Kodak EasyShare Z950

Resolution (7.94)

We found that the images that the Z950 captured for our resolution tests were a little disappointing. We saw some evidence of distortion and chromatic aberration, and the images were not particularly sharp. Our resolution score is composed of the result of three tests, where we look at distortion, sharpness and chromatic aberration. More on how we test resolution.

Distortion (6.66)

All lenses introduce some distortion, but the Z950 seemed to be more prone to this than most. We only saw a very small amount at the middle and telephoto points of the zoom range, but there was some distinct barrel distortion at the widest setting; we saw just over 3% distortion, which is very significant and shows up in images

Sharpness (8.89)

Most of the images that we took with the Z950 had acceptable sharpness, although none of them were outstanding in this test. At the wide and middle points of the zoom range the images had consistent sharpness, but this wasn’t the case at the telephoto end, where we found that the images were generally much softer, producing a sort of soft focus effect that meant that fine details were lost in the haze. You can see examples of this in the crops below; the edges of the boxes in the longest zoom images are much blurrier than those at the other points.

Chromatic Aberration (7.46)

We also found some issues with chromatic aberration, where the elements of the lenses bend different colors of light slightly differently, producing a slight colored fringe on sharp edges. This was most pronounced at the wide and telephoto ends of the zoom range, where there was some distinct aberration in the corners of the images.

Quality & Size Options (6.50)

The Z950 gives you a wide selection of options for the resolution of the images you shoot: 8 in all. There are also 3 sharpness levels: high, normal and low, but these do not seem to affect the image quality much. You cannot, however, shoot images in RAW, which limits the amount of processing you can do in applications such as Photoshop. However, only a handful of point and shoot cameras offer this feature.

Image Stabilization (23.71)

The Z950 uses an optical stabilization system, where an element of the lens moves to compensate for handshake. We found this system to be very effective: in our tests, we found that it significantly improved the sharpness of images at a typical indoor shutter speed of 1/30 of a second. More on how we test image stabilization.

Stabilization Comparisons
Kodak Z950	Canon SX120 IS	Nikon L100	Panasonic DMC-ZS3
Stabilization Off
Stabilization On