Conclusion - Pros
- Excellent colour reproduction
- Useful 28mm equiv. wide angle
- Good Auto white balance performance
- Low red channel noise
- Excellent night shot performance (thanks to built-in noise reduction)
- Operationally fast, background buffer writing means no discernible
delays
- Elegant design
- Good controls, well thought out ergonomics (exposure compensation
dial, apertures, etc.)
- Two speed zoom control
- Easy to use menu system, good use of graphics
- Good selection of White Balance modes, innovative new manual preset
option
- Useful colour settings (four B&W modes!)
- External flash PC Sync connector
- Well built, solid case, relatively small and light
- Supplied AC Adapter / Charger
Conclusion - Cons
- Noisy images with visible (sharpening / CFA) artifacts and moiré
on fine detail
- Lens produced visible chromatic aberrations
- Some barrel distortion at wide angle
- Not enough image quality options, best quality JPEG too aggressive
- Fewer manual features / options than the competition (manual focus
etc.)
- Poor battery life, the battery is simply not powerful enough
- Poor flash coverage at full wide angle
- Slow file flush timings (though this does happen in the background)
- Below average LCD live preview
- Only three apertures
- No shutter priority, selecting shutter speeds is too laborious
- Noisy lens mechanism (zoom and focus)
Overall conclusion
Here's my rating of the Kodak DC4800: (3 megapixel compact)
Detail |
Rating (out
of 10) |
Construction |
8 |
Features |
7 |
Image quality |
7 |
Lens / CCD combination |
7 |
Ease of use |
8 |
Value for money |
8.5 |
For Kodak the DC4800 was a radical departure from the
DC260/265/290 series which used to be their flagship consumer digital
cameras. Its design is far more traditional, yet we still see elements
of Kodak innovation in the ergonomics and layout of the camera. There's
a lot to like about the DC4800, the wide 28 mm equiv. bottom end, the
exposure compensation dial, apertures on the mode dial, the innovative
new white balance controls. When it first arrived in the office I really
wanted to like the camera.
Certainly there's nothing wrong with the physical layout,
nothing too much wrong with the onboard software or processing speed but
there are enough factors I wasn't happy with for me to end up with a disappointing
feeling about the DC4800.
UPDATE 30/April/2001: Based on
this camera's new low price (<=$500) and its overall performance compared
to other cameras at this price point I've modfied it's value for money
to 8.5 and moved its rating up to an Above Average.
Above Average
So which one should I buy? A question I
get asked several times a day, and I wouldn't like to say. In a new addition
to my reviews (after the amount of feedback I normally get) I've added
a link to a specific forum in which you can discuss the review or ask
me specific questions which I've not answered in these pages.
Order
the Kodak DC4800 online from our
approved affiliate retailer State Street Direct
and help support this site and future reviews!
Want to make
sure you don't miss out on any future reviews?
Sign up for our free weekly newsletter!
Enter
the 'Kodak Talk' Discussion Forum
|
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|
|
Nov 29, 2003
|
Nov 11, 2003
|
Oct 28, 2003
|
Dec 7, 2000
|
Here's
a real bargain, a 3 megapixel, 3x optical zoom digital camera for just
$499. We noted that Kodak had recently reduce the price of the DC4800
to $599 but we also heard rumours on the PMA show floor that they would
reduce it further. Over at Amazon they're offering the DC4800 for $499
(after a $100 mail-in rebate). If this is genuine (not an Amazon mistake)
the DC4800 would become the 3 megapixel bargain of the moment. UPDATE
19/Feb/2001: Don't buy until March 2nd. UPDATE 20/Feb/2001: Offer disappears
from Amazon.Com. |
PMA
2001: Kodak today has announced a reduction in price of the DC4800 to
$599, they're also touting the advantages of the 1.04 firmware which improves
low light performance (most DC4800 owners who read this site will more
than likely already be running this firmware). |
Hot
on the heels of Kodak Japan, Kodak US have officially announced (and put
up web pages) for the DC4800 and DC5000 digital cameras. The US webpages
also carry PDF specification sheets, demos and a samples gallery for each
camera.
Kodak DC4800: 3.1mp, ISO 100/200/400, 3x optical
zoom (28-84mm), Lithium-Ion battery
Kodak DC5000: 2.1mp, ISO 100, 2x optical zoom
(30-60mm), AA batteries, rugged design |
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