When the Kodak EasyShare-one is powered up, it defaults to the Auto mode every time. The auto mode still lets users change the flash mode and exposure compensation on the touch screen. The burst mode can also be accessed from there. The rest of the settings default to Auto, but can be changed within the Setup menu. This is the type of Auto mode I prefer, especially on cameras that do not include manual modes. All of the settings default to automatic for those times when the photographer is in need of a quick shot. However, the auto settings can be overridden by the photographer, allowing for some creativity.

 

The movie mode is an example of one of the specs that was changed from the January announcement to the October release of the Kodak EasyShare-one. The original spec was for a VGA movie mode that shot 30 frames per second. However, the released EasyShare-one shoots 640 x 480 pixels at a rate of 24 frames per second. Nevertheless, the video quality still looks pretty good and not terribly choppy. The movie mode records audio simultaneously; unfortunately, the built-in microphone can pick up sounds you may not want to hear in the clip. The 3x optical zoom is available in movie mode, but the audio picks up the sound of the sticky toggle clicking and the zoom mechanism whirring in and out. Most compact digital cameras disable the optical zoom in movie mode and some offer digital zoom as a replacement. The EasyShare-one is quite the opposite. It allows access to the optical zoom (although even the optical zoom can be disabled in the setup menu), but disables the digital zoom completely. Overall, the movie mode is impressive – especially when it is coupled with the 256 MB of internal memory. The only piece of the puzzle that it is missing is more size options. I would prefer a 320 x 240 pixel image size so that I could email video and it could be received easier.

 

The Kodak EasyShare-one has a burst mode, but it must be reset before each burst. When the top left corner of the touch screen is pressed, a small Burst menu appears with these options: Single Picture, First Burst, and Last Burst. Once one of the burst modes is selected, the camera will take its five-picture burst and then recoil back into its single picture default. That could be annoying for those soccer moms who want to burst and burst and burst. The EasyShare-one can capture about 2 frames per second for five frames, whether it’s the first five shots or the last five before the shutter button is released. The burst mode takes awhile to record to the memory, which can be inconvenient. Overall, the burst mode is decent but should ideally have a setting of either on or off instead of needing to be reset between bursts.

 

The camera must be set to the playback mode with the tiny mode dial on the side. The EasyShare-one displays an index screen with the option to scroll through pages and pages of pictures. Users can classify their pictures as Recent or Favorites and they can also store them in Albums or the Calendar. When scrolling through the pictures, users can select certain images to put in a “drawer” at the bottom of the touch screen. This drawer simply specifies groups of pictures. Across the bottom of the index screen are a few icons, including the Wireless, Edit, Slideshow, Favorites, and Print icons. The wireless icon connects to wireless networks. The Edit icon moves pictures into albums, copies them, and crops them. The slide show icon throws the pictures in the drawer into a looping slide show complete with fades and wipes. The heart icon designates photos as Favorites and can be found in a Favorites folder. The printing icon adds pictures to the Outbox so they can be e-mailed or printed wirelessly.

Touching a picture on the index screen twice will enlarge the picture to fill up the whole view. Users can then scroll through the large pictures by pushing the right or left sides of the monitor. Individual pictures can be zoomed in upon from 1-8x with the zoom toggle. The Menu button moves the picture into different folders or albums and the Share menu is where photographers can utilize that coveted wireless capability. From here, users can Email, Print, Upload, or Transfer – as well as play a slide show and enter the setup menu. Single photos can be labeled by pushing the Info button, which lets users add captions as well as file them into albums and view file information.

Pictures that were shot vertically can automatically rotate if the Orientation Sensor is turned on within the camera. This option can be found within the setup menu, where an option can also be found to change the interval time between shots in the slide show function. Pictures can be displayed for 3, 5, 10, or 30 seconds. Viewing photographs on the Kodak EasyShare-one is a beautiful experience, as the bright 3-inch touch screen is large and colorful with plenty of resolution. The EasyShare-one does market itself as a hybrid digital camera and digital photo album with its large screen and massive amounts of internal memory. The wireless capability adds a whole new spin on the playback mode, as pictures can be emailed or printed almost as fast as you can scroll through them.

 

The Kodak EasyShare-one has a nice scene mode menu that includes Portrait, Sports, Landscape, Close-up, Night Portrait, Night Landscape, Snow, Beach, Text, Fireworks, Flower, Museum/Polite, Self-Portrait, Party, Children, and Backlight. The menu has colorful example pictures of the scenes with a text title and explanation of what it is to be used for. For example, the Sports scene mode has a picture of a couple shin-guarded legs around a soccer ball. Its explanation is, “For subjects in motion. Uses fast shutter speed and Auto flash setting.” Many of the scene modes are highly specialized; the Children mode could more aptly be called Children In Bright Light mode. Fortunately, the text explanation says what kind of lighting is expected in a particular image preset. The EasyShare-one certainly has a wide enough selection with 16 custom image presets; many compact models average about 12 or so scene modes.