Manual Control Options
The Z740 offers relatively solid manual control options, considering it’s designed for the point-and-shoot crowd. Full Manual mode allows alterations of aperture and shutter speeds, along with offering the respective Aperture and Shutter-Priority settings. ISO rating, color parameters, and white balance settings are all also manually adjustable, though white balance cannot be customized. Oddly, exposure compensation is not available in the fully Manual mode.
Focus
Auto (7.5)
Multi-zone and center-zone are the Z740’s two main modes of auto focusing. Also, continuous AF lets the user leave the focus on continuously, and single AF allows for battery conservation. The Z740’s Normal Wide lets the camera focus 2 ft. from the lens, while Close-up Wide reduces this to a mere 4.7 inches. Normal Telephoto brings the focus limit in to 6.6 feet, but Close-up Telephoto pulls it in to 3.9. These Close-up modes are accessed by using the Macro button atop the camera.
There is also an auto-assist illuminator for aiding focus in low-light conditions, but the beam is a startling Hi-C Ecto Cooler green. It doesn’t affect the model’s performance, but it might affect your ability to concentrate on your shot at first. For an extended zoom lens, the Z740 focused surprisingly quick, rendering accurate adjustments that should not get in the user’s way.
Manual (0.0)
The EasyShare Z740 contains some manual modes and controls, but there is no manual focus. It’s designed for more automatic users, after all.
Metering (7.0)
The Kodak Z740 has an automatic through-the-lens AE metering method and offers three selectable metering settings for manual adjustments. These are: multi-pattern, center-weighted, and center spot metering modes. The default multi-pattern setting evaluates lighting throughout the entire image. The center-weighted option only evaluates lighting in the center; the center spot option functions like the former, but the area it evaluates is even smaller.
Exposure (6.0)
Exposure compensation in the EasyShare Z740 is in the typical +/-2 range, but instead of moving in 1/3 stop steps, it moves in 1/2 stop increments. Exposure compensation is also unavailable in manual mode, though it’s available in every other mode.
White Balance (3.5)
The Kodak EasyShare Z740 has four preset options and includes an automatic white balance mode. The preset options are Daylight, Open Shade, Tungsten, and Fluorescent. These white balance options are limited; this in conjunction with the lack of a custom setting will probably cause users to favor the automatic setting.
ISO (7.0)
Both manual and automatic ISO selection is available on the Kodak Z740. The manual mode offers ISO 80-400, while the much more limited automatic mode only offers ISO 80-160. The automatic range is more restricted than most point-and-shoot models, where ranges of 80 or 100-400 are not uncommon. This limits the Z740’s shooting ability, at least among automatic users, to situations with profuse lighting.
Shutter Speed (6.5)
The Kodak Z740 has a shutter speed range of 8 seconds – 1/1000th of a second that can be manually altered in the Manual and Shutter Priority modes. Users do not need to enter a menu; the shutter speed can be altered on the LCD screen using the joystick. In the automatic mode, the camera’s shutter speed range changes to 1/8 – 1/1700th of a second.
Aperture (7.0)
In the Manual and Aperture Priority modes, users can change aperture settings using the same joystick that changes the shutter speed but moving it in a different direction. Apertures range from f/2.8-f/8 in the lens’ widest setting and f/3.7-f/8 in the telephoto setting. Considering the long focal length of the zoom lens, the f/3.7 aperture opening in the telephoto setting is quite large. Sports shooters and photographers who shoot fast action in dim light will appreciate this feature. The large aperture opening is necessary to make up for the lack of image stabilization on this model.
