popsrocks's Full Review: Kodak EasyShare C653 Digital Camera
My wife and I have been looking through a series of cameras since the first of the year. She needed to upgrade one for herself, I lost my little pocket digital, and she also needed a couple of cameras for her camera club at school. Most of the cameras we chose were double and triple the price of this Kodak EasyShare C653 digital camera that was $109.
We were going away this week and my wife didn't take her extra cameras from school. Having only one camera with two of us traveling just doesn't work. On the fly she purchased this camera hoping it would satisfy me for the trip. If the camera wasn't outstanding in quality images and ease of use, it was going right back to Target. Though it's under featured when compared our other cameras it looks like I'm holding onto it. For the price it's an excellent value.
Starting Up
The directions out of the box don't give a lot of depth of information but are easy enough to get one started even if never having owned a digital before. I believe they did that so beginners, who this camera would be for, would not be overwhelmed with techno-jargon. The first thing I had to do was install the software that comes with the camera. For many reading this review, you may be first time digital camera owners so basics could be very important to you. Though I have picked up on the general use of a digital, I like having easy access to help if needed. After popping in the CD and letting my PC take over, except for a following a few prompts, I was ready to go. Additional basic directions were given to loading batteries and basic setting like language and date/time. Very basic guidance is given to taking a picture/video. Reviewing all soon follows.
The book is easy to follow for the beginner yet deeper into it does give helpful hints that even an experienced digital user may learn from.
The first 7-8 pages deals with basics, after that many more features are discussed including using the optical zoom that doesn't give much extra optically to view. Additional zoom is digitalized and though I can bring subject matter with this 3X zoom in pretty tight, the quality is lacking clarity, extremely "grainy".
The 2.4" LCD is fine but perhaps a little hard to see in bright sunlight. There are times that I'm glad this inexpensive camera also offers view finder support. You get a bit more than what the little lens shows.
6.1 MP, mega pixels, is a good deal for this inexpensive camera. If you do create a good image you can enlarge the photo with fairly good clarity. I am happy with the images I get from this camera for basic use. I also like that the media card fits into a couple of our other cameras. That gave us an extra two media cards, though I believe I'll be purchasing more cards anyway.
I played with the Easy Share features to crop, brighten and enhance pictures in a number of ways. I had some fun making family members into cartoon characters with a push of a button and adding other effects too. I see that can be habit forming. Ease of use is a plus!
In the Box
This small 2 1/2" X 3 1/2" X 1 1/2" camera comes with a strap, an easy to follow guide with software, two AA batteries, a USB cable and an insert for optional Kodak EasyShare docks. I never got involved in that.
The box tells me that the camera has
*anti-blur technology
*Kodak Perfect Touch Technology
*High ISO mode
*On-Camera Cropping
*Panarama stitch Mode
*Video and print options
*on camera Help
*Undo-delete
red eye reduction and more. The undo-delete is good for me. There are times when I am deleting pictures, perhaps in a hurry and hit the delete button too quickly. This camera allows a "do over". Cool.
I like that the display gives me a quick idea as to what the different options are as I dial to them. That is helpful.
Some Things I Like and Don't Like
To turn the camera on you must turn main dial. I prefer a simple one finger button. To turn it off one must do the same thing, a two hand motion. Not good. The flat shape of the camera does not let it feel secure in my hands even though it fits the hand well. Even so, though I can get smaller cameras with better features, it's the basic shape and size of this camera I like. My first digital was one that was small enough it simply slide into my pants pocket or perhaps the breast pocket of my shirt. This is much the same in that regard but does offer better quality and many more features that we will use.
I don't like the small size of some of the function buttons. The arrow wheel is much smaller than most digital cameras. You can forget about trying to use this camera outside in the winter with gloves on. There is no way one could isolate the proper buttons for use.
A simple to push button puts flash on or takes it off. I use the flash often, especially in back lit situations where the auto feature of the camera is fooled and shuts down on the light coming in leaving dark images.
The Macro feature on this camera is excellent. I was taking some images of cherry tree blossoms in DC and they were of excellent quality. The camera is very slow going from picture to picture but I wasn't in a rush that day. That said, speed is something that is important to me at most other times when I'm not at my leisure. There is also a lot of lag time with this camera when taking a picture.
I am happy with the video option of the camera. Though it is a bit staggered to the eye it's fine for those little clips that say more than just a still will. The microphone doesn't pick up distant sounds well but those nearby come across clear and sharp.
All in all it takes pretty good images but not quite as sharp as our newest addition of cameras the Canon PowerShot A630 Digital Camera that we are very pleased with.
The AA batteries went pretty quickly but it's hard to judge whether it was the cameras fault or mine. I had a small card 128 MB card I used and with video use lost room quickly. I was constantly deleting images to make room for more. This constant use eats up battery life.
Last Thoughts
Though this is clearly inferior to some of the other cameras we own, I like the portability of it. It fits in my pocket and though I am not extra kind to the camera, I am also not too worried about keeping it in a case or something bulky.
The images that the camera took were better than some of the two hundred dollar cameras we had and have. It's amazing how some good features like the 6.1MP and a 3X Zoom with a great Macro feature are now in a digital camera with a $109 price point. I especially like the high ISO that I can play with to get better natural low light images. This should work as my convenience pocket camera.I rate it above average but please realise that's for the price and the value.
6.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints 3x optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display VGA video capture with audio at 6...More at Amazon Marketplace
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.