Kodak EasyShare P850 Digital Camera Review

 

The P850 comes with a CD-ROM that includes Kodak EasyShare Software and a tutorial to teach beginners how to use it. It takes about five minutes to download the included version 5.0.1 software. It is available for both Windows and Macintosh platforms, although Mac users will have to forego RAW editing capabilities. The Kodak EasyShare Software has five tabs that run down the left side of the screen to organize the software’s different functions. My Collection, Print at Home, Order Prints Online, Email, and Kodak EasyShare Center are the tabbed options.

 

My Collection is the browser that displays the pictures. The thumbnails can be made large or small with a sliding bar at the bottom of the page, but there are no views that display shooting information and such like on many other software programs. If users double-click on a picture, there are options to edit and to tag as a favorite. Back in the regular browser though, the following options appear at the top of the screen: Add Pictures, New Album, Edit, Rotate, Select All, Burn CD/DVD, Slide Show, Express Upload, and Help.

 

The Kodak EasyShare Software automatically loads pictures that have been taken from Kodak digital cameras, so any other photos must be manually loaded with the Add Pictures button. The New Album function creates folders in the software’s browsing system; these – along with the tagged favorites – can be transferred to the P850 when it is connected to the computer with the USB cable. The Edit button opens a separate window with an enlarged preview of the selected picture or video. The following editing options are available for still images: Crop, Red-Eye, Enhance, Scene Balance, Color Balance, Scene Effects, Fun Effects, and Rotate. The cropping function lets users choose preset formats such as 4 x 6, 5 x 7, or 8 x 10-inch sized crops – or it lets users freely crop without limitations. The red-eye reduction feature can automatically take out the red-eye or it can be manually done with the cursor. The Enhance button is an automatic function that does provide a preview; this fixes backlighting and colors. The Scene Balance option gives users three sliding bars to control the exposure, shadow details, and highlight details. The Color Balance option isn’t the traditional red, green, and blue setup. Instead, users select a gray area on the picture and the picture automatically is fixed – sortof. This feature was difficult to use because there are many shades of gray often in the same picture. The Scene Effects hosts the following options: No Effect, Black & White, Sepia, Forest, Scenic, Portrait, and Sunset. Some effects act as color filters and others simply tweak the saturation and tone. The Fun Effects are great for keeping kids busy on a Saturday morning. Spotlight, Coloring Book, Cartoon, and Fisheye options are available. The Spotlight adds darker areas in the corners of the image, while the Fisheye bends the center into a giant bubble. Unfortunately, users cannot adjust the size or scope of the bubble so it can look pretty ridiculous. The Cartoon simplifies the colors and creates a line drawing around the subject and other prominent edges. This feature does work very well and it looks cool, but probably not cool enough to print and frame over the fireplace. The Coloring Book option omits colors and just creates a line drawing. The Rotate button can be pressed over and over again until the proper orientation is reached.

 

If a video is selected in the browser, a different set of editing features appear: Trim, Add Music, Rotate, and Splice. These options aren’t any different than the ones included on the P850, but are still more than what is offered on any other software program included with a digital camera. Users can also view the video clips at full size, 200 percent, or 400 percent. In case any of the still or video editing options look awful, there is always an Undo button at the bottom to fix things.

 

The Print at Home tab offers just a few options to streamline printing. Users can choose the paper size, print layout, paper type, and print quality. The Kodak EasyShare Software automatically loads default printer settings from the computer it is installed on, so the actual printer’s settings won’t need to be loaded again. The Order Prints Online tab syncs with the Kodak EasyShare Gallery. Users must create or enter their login and password to access this part of the program. Currently on the Gallery, 4 x 6-inch prints cost 15 cents. The Email tab prompts users to choose whether they’d like to email pictures as attachments or share pictures as albums in the Kodak EasyShare Gallery. The software helps users set up a personal page of pictures that can only be viewed by people who are invited. The bottom tab is Kodak’s link from the software to the latest the company is working on. The Kodak EasyShare Center has tips, features, and software updates. Currently, the version 6.0 software is available and can be downloaded for free.

 

Overall, the included software with the Kodak EasyShare P850 is quite extensive for a digital camera in this price range. The basics are covered, interesting effects can be added, and there is even movie editing – which isn’t included on any other digital cameras’ software yet.

 

The P850 has a rubber cover on the left side that blends in with the housing very well. It is opened with a tiny grip at the bottom. The power adaptor and AV-out/USB jacks are beneath the cover. The AV-out can be set to North American (NTSC) or European (PAL) standards, so that lovely slide show can be played directly from the camera in Italy or Iowa. The AV-out jack is a multi-terminal because it also functions as the USB 2.0 port. The bottom of the camera also has a USB jack, but this is one that connects directly to the Kodak EasyShare printers and camera docks.

 

The Kodak EasyShare P850 has compatibility with PictBridge and ImageLink printing systems. The digital camera connects via USB or optional printer dock to the printer except in the case of the Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock Series 3, where the P850 sits directly on top of the printer and connects with a jack on its bottom. The camera comes packaged with a plastic insert so that it will fit into the Series 3 printers; the P850 also works with Kodak’s Printer Dock Plus products. Print orders can be made from the ruby colored Share button, which lets users tag single pictures (and scroll through pictures to pick and choose) or all images can be selected. Quantities of prints can be chosen from 0-99 too. The printing process on the Kodak EasyShare P850 is one of its simplest functions; the easy to find Share button, the intuitive menu, and the abundant compatibility makes printing pictures easy to do.

 

The Kodak EasyShare P850 comes with a light rechargeable lithium-ion battery and a wall-mount charger. The KLIC-5001 battery lasts between 210-290 shots. It lasted about three days of spontaneous casual shooting sessions (“Oh look, he’s smashing the banana in his hair! Let’s get a picture!”) before needing a rest in its charger. The battery can also charge while in the camera if it is parked in one of Kodak’s optional EasyShare Camera Docks. The on-screen battery indicator has three levels on it, so users should know where they stand in terms of power.

 

The Kodak EasyShare P850 comes with 32 MB of internal memory, which is enough to hold only 9 images at the finest resolution. There is a door on the right side that covers a slot for SD or MMC cards. Users can choose in the setup menu whether to save only to the internal memory or to automatically save to whatever storage is available. If users would like to copy a picture to the internal memory, it is possible to do so from the playback menu. Unfortunately, the Kodak P850 seems to have quite a slow read/write speed to the card so prepare to have some waiting time when copying or snapping shots.

 

Self-Timer – The Kodak EasyShare P850 has simple self-timer options that include 10 and 2 seconds. In the automatic mode, only the 10-second option is available. There is no custom self-timer mode like on many other models.

 

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