest.

Please post some high ISO 6400 3200 1600 shots. I guess a lot of members here would definitely interested to see some sample.

I guess each individual has their own standard of what is acceptable with high ISO. I have a D5000 and to me, 1600 is acceptable and 3200 is a bit push.

As Cooljb mentioned, any manufacture with BSI sensor talk about how good under low-light is just a marketing hype. Yes, there are improvement but to match the DSLR level, I'm not sure.

Monte B. Olsen said:
I really wanted to buy Kodak. As a 60-year-old f* rt, I grew up with Kodak and wanted to support the company. (Still do.)

Yes, in this forum, there are lots of people want to support Kodak, however, it is Kodak who abandon us (more advance user) and concentrated on P&S user. Since Kodak dropped the P Series, quite a few members had left for something else. Now the MAX is here and generate some interest in here, hope that the MAX will do well and give Kodak some confidence to get back to the prosumer market.

--
chiue -
Nikon D5000 / Kodak P880 DX7590 Z915 DX6440 V803 C190
Kodak Digital Cameras Galleries
http://www.wix.com/chiuestar/Kodak-DC

Cooljb · Apr 18, 2011

Monte B. Olsen said:
Thanks for the replies. I probably should also state that I am coming from a D90 to this. The D90 was incredible in low-light conditions, of course. I guess what really had me interested in the Z990 (and I'm just learning it) was the information about the BSI sensor and Kodak's statements about how good it was under low-light conditions. I will post some more experimental photos I took if there's any interest.

There are many tweaks one can make to improve photo quality, many of which aren't even referenced in the Extended Manual, which is available online.

I really wanted to buy Kodak. As a 60-year-old f* rt, I grew up with Kodak and wanted to support the company. (Still do.)

Thanks again for the insight.

No problem. I too have been trying to keep supporting Kodak. I have more kodak digital cameras than I'd care to admit and love all of them for their particular strengths. I'm not quite as advanced as some of the people on the forum, but I have been pretty faithful to the brand. I do not own the Z990 but have been pretty impressed with some of the pics posted - especially the higher (relatively) ISO shots. Most small sensor digital cameras do fairly well up to maybe ISO 200. Beyond that is a crapshoot - and usually noisy, mottled, fuzzy pictures. But based on the output from the Z990 it seems the BSI CMOS lives up to at least SOME of the hype. But ISO 3200 and 6400 are kind of a stretch even with the BSI CMOS sensor.

Loraine Arnold · Apr 19, 2011

Monte,

My Z980 in super macro mode sets the focal lens at the widest angle and you cannot zoom in. Does the Z990 do the same thing? Thanks.
--
Loraine
Canon 20D, Kodak Z980, Kodak V1233
http://picasaweb.google.com/Lorain9
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorain9

bobfuses · Apr 19, 2011

in both macro and super macro mode.

Monte B. Olsen · Apr 19, 2011

Hi Lorraine,

It zooms in Macro mode (thanks to others for better information). I am finding some things I like about it, and maybe once I find the tweaks for picture quality (they are there but need some work and research to ensure I am setting them correctly), the camera may be something I will keep.

I wasn't trying to be a troll with the initial comment, but was interested in reading what others folks thought.

This is a great forum.

I will post some more photos later today or tomorrow that, hopefully, show some better quality photos.

Thanks to you and everyone for their comments.

Monte

bobfuses · Apr 19, 2011

Let me correct that. The Z990 zooms in and out in Macro Mode. It only zooms out in Super Macro Mode.

These pics were just taken on an overcast damp morning. Z990 set in P Mode no special settings, hand held. Subject is blackberry blossoms.

Macro Mode

Macro zoomed in

Super Macro

Monte B. Olsen · Apr 19, 2011

Here are some high ISO images taken last Saturday at my son's Jazz Band Festival.

Cooljb · Apr 19, 2011

For the class of camera that the Z990 is, these pics look pretty darn good at ISO 3200. I think any other small camera wouldn't look this good even at a much lower ISO setting. As far as the low light/high ISO performance of this camera I would have to say based on these and other pics that it does a pretty good job - certainly better than any others I've seen.

Cooljb · Apr 19, 2011

Very nice pics Bob - especially the 3rd one.

Jeff.

anchor722 · Apr 19, 2011

Monte-

Your photos at ISO3200 are what I would expect for the Z990. As Jeff noted those photos look to be a very good improvement in terms of high ISO image quality.

This is a $300, not a nikon D-90. I shoot with both DSLR's and P+S cameras, and photos like that would keep me pleased.

Thanks for posting those numerically high ISO photos, Nonte.

Sarah Joyce

HARISKLEITOS · Apr 19, 2011

the best high iso up to now !

Monte B. Olsen · Apr 20, 2011

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the comments. I had some at 6400, which, as you can imagine, were worse. I'll keep working with it for a while.

Monte

sigamhsoupw · Apr 20, 2011

And you're calling this 3200 iso bad? Well to me it just looks like a good improvement on the small sensored cameras. I would worry more abt the macro mode, but then again that's just me... Thanx for the samples!
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yiagosm/

Monte B. Olsen · Apr 20, 2011

I'm pretty ignorant about the small sensor cameras, obviously. I came from a D90 (Nikon), which really was outstanding in low-light conditions, so this appears to be a case where my expectations need to change.

Thanks for the comment.

Cooljb · Apr 20, 2011

Here's a good visual representation of what we're talking about when we say "small sensor".

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Camera_System/sensor_sizes_01.htm

The Z990 has a 1/2.5" sensor which is represented by the green box on the above diagram. The one on the right is the size of a typical DSLR sensor. As you can see they are both superimposed on the image a 35mm film strip to show their relative size compared to 35mm film. Having said all that, the bigger the sensor, the better quality the image will be - sharpness, dynamic range, noise, etc. And conversely, the smaller the sensor, the worse all of these become. It's somewhat analogous to the difference between different film sizes. Here's another diagram that illustrates this a little differently:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Sensor_sizes_overlaid_inside.svg

Again though the 1/2.5" sensor (which is what the Z990 has) is represented by the green box. I believe the D90's sensor would be the what is shown on this diagram as APS-H. Hope this helps.

Jeff

Cooljb · Apr 20, 2011

I'm not 100% sure but the D90 sensor might actually be closer to the APS-C on the second linked diagram. Anyway, you get the idea - it's a much bigger sensor.

Jeff.

Z990 Disappointment

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