Mike's Kodak DC280

Mike's Kodak DC 280 Review

CCD
2.3 Megapixels

Max resolution:
1760x1168 @ 24bit
This is a high-end consumer digital camera, at a fraction of the cost of professional DC's (5 Megapixel CCDs)

Cost About $599 (was $7-800)
Professional DC's cost anywhere from $2-10,000. Considering it is 40% the CCD versus 35% of the cost for the low-end professional model, I'm satisfied, having purchased this as my first digital camera.

You should be able to find this camera online for significantly less than the MSRP. I purchased my camera from www.ecost.com with no issues or hassles that other online resalers may put you through.

"Digital Film" Media 20MB CompactFlash card
SmartMedia is a smaller media, however it is more prone to damage by static or mild abuse. CompactFlash is more durable, and can be found in much larger storage sizes than SmartMedia.

Luckily, my DC280's package contained a 32MB CompactFlash card, which stores about 55 High Quality images. I'm guessing this was due to recent production facility problems overseas.

Connectivity Computer: USB & Serial
TV: NTSC/PAL Video Out
Adapters for both USB, PC Serial and Macintosh Serial connections are provided.

USB is very important, since serial connections are much slower than 10

Size 5.2"w x 2.0"d x 3.0"h It's not quite pocket-able. You'll want a carry case for the accessories anyhow. (ie. the TV-Video Out cable, extra CompactFlash Media and possibly extra batteries.)

Weight 12.1oz without batteries The total weight with batteries is equivalent to two Universal Remotes stacked on top of eachother.

Zoom 6x : 2x optical, 3x digital.
The better the optical zoom, the clearer long-distance images will remain when telephoto zoom is used.

This camera has auto-focus that may be adjusted for multi-point or single-point focusing. I have only encountered problems with auto-focus in low light, low battery, and when the subject is wearing very dark colors.

Focal length 30-60m (35mm camera equivalent)

Actual Focal length 6.5-13mm This is the actual distance between the lenses and the CCD.

Aperture Wide: F/3
Telephoto: F/3.8

Focus Distance 1.6ft to infinity

Macro Focus Distance 0.82ft to 1.6ft The smaller the macro focus distance, the clearer extremely close images will appear. The best macro consumer DC right now is made by Ricoh.
For instance, a macro focus distance of 1.5" to 1.6ft would allow you to photograph the fine hairs on a caterpillar or the details of the face of a quarter.

Power
A/C: A DC power converter is not provided in the package.

Batteries: Kodak provides 4 AA Alkalines so you may start taking pictures right away, and 4 AA NiMH batteries with a 8hr charger.

After 40-50 pictures with about 30 seconds of LCD usage, will drain the batteries. Flash usage also decreased battery life. Good thing they provide a charger & NiMH batteries.

So far, I've taken 135 pictures after using the original 4 AA alkalines and one full 8hr charge of the 4 AA NiMH; and only now it is telling me the batteries are low.(That's about 67 pictures per 4 AA batteries so far.)

The AC->DC power adapter would be essential if you were to present the screen show feature on a TV for a long period of time, or if you plan to do a great deal of photographing, so you may use the adapter when downloading/uploading from/to the camera.

The Kodak DC280's user interface is the easiest I have found to use. Olympus and Ricoh both had fairly unfriendly user interaction. However, with some memory work, those cameras should not be too difficult to master.

The factors weighted heaviest in my decision were Macintosh and PC support, maximum resolution of at least 1600x1200, USB connectivity, at least 2x optical zoom, CompactFlash Media support, a fair sized handgrip (preferably pocket-able size), then battery life & better comparable cost versus similar cameras.

I noticed a few which offered 30-120second video/audio sampling at a very reduced image resolution. If you consider this a feature, you might like it. However, if you're serious about digital video recording, forget the camera and go for a real digital camcorder instead (about $1000-1800 for consumer DV models).

I always take pictures at the highest quality then downsample them aken with a Kodak DC280. All pictures are taken at the highest quality (1760x1168), then cropped and/or downsampled to1024x680 for my albums.

I have only noticed some grain in the images from the high quality pictures. This appears to be due to JPEG compression factor that Kodak uses at even the "Best" JPEG quality, or possibly CCD sampling issues. I only wish there were an uncompressed image capture, so I might figure out who's at fault.

However, when bilinear or bicubic interpolated from 1760x1168 to 1024x680, the images clearly beat any 1024x camera available. Then again, in all image processing, typically oversample by 1.5-2 times your destination's resolution for marginally better image quality.

(C)opyright 2000 Michael R. Bytnar (m-bytnar@uiuc.edu)
Image linked from Kodak's website. (C)opyright Kodak.

CCD	2.3 Megapixels Max resolution: 1760x1168 @ 24bit	This is a high-end consumer digital camera, at a fraction of the cost of professional DC's (5 Megapixel CCDs)
Cost	About $599 (was $7-800)	Professional DC's cost anywhere from $2-10,000. Considering it is 40% the CCD versus 35% of the cost for the low-end professional model, I'm satisfied, having purchased this as my first digital camera. You should be able to find this camera online for significantly less than the MSRP. I purchased my camera from www.ecost.com with no issues or hassles that other online resalers may put you through.
"Digital Film" Media	20MB CompactFlash card	SmartMedia is a smaller media, however it is more prone to damage by static or mild abuse. CompactFlash is more durable, and can be found in much larger storage sizes than SmartMedia. Luckily, my DC280's package contained a 32MB CompactFlash card, which stores about 55 High Quality images. I'm guessing this was due to recent production facility problems overseas.
Connectivity	Computer: USB & Serial TV: NTSC/PAL Video Out	Adapters for both USB, PC Serial and Macintosh Serial connections are provided. USB is very important, since serial connections are much slower than 10
Size	5.2"w x 2.0"d x 3.0"h	It's not quite pocket-able. You'll want a carry case for the accessories anyhow. (ie. the TV-Video Out cable, extra CompactFlash Media and possibly extra batteries.)
Weight	12.1oz without batteries	The total weight with batteries is equivalent to two Universal Remotes stacked on top of eachother.
Zoom	6x : 2x optical, 3x digital.	The better the optical zoom, the clearer long-distance images will remain when telephoto zoom is used. This camera has auto-focus that may be adjusted for multi-point or single-point focusing. I have only encountered problems with auto-focus in low light, low battery, and when the subject is wearing very dark colors.
Focal length	30-60m (35mm camera equivalent)
Actual Focal length	6.5-13mm	This is the actual distance between the lenses and the CCD.
Aperture	Wide: F/3 Telephoto: F/3.8
Focus Distance	1.6ft to infinity
Macro Focus Distance	0.82ft to 1.6ft	The smaller the macro focus distance, the clearer extremely close images will appear. The best macro consumer DC right now is made by Ricoh. For instance, a macro focus distance of 1.5" to 1.6ft would allow you to photograph the fine hairs on a caterpillar or the details of the face of a quarter.
Power	A/C: A DC power converter is not provided in the package. Batteries: Kodak provides 4 AA Alkalines so you may start taking pictures right away, and 4 AA NiMH batteries with a 8hr charger.	After 40-50 pictures with about 30 seconds of LCD usage, will drain the batteries. Flash usage also decreased battery life. Good thing they provide a charger & NiMH batteries. So far, I've taken 135 pictures after using the original 4 AA alkalines and one full 8hr charge of the 4 AA NiMH; and only now it is telling me the batteries are low.(That's about 67 pictures per 4 AA batteries so far.) The AC->DC power adapter would be essential if you were to present the screen show feature on a TV for a long period of time, or if you plan to do a great deal of photographing, so you may use the adapter when downloading/uploading from/to the camera.