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Auto Mode (7.0)
The P850’s auto mode blocks access to most of the manual controls so point-and-shooters can easily use this camera. The basic camera menu is available with options to change the image size, file compression, color mode, and the date stamp. The designated buttons on the body are mostly useless. Nothing happens if the metering button is pushed. A message appears if the Program button is set to an option that is normally unavailable in the auto mode, such as white balance. Some of the buttons do work though: burst and flash modes can be changed. The focus mode can be changed as well and surprisingly, it can even be manually focused. The auto mode is easy to use and easy to find on the mode dial, so point-and-shooters have a reliable place to capture photos.
Movie Mode (7.5)
The optical image stabilization system is most noticeable in the movie mode, where the zoom functions while recording video. Ultra-zoom cameras often have trouble keeping bumps and shakes out of video when zoomed in on distant subjects. The optical image stabilization system keeps the picture steady though. The 12x zoom lens makes a high-pitched noise when it zooms, but the noise doesn’t completely take over the audio track. Still, the monaural audio isn’t great quality. It just isn’t very crisp and sounds like it’s underwater at times.
Motion JPEG movies are recorded with 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels with a single frame rate speed of 30 fps. Movies can be recorded up to 80 minutes continuously or users can keep clips short by setting a specific time limit in the movie mode’s menu. 5, 15, and 30-second options are available. Options such as metering and white balance are unavailable – and it shows in the Kodak P850’s video quality. Backlit subjects are totally dark and videos shot in relatively low light don’t look very good at all. The whole picture is dark, but it looks better on the LCD screen. Only when the clip is uploaded and viewed with the QuickTime player do users realize how dingy it looks. Another drawback to its quality is the slow focus time. The movie mode has continuous and single auto focus control modes, but in both settings it takes a half-second or so for the focus to catch up with the zoom. Sometimes the auto focus system breathes in and out if it can’t figure out what is supposed to be focused. Still, this doesn’t happen all the time and decent quality video can still be gleaned from the Kodak P850.
In the playback mode, users have lots of editing options: Trim, Cut, Split, and Merge. The trimming option saves a chunk of video out of the middle of the original clip, as opposed to the Cut option that simply chops the beginning or end. The Split option is the most common movie editing feature, but it is still only found on a few compact digital cameras. In the three previous editing functions, users can scroll through videos frame by frame or at normal speed to choose the correct spots to trim, cut, or split. Merge lets users select two different video files and string them together into a single video clip. While this is a cool feature, there is no way to preview the selection before it is finalized. In the editing portion of the menu, there is also a choice to make a still image from the video. Users can scroll through and choose the frame to be converted into a JPEG file. This won’t be good quality though, as it will only be 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels. In the included Kodak EasyShare Software, users can tweak movie clips even more. Video clips can be combined and music can even be added in the program.
Drive / Burst Mode (6.5)
 The Kodak EasyShare P850 has a burst mode that is slightly faster than the flagship P880’s. The P850 can snap 2.3 frames per second, whereas the P880 can take 2 fps. In the fine JPEG mode, the camera can take up to 5 pictures in a continuous burst. That lengthens to 8 pictures in the standard JPEG compression mode. Once the burst is over, it takes quite awhile for the camera to write to the memory card and reboot for the next burst. There are several burst options, which can be found by pushing the designated button near the shutter release. The first burst is the standard burst mode, while the last burst snaps shots until the shutter button is released and then it only records the last 5. Also grouped in with the burst modes are the exposure bracketing modes and a time lapse mode, as well as a single shot mode. There are two exposure bracketing modes: one takes 3 shots and the other 5 in selectable increments of exposure values. The time lapse option can take a picture every 10 seconds or 24 hours – or pretty much anything between. It can be programmed to record 2-99 pictures. This looks really cool but takes quite a lot of battery power, so the optional power adaptor is recommended if this is something that will be used extensively. Overall, the burst mode is decent and has lots of options but the read/write speed is a little disappointing.
Playback Mode (8.0)
The Kodak EasyShare P850 is designed with in-camera playback in mind. The camera is equipped with a Favorites mode on the power switch to easily access frequently shown off pictures. The Favorites mode is great for parents who carry around their cameras and want to show off their kids’ first steps or chocolate milk mustache to whomever they run into. The Favorites mode has demo pictures of exotic birds and dirtbikers, but those can be changed by connecting to a computer that has the Kodak EasyShare Software loaded. The software can file pictures into the Favorites mode and can create up to 32 albums for users to organize their pictures into.
Users can turn on an orientation sensor in the setup menu, so all of the pictures automatically rotate to the proper angle. Individual pictures can be scrolled through normally or the joystick can be held down to quickly scroll through large numbers of photos. Users can also skip through  screens of nine images at a time with the multi-up view, which can be activated in the playback menu or the Program button. Most cameras use the zoom switch to control the playback view, so the Kodak P850’s way of doing things isn’t very intuitive.
Pictures can be magnified from 1-10x and panned to see tiny details. The 115,000-pixel LCD screen doesn’t make the magnified view look good; the view is better in the viewfinder. Pictures can be protected or filed into albums. They can also be cropped and resized. The following options are for cropping: Landscape 4:3, Portrait 3:4, Landscape 3:2, and Portrait 2:3. There is no widescreen crop nor is there an option that allows more freedom outside the formatted boundaries. Images shot in the RAW format can be converted to TIFF or JPEG from the playback menu too. The last editing option is the digital red-eye fix, which doesn’t work all the time. The specs claim that the P850 shows highlight and shadow clipping in playback, but no matter how many times the “I” display button was pushed there was no such function. There is, however, a histogram available.
Slide shows can be played, but they aren’t anything fancy. Users can choose to display images from 3-60 seconds and can play the slide show on a loop or only once. The ruby colored Share button can be pushed to tag certain – or all – pictures for printing, emailing, or adding to the Favorites mode on the camera. The pictures are tagged, but do not transfer to the mode until the camera is connected to the Kodak EasyShare Software.
Videos can be played back in the camera complete with audio, although the audio quality isn’t the best. It sounds a little muffled. Movies can be played and paused, fast-forwarded and rewound, and there are more movie editing options than on most cameras. Videos can be trimmed at the beginning or end, a chunk can be cut from the middle, or they can be split in two files. Users can also merge two video files, although there is no preview of what the final product will look like – so don’t expect a smooth transition. Still, this is an interesting concept that hasn’t yet been included on most digital cameras.
Overall, the playback mode is good and thorough with sufficient viewing options and plenty of playback and editing options for both still images and videos.
Custom Image Presets (7.0)
 The Kodak EasyShare P850’s mode dial has a Scene position on it through which users can access the following modes: Portrait, Self-Portrait, Sports, Landscape, Night Portrait, Night Landscape, Snow, Beach, Text/Document, Flower, Sunset, Candlelight, Backlight, Manner/Museum, Fireworks, and Party. The modes automatically appear as tiny icons across the display screen. When scrolled upon, the text explanation appears. After a few seconds, the selection disappears. To make it reappear, the joystick must be pushed in. This isn’t labeled and isn’t entirely intuitive; many cameras throw the scene mode selection into the menu system. Still, if done once it’s not hard to remember. The 16 scene modes cover all the basics – and then some. The modes themselves work particularly well for their very specialized shooting conditions. For instance, the Sports mode uses a fast shutter speed and freezes action perfectly, but lots of light is required for this mode to work properly. Overall, the selection is good and the modes work well.
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