Kodak EasyShare V610

Manual Control Options
The Kodak EasyShare V610 isn’t really designed for enthusiasts or those who appreciate manual control; it is built for point-and-shooters who want to easily snap pictures with 10x zooming capability. Still, there are a few manual selections: white balance, ISO, auto focus control, metering, and color mode.

Focus
Auto Focus (6.5)
A through-the-lens (or more accurately, lenses) auto focus system on the V610 can be activated continuously or only when the shutter release button is pressed. The single control will save battery power, but increases the shutter lag slightly. Despite the continuous control’s appealing lack of noise, however, it still causes shutter lag, so users might as well just save power.

The camera focuses from 2 ft at its widest and 5.2 ft from telephoto. When in the macro mode, the auto focus system captures pictures from 2 inches to 2.3 ft in wide and 2.3-5.6 ft in telephoto. In the recording mode, the focus zone can be selected to Multi or Center, with the latter option saving only a hair of time. As slow as the auto focus system is in the still image modes, it is even slower in the movie mode. Unfortunately, both good and bad are recorded onto a video clip. The auto focus system can’t seem to keep up with the 10x zoom lens. Users can zoom in on a subject’s face, but it won’t come into focus for another half-second or so. While a blur warning can be turned on and off in the menu, but it only tells users what they already know: yet another blurred picture is on its way.

Manual Focus (0.0)
The Kodak EasyShare V610 does not have manual focus control for its 10x optical zooming system.

Exposure (6.5)
The Kodak V610 doesn’t have any live views except its exposure compensation scale. This won’t be found in any menus, but is available on the live view with the right and left arrows on the multi-selector. Scrolling left and right quickly adjusts the exposure in steps of 1/3 within a +/- 2 range. By pushing the top of the multi-selector, users can also access a live histogram to help judge lighting and exposure.

Metering (7.0)
The Kodak EasyShare V610 has the standard fare for its metering mode options: Multi-pattern, center-weighted, and center-spot. The metering system works through the lens and its effects show up immediately. The default, multi-pattern option samples from several areas around the frame and averages them, the center-weighted option shows blue brackets around the middle of the frame, and the spot option adds a circle in the very center to show exactly where it’s metering from.

White Balance (4.0)
Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Open Shade white balance options are all available from the recording menu. The automatic white balance mode seems to work okay, but surely isn’t a replacement for a true manual mode. White balance presets don’t cover many situations, like the flash lighting that fires from the camera so frequently. A manual mode will be missed on the Kodak V610, as its colors could really use help under mixed lighting.

ISO (7.5)
The V610 has a more useful ISO range than its predecessor: the EasyShare V570 had the same range from 64-800, but its top ISO rating was only available in a reduced image size. The Kodak V610’s ISO 800 setting can be used with all 6 megapixels. Here is the full list of options: Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, and 800. The automatic setting shortens the range to 64-400, which is a wider range than most compact models’ automatic offerings. Overall, the ISO range is good. To see how it handled noise, check out the testing sections of this review.

Shutter Speed (2.0)
Although some manual control is available for the V610’s shutter speed, the speed itself isn’t particularly impressive. Shutter speeds range from 8 seconds to 1/1200th of a second; most compact models can go as fast as 1/2000th of a second. Most don’t let users control the slower shutter speeds like the Kodak V610 does, though. In the recording menu, users can select the Long Time Exposure option and choose from the following: None, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.3, 1.6, 2.0, 2.5, 3.2, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, and 8.0. These slower shutter speeds will need to be accompanied by a tripod or equally stable surface. It is nice to have the option to slow shutter speeds down for night scenes and such, when the V610’s scene mode just doesn’t seem to be cutting it.

Aperture (0.0)
This Kodak EasyShare’s dual lens system has disappointingly small available apertures. At the very widest focal length, the camera can eke out a f/3.9. The bottom lens has apertures from f/3.9-f/7.1; the top ranges from f/4.8-f/8.0. These are automatically controlled by the camera.