Best Rating Kodak EasyShare Max Z990 Digital Still Camera – Black (12MP BSI CMOS, 30x Optical Zoom) 3.0 inch HVGA LCD – Review & Rating
- -
Z990 Max Digital CameraIf you love taking pictures then the KODAK EASYSHARE MAX Camera is exactly what you’re looking for. When inspiration strikes whether in direct sunlight or sitting by a campfire this high-performance camera—jammed full of features—makes it a breeze to capture what you see. The result? Crisp beautiful pictures that boost your reputation as the best photographer in the family if not the neighborhood. And thanks to Kodak’s Share button and the world’s only digital ca
List Price: £299.99
Surprisingly good,
I was dubious about buying the Z990 because Kodak doesn’t have a very impressive history when it comes to digital cameras, and because virtually every review I’ve seen has criticized the sensitivity of the buttons. Remarks like: ‘One of the biggest issues with the Z990 is the buttons and switches being so unresponsive. If you want to shoot in a hurry, forget it. Choose a different camera’ are not uncommon. In addition, I was wondering what I’d get for the very modest price Kodak is asking. I have owned DSLRs and other bridge cameras. The latter usually are a difficult compromise between size, cost and quality – with the lack of the quality usually winning out.
But I am very pleasantly surprised with Z990. It is very nicely compact, feels solid and sits well in my (big) hands. The quality of the pictures it produces is superb – and at almost any focal length: even at the very long 840mm, where the image stabilising is very successful too. Noise is very well supressed, even quite high up the ISO range.
Those buttons: frankly I have no idea what those reviews are talking about. They respond in the same way as any other camera, with no delays. The menu system is reasonably uncomplicated, with most of the commands readily to hand. The 3″ screen is viewable even in sunlight, and the EVF is useful.
I am impressed with the battery life, which looks likely to live up to Kodak’s 500 picture estimate. As they are standard Ni-MH batteries, they recharge in about a couple of hours.
I have owned the Z990 for only a few weeks, so maybe issues will arise with heavier use, but, so far, I’m very happy with it. The only – minor – downsides I’ve come across so far is the lack of an option to use filters or an external flash, although it comes supplied with a lens hood.
Before buying, I needed to find an answer to a couple of queries from Kodak. What followed was not a happy experience. For the first call I was put through to Africa where the person didn’t understand my question, and put the phone down on me. The second took me to Scandinavia (isn’t it fun travelling around the world?) where the support person was very pleasant but said this model hadn’t been released in her neck of the woods, so couldn’t help me. Bear in mind, I had rung a UK number. I hope I don’t have a problem with the camera; I’m not looking forward to going through that again. Because of that, I’ve knocked off a star. The camera itself is worth five.
But for the money you get a lot – both in terms of features and quality.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Try before you buy,
I bought this camera because I wanted a good quality SLR type camera for when a compact just isn’t good enough. I have owned it for 3 weeks and after using it on holiday I’m disappointed for the following reasons.
1. The preview seems to last for ever so you miss shots or have a lot of frustrated people waiting around for you to take the next picture.
2. The supplied software attempts to download all your pictures as soon as you connect to your PC. You can’t drag and drop or copy and paste. I have received a long fix from Kodak but it doesn’t work. Using a card reader has the same result – you have to close the application in the 10 seconds you are allowed before you get them all again.
3. The colour rendition is poor in some circumstances. Bright red flowers come out yellow and red sunsets come out pink.
4. You can’t attach filters or lens hood as far as I can tell.
5. The supplied Kodak batteries are almost useless as the go flat after fewer than 100 pictures. The supplied charger takes over 12 hours to achieve this.
On the positive side, the zoom is very powerful and the many different modes seem to work OK.
On balance there is little gain over my 5 year old 8 MP Olympus 800 and a lot of extra weight to carry about including spare batteries.
Ralph Armsby
Was this review helpful to you?
|Oh dear,
Camera absolutely first class.
Captures pictures other products cannot find.
Photograph vapour trail of aircraft at 40000 feet. Enlarge resultant
picture taken at 30x and identify aircraft type!
Alas battery charger no good – stopped working after a few minutes.
Examined back of it through magnifing glass – it is rated for 120v mains,
UK is 240 volt!!!!!!!!!!!
Waiting replacement.
Was this review helpful to you?
|