Kodak EasyShare Z740

Front
Attention first falls on the 10x optical, all-glass Kodak Retinar zoom lens, placed slightly off-center, along the right side of the camera’s front face. Counter to the lens is a smooth, curved right hand grip, vertically creating the left side of the frame. There is an imbedded rubber strip on the front of the grip for added stability. Directly above the lens, extending slightly away from the camera body, is the flash casing. The identifying "Kodak" lettering, formed on a single piece of rigid plastic, has been applied to the front of the flash inset, peering out towards the subject. Slightly above and off to the left of the lens barrel are two small vertically aligned circles. The one above is the low-light assist/self-timer lamp to help framing and focusing in low light situations. The lower circle is a light sensor that meters the scene and reads the amount of available light. Above and to the right of the lens barrel are two small openings leading to the camera’s microphone.

Back
The primary focus of the back of the EasyShare Z740 is the 1.8" TFT indoor/outdoor LCD screen, consuming much of the left portion of the frame. Directly up from the LCD monitor is a 201,000 pixel viewfinder. Between the two, there are two small buttons: to the right is a small, circular EVF/LCD button that toggles between the two electronic views. Opposite the EVF/LCD control is an Information button, marked with a "I". When engaged, the user can view shooting information and feature icons pertaining to image quality, exposure compensation, and flash settings, or conceal that information for an uncompromised view of the frame.

The right half of the back of the Z740 is reserved for the majority of the camera’s shooting controls. A bit more than midway down the frame is a circular mode dial. A rotating ring within the mode dial is used to choose the desired mode, and the raised joystick in the center selects and scrolls through menu options. Below the mode dial, set in an obtuse triangule, are three circular shooting controls. They are, from left to right, Delete, Menu, and Review. Above and slightly to the left of the mode selection dial is the distinctive Share button that virtually inspired Kodak’s ascent through the ranks of digital photography. Above the Share control, near the top of the frame, sits the camera’s horizontal zoom control. Appearing as two disjunct buttons, the continuous, curved segment has two protrusions, altering the focal length towards either the "W" wide angle view or "T" telephoto perspective.

Left Side
The left side of the EasyShare Z740 lacks controls, but contains an extending eyelet for attaching the camera’s strap. There is also a large "5.0 megapixel" advertisement spread across the left side of the camera.

Right Side
Near the top of the Z740’s right side is the other strap eyelet. Below is a large port door that swings open to access the terminals. While not overly durable, the port door should handle minimal stress and appears to be pretty solid when closed; however, problems may arise if the hinged door is pressed back in the wrong direction. While this is a problem with most hinged mechanisms, the plastic Z740 port door surely will not survive the test. A portion of the right hand grip wraps around to the right side of the frame.

Top
The top of the EasyShare Z740 is divided into two large segments, resembling a bat. The left section is the flash casing and is void of controls. When closed, the flash lays horizontally along the surface of the camera within a 1/2"-1" casing, popping up about 90-degrees when engaged. To the far left, beyond the flash, is a protruding switch that opens the flash manually. There is a short bridge, slightly off-center, leading toward the right side of the camera where the camera’s power switch resides. There are three options on the Z740’s power control: "On," indicated by the green camera icon (the universal sign for automatic still recording mode), "Off," and a "Favorites" setting, off to the far left, marked with a small black book with a cut-out heart in the center. The Favorites setting acts as a photo album, storing specific images at reduced size that users can access with a single control, in true Kodak fashion. Just below the power switch are nine holes aligned in three sets of three, leading to the camera’s speaker.

The right section of the top of the camera contains an oval segment, defined by the stark lines that separate it from the rest of the camera. This section acts as a control panel of sorts, where essential shooting controls are placed. There is an arched progression of four buttons within this segment; one large round control to accessing the shutter release and focus lock, and three smaller, circular buttons below. Directly beneath the shutter is the Self timer/Burst mode button. This engages the self-timer countdown or activates one of the camera’s two burst modes (first burst and last burst). Below is the macro or Close up/Landscape button, which singles out two commonly sought image presets and makes them more accessible to the point-and-shooter. While most cameras keep all of the offered presets together, Kodak maintains its quest for simplicity. With this control on the top-right panel of the camera, users can easily reach and switch between the close-up and distant preset shooting modes. The third button, near the bottom of the frame, is the flash button, indicated by the lightning bolt icon. Repeated depression of this control will cycle through the various flash modes and help the user quickly increase or reduce lighting without moving far from the shutter.