Kodak EasyShare C433 Digital Camera Review

by James Murray
Published on December 08, 2006

Navigation
Intro	Testing / Performance
Physical Tour	Components
Design / Layout	Modes
Control Options	Image Parameters
Connectivity / Extras	Overall Impressions
Conclusion	Specs / Ratings
Photo Gallery

Manual control isn’t an area that the Kodak EasyShare C433 excels in, but then again, it doesn’t necessarily want to or need to.  This camera is a budget model, and it also follows Kodak’s mantra of point-and-shoot simplicity. It is not intended to appeal to the manual control audience. The only controls users can set manually on the C433 are ISO, exposure compensation, partial shutter speed through long time exposure mode and preset white balance. 

The Kodak EasyShare C433’s auto focus system is a TTL system with a normal focal range of 2 feet to infinity, a macro range of 4 inches to 2.3 feet (wide) and 7.9 inches to 2.3 feet (telephoto), as well as a landscape range of 32.8 feet to infinity. The camera also has the option of switching between a multi-zone or center zone focusing pattern. 

 

When setting the auto focus, a bracket in the middle of the screen will switch from a light blue to green with a green dot appearing in the upper right corner of the LCD when the camera has achieved focus. The auto focus is controlled by pressing the shutter button halfway and then waiting several seconds for the focus to set, depending on the complexity of the image. The multi-zone focus merely expanded the center-zone brackets horizontally with options for center wide focus, side focus, center and side focus, and left and right (simultaneous) auto focus. The images captured with this mode were far better than those found with the center-zone. 

 

If proper focus is not attained, the camera will display a red dot rather than a green one in the upper right corner of the LCD.  The center zone focal setting is anything but stellar and produced more out-of-focus images than the multi-zone setting. There was a constant need to make adjustments to the position or angle of shooting when relying on this mode.

 

Manual focus is not an option when shooting with the Kodak EasyShare C433.  At this price the consumer shouldn’t be expecting manual control in this realm; at this price, no camera comes with true manual focus. 

Metering (5.0)

Metering is not manually controllable and users will need to work with the center-weighted TTL-AE to produce accurately balanced compositions. This can definitely be a problem when shooting backlit subjects and luckily an inclusion of a backlight preset can be found within the scene modes. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be any help when shooting in more complicated lighting with multiple lighting sources or strong lighting from an angled source.  It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the metering options for this camera are limited considering the price and the intended audience.

Most cameras, regardless of intended audience, include at least some manual control over exposure when capturing still images and the Kodak EasyShare C433 is no exception.  Available in auto, landscape and close-up modes, the exposure control is accessed by entering the shooting menu where this sub-menu is listed on the first screen of options.  The exposure compensation unfortunately doesn’t have a live view, and users will need to estimate the exposure setting while looking at a light blue opaque screen that could be frustrating for novice photographers.  The exposure compensation scale also lacks the nuance of the standard 1/3-step increments and will unfortunately only provide setting jumps of 1/2 EV from +/-2 EV.  While lacking nuance and live view, this manual control was functional and did perform properly when needed.

White Balance (5.5)

When shooting with the Kodak EasyShare C433, the photographer will find that it is possible to make adjustments to the white balance settings through the in-camera menu.  White balance settings of Auto, Daylight, Tungsten and Fluorescent are provided in a white balance sub-menu on the first screen displayed.  While a functional introduction to white balance preset shooting modes, these settings will hardly provide users with enough options to shoot in anything but the most simple of lighting conditions.  It’s rare to encounter a scene lit with a single type of illumination (other than daylight) when out photographing. The inclusion of a fully manual white balance setting would have really been helpful when shooting with this camera since mixed lighting sources produced sub-par results when relying on these preset parameters. White balance cannot be set in the scene modes.

The Kodak EasyShare C433 does provide control over ISO when shooting in Auto, Landscape and Close Up modes. ISO settings will enable users to select between auto, 80, 100, 200, 400 and 800 options. ISO 800 should be avoided due to the significantly reduced 1.1 MP resolution. The ISO settings are easy to move through, although, the control used to access them is sticky and awkward. And even though the screen is almost too small to be functional, it would have been nice to have a live view for these features since live views can provide beginning users with an immediate and tangible method for gauging their control adjustments.

Considering the overtly beginner-friendly interface and camera design, it should come as no surprise that shutter speed is an area that cannot be manually controlled by the user.  There is partial control over shutter speed through the long time exposure sub-menu listed when shooting in the auto, landscape and close-up modes.  The long time shutter settings will allow for marginal control over longer shutter speeds, although it isn’t too nuanced considering the only options are none, 0.5 seconds, 0.7 seconds, 1.0 seconds, 1.5 seconds, 2.0 seconds, 3.0 seconds, and 4.0 seconds.  It would be nice to have the range extend a little further on the faster end so that shooting in harsh strong lighting could be compensated for.

The aperture is not manually operable on the Kodak EasyShare C433.  The automatic aperture range on this boxy point-and-shoot is f/2.7 at the wide angle and f/4.9 at telephoto. This two-step aperture setup is limiting, but it is expected at such a price point.