Kodak EasyShare V705 Digital Camera Review

 

When the camera boots up, the auto mode is the first to appear. Its functionality wanders somewhere between a true auto mode and a program mode. Its settings out of the box are defaulted to typical choices like automatic white balance and ISO, multipattern metering, etc. In the recording menu, there is a Maintain Settings option that lets users choose which options to memorize. For example, when users prefer the fluorescent white balance option, they can check “white balance” in the Maintain Settings item and then the fluorescent setting will be remembered when the camera is turned on and off and different modes are used. Thus, users can set the auto mode to act more like an auto mode or more like a program mode according to their preferences.

 

Movie Mode

Video clips can be recorded at VGA or QVGA resolution, both at 30 fps, in the V705’s movie mode. This mode is accessed by a button atop the camera rather than in a menu, which is convenient. There are two 640 x 480-pixel size options in the menu, but the “long” choice simply compresses the movie a little more so that longer clips can fit on the memory card. Videos can be recorded up to 80 minutes or the capacity of the memory card, whichever comes first. Videos can use the self-timer, video size, album, AF control, and image stabilization options in the menu. The continuous auto focus system is touchy; it sometimes breathes in and out even when the subject is clearly in the center of the picture and isn’t too close to the camera. The single auto focus control just didn’t keep everything in focus when zooming in and out, so there isn’t really a good focus option on the V705.

 

This Kodak EasyShare has functional optical zoom lenses; the full range is available, but it looks odd. There is a big jump from the ultra-wide lens to the 3x lens, and the 3x lens makes some strange noises. When zooming in, the noise is smooth and even. However, zooming out sounds like the whiny noise made by unraveling a fishing reel very quickly. This sound is picked up by the monaural audio, which also does a good job detecting subjects’ voices too. There is an Image Stabilizer option in the menu that users can activate. It is a digital image stabilization system; while it doesn’t work nearly as well as the optical systems on the Panasonic digital cameras, it still has a noticeable effect and can correct mild shaking from hands.

 

In the playback mode, movies can be viewed by pushing down on the joystick control. There are on-screen directions for this, and several menu options for things to do with the video. Pictures can be made by scrolling through and selecting frames. The pictures won’t have much resolution and can really only be printed as 2 x 3-inch images, but it’s still an option. Video action prints can be made with 4, 9, and 16 images per page; these can be automatically or manually chosen. Videos can be trimmed, which is more useful. This allows users to cut out all the dead air and save only Junior’s new dance move instead of all the staring at the camera and your “C’mon, just do it…” pleading.

 

The MPEG-4 movies can be rewound, fast forwarded, and paused in the camera. They can also be uploaded to a computer and played with QuickTime software, which comes with the Kodak EasyShare Software or can be downloaded from the Internet. Videos can also be viewed on televisions via the included AV cable and adaptor. The overall image quality of the videos is decent as long as the lighting is good. Videos taken after dusk suffered the same fate of still images: super-saturated colors and an overall grainy texture. Having a functional zoom is nice, but its noise can be distracting and the jump between lenses is enough to give anyone motion sickness. The Kodak V705’s movie mode isn’t designed for shooting full-length features, but can shoot for a minute or two, here and there, at well-lit band concerts and sunny parks.

 

For being such a tiny camera, the V705 has impressive speed. It starts up very quickly, and keeps shutter lag under wraps at about 0.2 seconds (although we wish it were eliminated completely, of course). The burst mode can be activated in the menu for auto and many of the scene modes, and it shoots 2 fps. The length of the burst depends on the image size selected. The 7.1-megapixel image size snaps 4 consecutive shots. The other smaller sizes snap 7 pictures in a row. When the burst mode is not activated, the V705 takes its good old time processing – 1.2 seconds between shots. Of note in this section are the self-timer modes: 2 and 10-second choices are available, along with a two-shot mode that delays ten seconds before each shot. This is nice for family portraits, where it’s best to snap more than one picture to ensure all eyes are open and all smiles are on and the photographer won’t have to run back and forth from the camera.

 

The camera’s playback mode is accessed by a “review” button on the left side of the LCD screen. Pictures and videos appear individually and magnified up to 8x or can be viewed in index frames of 9 pictures with a push of the “W” end of the zoom control. In the menu, users can also choose to view images by date or album. The following menu comes from the playback mode when viewing still images.

 

The menu options show how organized this camera is. Pictures can be viewed, sorted to albums, copied to the internal memory if desired, and even marked as “favorites” by pushing the Share button. One of the more interesting technologies is Kodak’s Perfect Touch function that automatically fixes problems with lighting, red-eye, and color tones. It works very well in livening colors and brightening images, but some red eyes still sneak past the system.

 

The playback mode’s menu changes a bit when movies are displayed. Most of the options are the same, but there are a few additions. Users can choose to make a picture from a video by scrolling through a video frame by frame and selecting one. Users can also cut videos in half, and select 4, 9, or 16 frames for an “action print.”

 

Viewing images on the camera is nice with the high-resolution 2.5-inch LCD screen. The wide viewing angle makes it so you can gather friends around the camera and everyone can still see the images. The slide show mode is functional, but certainly nothing spectacular. Slide shows are a little more interesting when connected to an optional Kodak Photo Frame Dock, which charges the battery while playing slide shows and comes complete with fancy transitions.

 

There is a Favorites mode accessible from a button atop the camera. This quickly shows only those images previously selected as “favorites,” so you can quickly show friends those recent vacation photos while skipping the boring real estate shots taken last week. Slide shows can be played in the Favorites mode. From both the playback and Favorites modes, the Share button displays the following options: Print, Email, Print All, Cancel Prints. In the playback mode, this is where users can designate pictures and videos as favorites.

 

The Email menu item shows a list of email addresses; the address book can be edited in the camera using an electronic keyboard. This is a nice change from previous EasyShare digital cameras that could only edit the addresses in the included software and didn’t take effect until connected to the camera with a USB cable. Emails are sent to addressees automatically when connected to a computer, either with attachments or links to the user’s album in the online Kodak EasyShare Gallery.

 

Overall, the Kodak EasyShare V705’s playback mode has some nice features that make it convenient and fun to view pictures in the camera.

 

Scene modes are found by pushing the Auto/Scene button on top of the camera. Once in the “scene mode,” the individual presets can be scrolled through by pushing the joystick navigator inward, left, and right. If users don’t know what a particular mode is for, they can press upward on the joystick and a text explanation will appear. The following modes are found this way: Portrait, Panorama Left-Right, Panorama Right-Left, Sport, Landscape, Close-Up, Night Portrait, Night Landscape, Snow, Beach, Text, Fireworks, Flower, Manner/Museum, Self Portrait, Party, Children, Backlight, Panning Shot, Candlelight, Sunset, and Custom. There aren’t any scene modes optimized for shooting in low light, which is unfortunate. Most manufacturers are including something, whether it’s called Available Light, High Sensitivity, or High ISO. There is a Candlelight mode, but its images were very dark regardless. The Kodak EasyShare V705 will thus have some problems shooting in dark situations – that is, unless the flash is activated. The camera has in-camera stitching effects; it provides an overlay preview to help line up three pictures, then automatically stitches them together. This is a nice change from most cameras that have a stitching mode but don’t actually stitch the pictures together until they’re loaded into post-production software. Overall, the scene mode selection is somewhat expansive, but exposes the main fault of the camera: it’s awful in low light.

 

“Minimal” is the word for this section. Manual control is just not in the cards for this camera. That’s okay with Kodak; they don’t want to play that game anyway. They expect the audience of the EasyShare V705 to appreciate the no-fuss, limited-options approach. There are a few options that can be manually controlled, with the most available in the auto mode. If you’re looking for manual control, though, you’re wasting your time here.

 

Auto Focus – The through-the-lens auto focus system normally focuses from 2 ft to infinity. In the macro mode, it can focus from 2 inches to 2.3 ft using the ultra-wide lens and 1-2.3 ft using the 3x lens. The macro mode is accessible when pushing down on the navigational joystick; this is where the infinity focus mode is found too. The focus can be controlled singly or continuously, selectable from the recording menu. The continuous auto focus system makes quiet clicking sounds and breathes a bit at times, but still works better than the single mode while shooting movies. The single AF control is perhaps the best way to go with still images because the focus locks once the shutter release button is pushed halfway. The focus system doesn’t take as long as some equivalent systems on compact digital cameras; Kodak publishes a 0.2-second lag, which is accurate. For a camera of its size, the V705 is speedy. It has an auto focus assist lamp that supposedly helps the camera focus in low light, but the tiny orange LED certainly isn’t that powerful and pictures in low light were still very often blurry and fuzzy. In the recording menu, the auto focus zone can be chosen to multizone and center zone options.

 

Manual Focus – True to its point-and-shoot audience, the Kodak EasyShare V705 does not have manual focus control.

 

ISO

This Kodak digital camera has more ISO sensitivity options than many of the EasyShare digital cameras. The auto ISO option dips in a 50-200 range that works well only in perfect lighting. Settings can be manually accessed in the recording menu: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1000. Previous Kodak models sometimes had a manual ISO 800 option available, but only at reduced resolution. All of the V705’s options can be used at full resolution. To see how the ISO settings performed in terms of noise, check out the Testing/Performance section of this review.

 

White balance options are limited, to say the least. Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Open Shade options are available. There is no way to customize the white balance, which is unfortunate because this camera has some serious issues with color reproduction anyway. There is a live view of these options in the recording menu, which makes it easier to choose an appropriate mode for the shooting situation.

The Kodak V705’s exposure cannot be tweaked with individual shutter speed and aperture adjustments; those just aren’t available. Instead, an easier exposure compensation adjustment is available that automatically tweaks both and also keeps the interface simple. On the LCD screen, numbers appear indicating the exposure value and arrows appear next to them to show where to scroll. Moving right and left pushes the exposure value up or down 2 stops in 1/3 increments. If users want to monitor exposure more closely, they can activate the live histogram by pushing the joystick upward.

 

The Kodak EasyShare V705 has metering options typical of a compact digital camera. Multi-pattern, center-weighted, and center-spot options are available. The spot option is fixed to the center, but measures from a smaller area than the center-weighted option. The camera has a Backlight scene mode that uses the center-weighted option and activates the flash as well to keep subjects properly exposed.

The shutter speeds vary depending on the scene mode, the lens being used, the ISO selection, the focal length, etc. Sounds complicated, right? No worries, this camera automatically chooses the shutter speed for you most of the time. When the ultra-wide lens is in use, the shutter speeds range from 8-1/1448^th of a second. The 3x lens allows only 8-1/1170^th of a second. The camera opts for faster shutter speeds in the auto and many of the scene modes, but slows down to 4 seconds for the Fireworks mode. Longer exposures are available from the auto mode’s recording menu: 0.5 Sec, 0.6 Sec, 0.8 Sec, 1 Sec, 1.3 Sec, 1.6 Sec, 2.0 Sec, 2.5 Sec, 3.2 Sec, 4.0 Sec, 5.0 Sec, 6.0 Sec, and 8.0 Sec. When these longer exposures are activated, users give up control over the ISO though so low light shooting is still tricky.

 

The aperture is fully automatic but is also dependent on which lens is in use at the time. The ultra-wide lens has a decent aperture of f/2.8 that lets in plenty of light. Any zooming in, though, brings users to the 3x lens that has horribly limiting apertures. The maximum aperture on this lens is f/3.9 at its widest 39mm focal length and f/4.4 at the 117mm focal length. This severely limits the amount of light let in to the image sensor and once again hinders the camera’s ability to shoot in low light without the flash.

 

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