Kodak EasyShare V570

By David D. Busch, CNET.com
Jan 23, 2006

The typical ultracompact digital camera often has your back up against a wall when equipped with a wide-angle that affords no better than the equivalent of a 35mm-to-39mm view. Eastman Kodak has a better idea: Including a second, ultrawide 23mm (35mm-camera equivalent) fixed-focal-length lens that broadens your viewpoint when faced with tight spots or breathtaking panoramas. The stylish Kodak EasyShare V570 mates this wide-angle lens with a separate 39mm-to-117mm 3x zoom lens. Each lens has its own sensor, thanks to a folded optical path that accommodates a 5-megapixel pair. The ultrawide lens is the perfect complement for the V570's in-camera panorama-stitching feature, which can capture a full 180-degree vista with only three shots.

Unfortunately, only average picture quality, a lack of manual controls, and a few ergonomic glitches take some of the shine off the V570's innovation luster. And the camera doesn't really offer the 5x optical zoom capability that Kodak claims; in our book, this is a 3x zoom camera with a supplemental wide-angle lens. But those who fall in love with this ultracompact's wide view, high-quality 2.5-inch LCD, 22 automatic scene modes, and included USB dock will probably be happy to overlook its shortcomings.

Design

	We found it easy to confuse these little buttons on top of the camera.

The Kodak EasyShare V570 gets high marks for style. Its sleek, 101 x 49.8 x 20.4mm, 125g black body, with chrome accents and back panel, looks sharp from any angle. You'll need a two-handed shooting stance to hold the camera a comfortable half-arm's length away for composing images, as it's virtually impossible to suspend the index finger of your shooting hand over the shutter release while thumbing the vertically oriented zoom tab. Indeed, this odd control makes repeated in-and-out zooming awkward at best. The most comfortable way to operate it is with your thumb resting on either the top half to zoom in or the bottom half to zoom out.

With the V570's dual Schneider-Kreuznach C-Variogon lens configuration, the optics remain recessed in the camera, behind a retracting silver cover that also shields the focus assist lamp. The ultrawide lens gets the upper bunk on the front, while the 3x zoom takes the lower. A prism behind the front element of each lens deflects incoming light toward the right (when viewing the camera from the front), where additional optics focus the image onto separate 1/2.5-inch CCDs.

	The vertical zoom pad and mini joystick navigator sit to the right of the LCD.

The zoom process itself is entertaining the first few times you try it out. An odd combination of optical and digital zoom bridges the gap between the two lenses, giving you the impression of zooming seamlessly from 23mm to 117mm and beyond. The digital zoom takes you from the 23mm lens to the wide 39mm end of the zoom lens, then hardware takes over and zooms optically from 39mm to 117mm, where an additional 4x digital zoom takes over again. You can also turn digital zoom off entirely, in which case the camera's zoom jumps directly from 23mm to the 39mm-to-117mm range. A yellow-and-red-striped indicator bar on the LCD shows what zoom range you're using.

There's one problem with the system: A parallax change when switching from one lens to the other. At relatively close distances, the framed area alters noticeably when the digital zoom takes you from one lens to the other.

	On the left side of the back panel are the speaker; a flash-ready light; flash mode, Delete, and Review buttons; and Kodak's signature Share key, for marking photos to email, print, or store in the on-camera Favorites folder.

Although most of the controls are sensibly laid out and easy to use, the zoom button isn't the only source of problems. There are five tiny buttons on the top surface of the camera, and when hurried, we often pressed the power button instead of the shutter release or the Scene mode button instead of the similar Motion Picture or Favorites buttons. In addition, the very small four-way joystick on the right side of the back panel navigated with lightning speed through menu options, but it was easy to accidentally push this key, selecting a setting we didn't really want. When not zipping around menus, the joystick adjusts the LCD information display (up), shifts between macro and normal focus (down), and applies exposure compensation (left/right, for plus or minus 2EV in 1/3EV steps).

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