Kodak EasyShare Z650

Auto Mode
The EasyShare Z650 offers a full auto mode that controls nearly every setting that could possibly influence a picture except image size, zoom, and the actual shutter depression. The auto mode controls exposure, ISO, white balance, and autofocus. The EasyShare Z650 also offers a Program mode, which controls both aperture and shutter speed. In combination with auto ISO and auto white balance, Program mode enables users to create a highly automated setup. When the ISO is set to automatic, the EasyShare Z650 chooses between settings of 80 and 160.

The EasyShare Z650 also offers shutter priority and aperture priority modes in which the user sets the shutter and the camera adjusts the aperture, or vice-versa.

The EasyShare Z650 pops up its flash automatically when the camera is turned on, but if the user pushes the flash down, the camera won't pop it up again. In dim lighting, the EasyShare Z650 will, however, display a message in large red type, imploring the user to "Open Flash."

The EasyShare Z650 consistently delivered pleasing exposures and color in auto mode, handling backlighting and high-contrast scenes well enough to produce usable results.

Movie Mode
The movie mode on the EasyShare Z650 is a minor step back from the already lackluster movie performance of last year's Z740. The camera manages only 11 frames per second at VGA resolution (640 x 480). That goes up to 20 fps at 320 x 240, but neither will show smooth motion. The Z740 was specified to yield 13 fps at VGA resolution. Optical zoom is not available in movie mode, but color modes do apply to movies.

Burst Mode
The EasyShare Z650 offers two burst modes: First Burst takes up to 4 frames at 2.5 frames per second, and last burst takes images at 2 frames per second, but only saves the last three shots. It takes several seconds for the EasyShare Z650 to save the images after a burst. The burst mode button also controls the self-timer, which offers three modes: a 2-second delay, a 10-second delay, or 2 shots, one after 10 seconds and another at 18 seconds.

Playback Mode
The EasyShare Z650's Playback mode allows the user to review images on either the viewfinder or the LCD. Offering a thumbnail mode and magnification, the Playback mode shows a series of icons along the top of the view to indicate whether the image has been tagged for printing, emailing, as a favorite, or been protected. Its frame number shows up as well. Pressing the "i" button shows shooting information which includes a histogram. Printing options are also available through the playback mode.

The EasyShare Z650's slide show mode is limited. It offers no transitions, and shows all the images in memory, not just selected ones, or ones from a specific date or group. The interval for images defaults to 5 seconds but can be set anywhere from 3 to 60 seconds. The show, which can be set to loop continuously, is also viewable on a television.

Users can delete images and movies in playback mode either one at a time or all together. There is no option, however, for deleting several images at once. Images can also be cropped or copied to the camera's internal memory.

Kodak's desktop photo software handles images in groups called albums, and the EasyShare Z650 can be set to tag images for inclusion into those albums as they are shot. Images may also be tagged after they're shot while in Playback mode.

Custom Image Presets
The EasyShare Z650 has 14 presets available via Scene mode, and 3 more through the mode dial. They are: Sport, Portrait, Night, Children, Party, Beach, Flower, Fireworks, Snow, Backlight, Close-up, Night Portrait, Landscape, Night Landscape, Manner/Museum, Text, and Self-Portrait. The settings adjust exposure, white balance, ISO, flash mode, metering pattern, and even the camera's beep volume.

Most of the presets combine the proper settings for shooting snapshots in the settings they describe. The EasyShare Z650 does not offer the option of saving a custom preset, a feature that some other compact cameras do have.