S$899
Product Summary
6.3
out of 10View score
The bad: Pricey for a 5-megapixel camera; trouble handling highlights; various problems with photo quality.
The bottom line: The Kodak EasyShare P850 has an amazing array of features, but mediocre photo quality mitigates its appeal.
Read full review of the Kodak EasyShare P850 »
Average User Rating
from 2 users
9
out of 10CNET Asia Review
Second from the top of Kodak's lineup, the 5.1-megapixel EasyShare P850 offers more features than you normally find in digital cameras on the Rochester company's roster. Those features include a 36mm-to-432mm lens (35mm equivalent); image stabilization (for the 12x zoom); manual-exposure adjustments; and controls for contrast, saturation, and even white-balance compensation. Even so, the Kodak EasyShare P850 is comparatively pricey; the 8-megapixel, wide-angle EasyShare P880 costs only about S$200 (US$141.19) more. Still, the P850 offers enough sophistication and flexibility for enthusiasts while maintaining its EasyShare simplicity for those who may eventually want to graduate to manual adjustments.
Design
Despite its lopsided look, the Kodak EasyShare P850 feels well balanced. At 436g with its slender rechargeable battery and SD card installed, it weighs just enough to feel substantial but not heavy. A 2.5-inch LCD occupies about two-thirds of the camera back; buttons and dials are scattered over the rest, as well as the top. At first, you might question the choice of external controls, but they make the camera quite usable, thanks to the combination of a highly customizable Program button and a command dial that scrolls through onscreen options such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and exposure compensation.
The design has some faults, however. The power lever on top of the grip is awkwardly designed and difficult to use. The proprietary battery lacks a latch to keep it from falling out when the cover is open, and it slides easily into the slot even when inserted incorrectly.
Features
But those flaws are minor in light of this camera's many features--some of which you usually find only on more expensive models and digital SLRs. They include three custom settings that you activate with the mode dial; the Program button, which accesses a long list of options in capture and playback modes; three- and five-shot exposure bracketing; three burst modes; support for RAW and TIFF files; a whopping 25 user-selectable focus points; three custom white-balance functions; and color-bias compensation. ISO sensitivity runs from 50 to 800; in manual modes, the camera can achieve shutter speeds as slow as 16 seconds.
On the playback side, you can convert a RAW file to a JPEG or TIFF, quickly magnify photos up to 10x, save favorites, preview highlight and shadow clipping, and more. The camera's zoom also works while you're shooting movies, and the camera provides multiple editing options in playback.
Performance
As for performance, the Kodak EasyShare P850 was surprisingly peppy in burst mode, capturing five high-quality JPEGs at 3.5fps. Dropping down to basic JPEG quality increased the total number of shots to 30 but slowed the capture rate to about 2fps. We took sequential single shots at intervals of about 1.7 seconds--a pretty good time--and the flash recycled fairly quickly. But if you plan to save photos in TIFF or raw format, you'll wait up to 14 seconds between shots. And don't count on whipping out the P850 for quick, spontaneous snaps--when you power up the camera, the lens takes a couple of seconds to extend, for a total delay of about 4 seconds.
Given enough light and contrast, the autofocus worked quickly and accurately; however, the P850's lack of an AF-assist lamp caused it to struggle under dark conditions despite its relatively good low-light performance in formal testing. The image stabilization provided at least one-stop leeway when shooting at slower shutter speeds, but as you would expect, keeping it continuously on (as opposed to off or activated on exposure) increased the drain on the battery.
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Image Quality
Photo quality was mixed as well. Colors looked natural, albeit a little dark. Exposures were generally accurate, and auto white balance worked well under most lighting conditions. The camera had a problem with high-contrast scenes, however. We noticed clipped highlights and purple fringing along edges. You'll need to keep ISO sensitivity as low as possible with the Kodak EasyShare P850--image noise appeared in shots taken as low as ISO 100, and by ISO 400, they're unusable at all but the smallest sizes. Photos also looked a bit soft.
Despite the Kodak EasyShare P850's attractively amateur-friendly feature set, there are better 12x-zoom options available. Check out our top 5 megazoom performers..
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User Reviews
For its price, it's more than a good bargain
Sep 9, 2006Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: Function that won't be found on smaller DC of the same price, expandibility with right accessories
Cons: Takes time to load, RAW format only can be deal with via Kodak software
Opinion:
Face it, for a average recreational photographer, whose largest picture size would develop is 4D, this camera gives you more and better functions that'd only be found on high-end machines. Even at 3MP settings, pictures taken on a cloudy day in auto mode looks sharp when developed.
And for those who want a bit more, the Hot shoe flashlight connector and a lens adaptor that'd allow attachment of 55mm lens adds possibilities.
While I've heard complain about the noise, but
Nice camera, good pix!
Nov 17, 2005Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros:
Cons:
Opinion:
On filming mode the zoom gets recorded...
