Kodak EasyShare V803

Manual Control Options
The Kodak V803 has a few manual controls, similar to other point-and-shoots in the $200 price category. Users can change white balance, sensitivity, metering. Users can also adjust color and sharpness during shooting.

Focus
Autofocus (6.0)
The EasyShare V803 camera has two TTL autofocus settings: single and continuous. The camera chooses from five zones and focuses in one of the three focus modes: Normal, Macro, and Infinity. In Normal mode, the camera focuses at a reported range from 2 feet to infinity. In the Macro mode, accessed by pushing the joystick down, the camera focuses at a range of 2.4 inches to 2.3 feet in wide zoom and 1.3 feet to 2.3 feet in telephoto zoom. In Landscape mode, the camera focuses from 32.8 feet to infinity. The camera also has an auto assist lamp that fires before the flash for light metering.

The continuous autofocus makes clicking noises, even when the shutter button isn’t pressed down half way. When the shutter button is pushed, the camera makes a mechanical stuttering sound until it achieves focus.

Manual Focus (0.0)
The Kodak EasyShare V803’s lens can’t be manually focused.

ISO (6.0)
One of the key upgrades to the Kodak V803 is the increased maximum sensitivity. Kodak beefed up the EasyShare V803 with a high setting of up to 1600 ISO at full resolution, for low-light situations.

In Auto ISO mode, the camera only captures at the unusually limited range of 80 to 160 ISO. At first, we thought this was a typo on the manufacturer’s specification sheet, but it appears we had too high of hopes for this EasyShare camera. The restricted 80 to 160 ISO range in Auto ISO mode means if users forget to set sensitivity, the automatic ISO range is suited only for outdoor or bright situations.

Users have more flexibility in Manual ISO mode, with an acceptable range from 80 to 1600 ISO. Even though the camera can record the full 8-megapixel resolution at 1600 ISO, pictures taken at such a high sensitivity were visibly grainy.

White Balance (4.0)
The Kodak EasyShare V803 lacks in this area. Its white balance settings are: Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Open Shade. Some manufacturers offer two or three types of fluorescent settings for varied lighting. Also missing is a custom white balance setting. Many of the V803’s competitors, such as the General Electric G1 and Canon PowerShot SD40 include multiple fluorescent and a custom setting. Our tests show the V803’s auto and preset white balance settings perform miserably, which results in inaccurate colors. See the Testing / Performance section for more details.

Exposure (7.0)
The V803 does not offer users control of shutter speed and aperture. However, users can control exposure by pushing the joystick to the left and right, but not through the menus, where exposure controls usually live. The Kodak camera has a +/- 2 EV compensation range in 1/3 steps. Maneuvering through exposure compensation is a little tricky. The joystick is too sensitive and often speeds by the desired setting. Users can preview the effect of the exposure setting on the LCD.

Metering (7.0)
The Kodak V803 offers the standard metering modes: multi-pattern, center-weighted, and spot metering. Metering is a critical but often ignored function used to optimize shooting in various lighting conditions. The evaluative mode reads light from the entire scene, the center-weighted option measures from the middle of the frame, and the spot option from a small area in the center.

Users have to jump through hoops to access metering settings. Metering options are in a sub menu of the Exposure Metering menu, found after pressing the menu button. The difficult part is selecting the right one, because the joystick often selects a wrong menu item.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
The EasyShare V803’s shutter speed can’t be manually adjusted. However, the Scene modes allow for marginal control. The camera’s shutter speed ranges from 8 seconds to 1/2000 of a second. The V803 is intended for beginners, so shutter speed is an option that will likely go unmissed.

Aperture (0.0)
Like shutter speed, the V803’s aperture can’t be controlled. . Aperture ranges from f/2.8 to f/4.9. As with shutter speed control, manual aperture control is not a top priority for point-and-shooters.