Kodak EasyShare V570

Viewfinder (0.0)
The Kodak V-series line has an on-off relationship with the optical viewfinder. The V530 did not have one, but the V550 did include it. The Kodak EasyShare V570 does not have an optical viewfinder, but relies on the large 2.5-inch LCD screen instead. The screen has 230,000 pixels of resolution which provides a nice smooth view combined with its 24-frame-per-second rate and an accurate 100 percent field of view. With a view like this, users won’t miss the optical viewfinder at all. The screen provides way more information than a compact optical viewfinder too. Users can tell what shooting mode they are in, what lens setting is being used, the image size, how many pictures can still be taken, the exposure compensation, battery power, and how well-exposed the picture is with the live histogram. All of the information can be revealed or hidden by pushing the navigation joystick upwards.

LCD Screen (8.5)
The back of the Kodak EasyShare V570 places the perfectly sized 2.5-inch LCD screen in its center and surrounds it with control buttons. Most compact models place the LCD on the left side, but the V570 chose to distinguish itself. The layout looks organized and simple, but keeps both hands busy pressing buttons. The LCD screen itself is gorgeous. It has a wide 170-degree viewing angle and doesn’t solarize much. When the screen is tilted vertically, the view isn’t nearly as good as when it is tilted horizontally – the screen solarizes more easily vertically. Still, the 230,000-pixel screen provides a beautiful view that is far above many of its competitors. The Kodak V570’s LCD screen is the same size and resolution as the V550 and comes with many of the same features. Within the setup menu, users can choose to dim the screen when not in use after 10, 20, or 30 seconds. If this feature is not desired, it can be turned off. There is not a brightness adjustment for this LCD, but the Kodak EasyShare V570’s LCD is still easy to view in most lighting situations.

Flash (5.75)
Tiny digital cameras are notorious for having horribly weak flash units. The Kodak EasyShare V-series has flashes typical flashes of its slim genre. While the previous two V-series cameras couldn’t light subjects more than 8 or 9 feet away, the V570 makes a slight improvement. When the camera is set to ISO 200, the flash can reach from 2.6-10.2 ft in the ultra wide 23mm mode. The flash’s reach is shortened when any zoom is used. The 39mm setting on the lens allows the flash to reach from 2-7.2 ft and the 117mm telephoto end has an even shorter 2-6.6 ft range. The flash range on the V570 is weak, but the flash still lights subjects evenly and doesn’t blow out any particular spot. The Kodak V570 has only four flash modes: Auto, Off, Fill, and Digital Red-eye Reduction. Within the setup menu, users can choose to activate a red-eye reduction pre-flash or they can turn it off and allow the camera to try to eliminate it on its own. I tried both and still ended up with the occasional red eyes, but it seemed to have some effect. One of the biggest problems of this flash is its placement. Its position in the top right corner of the camera makes it easy for the left hand’s fingers to wander in its way. Overall, the flash on the Kodak V570 is a bit weak – like other slim models – but can be effective as long as users remember to keep their subjects within range of the flash. 

Lenses (8.5)
The Kodak EasyShare V570 has the world’s first dual lens system. The Kodak Retina technology uses two lenses: one ultra wide lens and one 3x optical zoom lens. Both lenses are Schneider-Kreuznach C-Variogon branded. The tiny lenses combine for a total of 5x optical zooming power. The lenses are encased beneath a sturdy metal cover that automatically snaps open and closed when the V570 is powered on and off. The top lens is a 3x optical zoom lens that extends from 39-117mm and has maximum apertures of f/3.9 in wide and f/4.4 in telephoto. The bottom lens is a fixed 23mm ultra wide lens with an f/2.8 aperture. This lens has a natural fish-eye effect that can be subdued with the distortion correction option in the setup menu. When the two lenses combine to form the Kodak Retina technology, they offer 5x of zoom power. So why didn’t Kodak just tack on a single 5x optical zoom lens onto the V570’s body? It couldn’t fit a non-extending lens of that size in the 0.8-inch thick camera. By using two smaller lenses, the V570 can retain its slim profile and have 5x optical zoom. Each lens on the EasyShare V570 has its own imaging sensor, but the one on top will be used the most because it is used any time that the digital camera is zoomed in at all.

Speaking of zoom, if users lightly tap on the zoom toggle, they will see a yellow and red bar along the left side of the LCD screen that indicates the use of the ultra wide lens, the 3x optical zoom, and the 4x digital zoom. Between each of the three portions on the zooming bar, users must push the zoom toggle down – it cannot be continuously pushed to access the whole range. The ultra wide lens is quite sensitive and has about seven stops in its range. The 39-117mm range is much less sensitive and really only has five stops in it. The digital zoom range has about 20 stops but its picture quality is so terrible that it should never be used. Overall, the Kodak Retina dual lens technology is very innovative and allows this slim camera to have more zoom in a non-extending lens than any other comparable slim digital camera.