Manual Control Options
The PAS setting is the Z700’s take on manual control. PAS stands for Program, Aperture, and Shutter, which for years have been the three flavors of automatic exposure setting, and that’s what they are on the Z700. None is truly manual, though all of them will offer the user a bit more information and control than the camera’s other settings - but the user will not be able to set it to, say, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second.

On the P setting, the user has access to the ISO setting and the exposure compensation setting. On A, the user can set the aperture, the ISO and the compensation and the camera will adapt the other exposure controls to the selected options. On S, the shutter speed, the ISO and the compensation are fair game, while the rest again falls to the camera. The choices for ISO are 80, 100, 200 and 400. Compensation allows for two stops of bias, in half-stops. It’s not really manual control, though. Essentially, it allows the user to direct the camera to boost the exposure beyond what the camera’s metering system says it should be.

Focus
Auto (7.5)
Autofocusing the lens is not the hardest problem that engineers of digital cameras face. The electronic end of things puts more limitations on sharpness than the lenses do, which means that there is more room for error in focus on digital cameras than on 35mm film cameras, or professional-level cameras. So it’s not surprising that the Z700 zips its lens to focus quickly and without much confusion.

The viewfinder shows the focus status in a simple way that I found very intuitive. The camera apparently has three focus sensors side by side, centered in the view. While the camera is searching for focus, two red brackets light up on the far edges of the sensors. Once the lens is sharply focused at one of the sensors, green brackets light up on either side of that spot. If the green brackets show up on Uncle Joe’s eye, you’re golden. If they show up on his ear, try again — unless he has a really cool ear.

In Closeup and Flower modes, the camera’s minimum focus distance drops to about 2 inches for wide angle shots and under 10 inches for telephoto.

Manual (0.0)
If you want this camera, you don’t want to be in charge of focus. Three modes — Landscape, Night Landscape, and Fireworks — apparently peg the focus at infinity, but other than those options, the camera is in control.

Metering (7.0)
The Z700 has three meter settings: multi-pattern, center-weighted, and center-spot. Multi-pattern measures light across the field of view, and settles on an exposure. Center-weighted and center-spot concentrate progressively more on the middle of the frame. These are standard metering patterns, and the Z700’s automatic modes use them appropriately. They are also available in the PAS settings.

Exposure (6.0)
My test images suggest that the Z700’s exposure system handles exposure well for snapshots: it avoids overexposure (letting the image get too bright). The options available to override the camera’s exposure measurements are limited, but allow users to compensate within a +/- 2 EV range, moving in 1/2-stop steps. This is a bit short of most cameras which provide the same compensation range, but offer a few additional stops along the way (moving in 1/3-stops).

>White Balance (3.5)
White balance settings on the EasyShare Z700 are quite limited - providing just Automatic, Daylight, Tungsten and Fluorescent options. With just four color presets on an automatic camera, users may find themselves struggling for accurate color reproduction, particularly when multiple light sources are at work. For comparison's sake, many automatically-oriented cameras these days pack in at least 6-10 preset color alternatives.

ISO (7.0)
ISO indicates how sensitive to light the sensor is. Users will gain illumination in a shot when using a higher ISO setting, but the higher rating will lower the quality of the image (by increasing the visible noise). Using the (highest) ISO 400 setting on the EasyShare Z700 will give the final prints a gritty, slightly distorted overtone. Subjects that should look like solid colors look as though they are composites - formed of fragmented colors and lines, some lighter and some darker than the real color. In digital imaging, that problem is called “noise” and will become visible when using the ISO 200 and 400 settings on the EasyShare Z700.

In the Z700’s PAS setting, the user can choose from ISO 80, 100, 200 or 400. When the camera chooses the setting (using the automatic mode), it selects between a restricted 80-160 sensitivity range. Although the ISO 400 setting will be much noisier than 100, users will have to shoot outside or rely on the flash. Given the modest output of the camera’s flash, the pictures had better be closeups.

Shutter Speed (6.0)
The EasyShare Z700's shutter can be set to between 2 seconds and 1/1600 of a second in duration. This range is suitable for the uses the camera is likely to have. Two of the camera’s scene settings, Fireworks and Night Landscape, would likely benefit from longer exposure times.

Aperture (6.0)
The f/4.8 maximum aperture setting on the EasyShare Z700 will limit the camera’s performance in dim light. On the other hand, it is more forgiving of focusing errors than a brighter lens would be, and it is smaller. It’s probably sharper than a brighter lens, too. The f/2.8 - 5.76 (wide) and f/4.8 - 8.76 (telephoto) aperture range on the Z700 should be more than adequate for most of the camera's likely applications. Control Options Page 7 of 12 Image Parameters Kodak EasyShare Z700 Digital Camera Review Navigation