Kodak EasyShare V603

Viewfinder
There is no optical viewfinder included with the Kodak EasyShare V603, an omission which certainly isn’t a detractor, considering the general small size and inaccurate framing of viewfinder windows on most point-and-shoot cameras. In exchange for the omission, users will have more room for controls and a larger LCD screen.

LCD Screen
The LCD on the Kodak EasyShare V603 is slightly raised on the back of the camera and is slightly to the left of center. The LCD measures 2.5 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 230,000 pixels. The screen produced images of a strong quality that were visible even in low and bright lights without overt levels of solarization. The LCD screen has two control levels which the user can engage. Both are located within the camera’s set-up menu, located within the main menu that can be opened via the menu button. The two controls allow the user to engage LCD brightness or LCD dimmer.

Flash
The in-camera flash for the Kodak EasyShare V603 is located off the center axis of the lens; this placement will to lead to an uneven light coverage when the flash is engaged and cast harsher shadows from left to right across the subject of the photograph. The flash range in wide angle at ISO 140 is 2.0 to 8.5 feet while the flash range in tele-photo is 2.0 to 5.9 feet with an ISO setting of ISO 200. The manual flash controls may be accessed through the flash button on the top of the camera. The flash control settings for the V603 allow the user to cycle through the following options: auto, off, fill and digital red-eye reduction.

Zoom Lens
The zoom lens for the Kodak EasyShare V603 is a Schneider-Kreuznach C-Variogon optical zoom lens with 3x optical zoom. The telescoping barrel on the V603 opens quickly when the camera is powered on. The lens of the V603 has an equivalent focal range of 36mm to 108mm in 35mm format, with an aperture range of f/2.8 to f/4.8.

In addition to the 3x zoom, the camera is also able to engage 4x of digital zoom, although using digital zoom will result in diminished image quality which will continue to degrade exponentially as the zoom level increases to the total zoom level of 12x.

The zoom for the V603 is controlled via a zoom control on the back of the camera in the upper right corner. The zoom control for the V603 functions like a rocker, but its size makes engaging it properly and accurately a bit of a labor even though the zoom levels were smoothly transitioned.