Kodak EasyShare Z650

Viewfinder (6.0)
The Kodak EasyShare Z650 has an electronic color viewfinder that is activated by pressing the EVF/LCD button beneath the lower-right corner of the eyepiece. The viewfinder is large enough to use, and the eyepiece made using this feature feasible. However, it is hard to use the viewfinder and manual controls if viewing with the left eye because of the limited size of the camera body and the close proximity of the controls to the viewfinder. Using the right eye made this a non-issue, but this may not be an option for users with certain eye conditions. The viewfinder measures 0.2 inches in width and has 201,000 pixels. The LCD screen and viewfinder cannot be used simultaneously, and both have a preview frame rate of 27 fps.

LCD Screen (6.0)
The LCD screen is positioned directly beneath the electronic color viewfinder on the left side of the Kodak EasyShare Z650’s back face. This 2.0-inch LCD screen has a black frame and is raised slightly from the camera body. The screen color and preview quality are underwhelming with only 110,000 pixels. The monitor has little chance when compared to other models on the market that boast 230K pixels and a 2.5 inch width. The poor quality of the screen made accurately judging images in review mode difficult. It was often necessary to export images to a computer to review focus, white balance, and exposure of images.

Flash (6.75)
The Kodak EasyShare Z650's pop-up flash is located on the top of the camera body. It can be opened by a switch located to the left of the flash housing. Pressing down on the actual housing closes the pop-up flash manually and makes a slight click when it locks into place. The flash has a range of 2 to 16 feet when shooting in wide-angle and 6.6 feet to 12 feet in telephoto. The flash was aggressive when capturing portraits and shooting subjects at a close range. The fill-flash was a much better option for close-up situations. The fill-flash setting as well as the auto, red-eye, and off flash options are accessed by pressing the flash button located on the top face of the camera. The current flash mode is indicated at the top middle of the LCD screen.

Zoom Lens (7.25)
The Kodak EasyShare Z650 has a Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 10x optical zoom lens. This lens extends out from a protruding housing when the camera is turned on. The lens is an aspheric all-glass lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 in wide-angle and a focal length of 38mm to 380mm (35mm equivalent). The lens is threaded for accessory customization, and there is an included plastic adapter ring for both wide-angle and telephoto lenses. Additionally, Kodak is currently selling a circular polarizing lens and a neutral density filter.

The user can traverse the zoom range by engaging the zoom toggle located on the back of the camera body. This toggle is undersized considering its importance. It is also difficult to use since the control is too close to the raised section of the camera body that surrounds the EVF and the LCD screen. This makes pressing the wide-angle half of the toggle nearly impossible. Despite this, the zoom toggle moved through the 10x range in a few seconds. The user will find upwards of 40 possible settings within the 10x range. It isn’t the fastest zoom on the point-and-shoot market and making minor adjustments to zoom wasn’t the easiest, but it functions well without passing the appropriate level or zipping from one end of the range to the other.

In addition to the 10x optical zoom, there is also an included 10.6x to 50x digital zoom. The digital zoom range is displayed to the right of the optical zoom display shown in the upper-left corner of the LCD. The digital zoom range is displayed in orange, and the optical zoom range in off-white. The user can choose to deactivate the digital zoom in the setup menu (the recommended option since digital zoom immediately compromises image quality) or use it sparingly. There is a temporary pause between the full 10x optical before transitioning into the digital zoom.

Since the Z650 lacks the optical image stabilization system of the Z612, its 10x optical zoom lens at the full 10x suffers from handshake. As a result, it was often necessary to either use a tripod or another stable surface.