Viewfinder (3.0)
The compact C360 does contain a completely plastic real image optical viewfinder which displays zoom levels. The viewfinder can be used to conserve battery power by turning off the monitor (via the control located directly below the delete button beside the right side of the LCD screen). The viewfinder is small but usable if you only use your right eye—otherwise, you’ll smear grease on the LCD screen. It would be nice to have a larger or more comfortable viewing device, but if pressed for battery life, the viewfinder will suffice. However, potential users should be aware, the viewfinder is far from 100% accurate.
LCD Screen (5.5)
The Kodak EasyShare C360 provides the user with a 2.0-inch LCD screen with a pixel resolution of 110,000 pixels (480 x 240). The display button situated to the right of the LCD allows the user to set the monitor at: on with full information, on with minimal information, or off. When turned off, the user must rely upon the real image viewfinder. There is no way to control the brightness of the LCD which means that the user will have to deal with glare and potential solarization that will occur in bright lighting and when viewing the screen at an angle. Also it should be noted, and although this is probably specific to the camera we tested, the LCD on this particular review unit came with a large patch of darkened pixels along the lower edge of the camera. Although it can be ignored, the darkened region draws the eye to it and while also masking a portion of the display, also detracts from the visible portions. We found this to be a bit ironic and somewhat contradictory to Kodak’s emphasis on their cameras being ready to go straight out of the box.
Flash (7.0)
The built-in flash on the Kodak EasyShare C360 is positioned in the upper right corner of the front face (when looking at the lens), which means it’s in a perfect position to get masked by meandering fingers whenever users apply their left hand for added support. The illumination of the flash only extends 2 to 12.1 feet in wide angle perspective and 2 to 6.9 feet in telephoto. The user is able to engage the flash when in every mode but the movie mode. Flash settings are controlled via the flash button positioned on the top of the camera rather than through a menu on the LCD screen, which is a nice touch. The user can choose to shoot with flash settings of Off, Auto Flash, Fill, and Red-eye. These settings can be cycled through by repeatedly depressing the flash button and viewing the icons which appear at the top of the LCD screen.
Zoom Lens (6.0)
The Kodak EasyShare C360 is fitted with a Kodak Retinar all glass lens which contains aspheric elements. The variable focal length lens extends 3x optically and equates to 34-102mm in 35mm format. There is also an additional 5x continuous digital zoom available; however, the digital zoom function offered not only mars the quality of the image when engaged, but is also as slow as molasses to set. It would be wise to stick with just the optical zoom, unless you have all day to wait for the camera to hit 15x zoom and are contended with getting an image with horribly compromised clarity. The lens has a maximum aperture of f/2.7 (at full wide angle) and a minimum F-stop of f/8.0 (in telephoto).
