Digital Camera Review

First Impressions Review

The Kodak EasyShare V1003 is a 10-megapixel, $249.95 point-and-shoot that follows in the style of last year's V705. Like the V705 and the V505, it's simple to use in the tradition of Kodak consumer cameras. More notably, and also like those two, the V1003 is a good-looking camera. The V705 was a big step forward for Kodak, which for decades had been making cameras that look like they'd been beaten with an ugly stick. It bodes well for Kodak that it's been able to introduce another camera that wouldn't scare buzzards off a corpse.
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Model Design / Appearance
As we said in the introduction, the EasyShare V1003 is an attractive camera, with simple and appealing lines. The designers were consistent in implementing these concepts, so all the details of the V1003's appearance contribute to its sleek, restrained look.

Size / Portability
The V1003 is 4.1 x 2.1 x 1.0 inches, and weighs 4.4 ounces without a battery or memory card. Because the lens telescopes out from the camera, it's much thicker in use. The size and shape make the V1003 very portable – but it's vulnerability to dust and dirt. This means that it definitely shouldn't go everywhere, even though it could. Pockets, purses, and backpacks will be too dirty for the V1003. Dust and grit can get into the lens mechanism, the battery and memory compartment, the USB/AV port and the DC jack.

Handling Ability
The V1003 is just large enough to hold securely. Though it doesn't have a hand grip, the surface of the Kodak logo on the front of the camera is grippable. The design doesn't really encourage a two-handed grip, but the V1003 will be more stable if the user grips the top and bottom with their left thumb and forefinger.

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
The buttons on the V1003 are smaller than they should be, most likely a result of the sleek design we find so appealing. Still, we found ourselves missing the buttons we wanted because they are too small and close together. The shutter release is weak and uncertain. The joystick controller gave us problems, too – it frequently pressed in when we wanted to push it up. The power button is small and sunken slightly, probably so users won't accidentally turn the V1003 off or on. We found it hard to use, and our experience is that power switches that slide or turn are better.

Menu
Since the EasyShare V1003 is meant to be a simple camera, it has a relatively short menu. Much of the menu is only available in Program mode, the setting that allows the user the most control. Cameras typically split menus into sections for shooting, playback and setup, often with a separate menu for customizing the interface, image rendering or both. On the V1003, set-up is a submenu that appears in both the shooting and playback menus. A single menu item allows the user to save many of the camera preferences, very much like a customization menu.

Shooting Menu:

Self timer
2 or 10-second delay, or 10-second delay with 2 shots
Burst
Set for single or continuous shooting
MP (resolution)
10, 8.9, 4.9, 3.1, 2.5, 2.1 or 1.2 megapixels
White Balance
Set V1003 for lighting types: Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Shade or Automatic
ISO
Set sensitivity to Automatic, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1600
Color mode
Set color reproduction to High, Natural, Low, Black and White or Sepia
Sharpness
Set to High Normal or Low
Meter Pattern
Multi-zone, Center-weighted or Spot
Autofocus
Single or continuous focusing
Autofocus Zone
Multi or center
LT
Long exposures from 0.5 to 2 seconds
Maintain settings
Retain settings when camera is shut off for various controls.
Album
Set to associate new images with albums created in Easyshare software on associated computer
Date stamp
Imprint date and time on images
Image storage
Store images on SD card or in internal memory

Set-up Menu

Camera Sounds
Set noises that the V1003 makes
Volume
Volume for alerts and playback
Digital Zoom
Simulate longer telephoto lens digitally, with a large penalty in quality
High Power
Brighten LCD display
LCD
Power save mode by dimming LCD after 30, 20 or 10 seconds
Auto power off
Set 10, 5, 3 or 1 minute of inactivity before the camera shuts off
Date/Time
Set date and time
Video
Choose NTSC or PAL for video output
Photo frame
Set to use Dock 2 to control image display
Redeye
Set preflash to limit redeye
Blur warning
Evaluates images for motion blur. Green dot indicates good enough quality for a 4x6-inch print. Yellow dot indicates marginal quality and red indicates a blurry image
Format
Remove all data from SD card or internal memory. Formatting internal memory removes Album information and email addresses used by Share function.
Firmware
Shows firmware version

Playback
Select All
Select all images
View by
Sort images by date or folder name
Album
Select album to play back
Perfect Touch
Improve color and exposure
Crop
Crop a part of the image
Slide show
Display images in sequence
Multi up
Show thmbnails
Protect
Prevent images from being deleted
Image storage
Save images to SD card or internal memory
 
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