Kodak Easyshare 16MP Camera

I bought one last month, just before taking a trip to visit some friends in Rwanda. The zoom was great for taking wildlife pictures – I’d post some if I weren’t out of town right now.

I have no complaints about the picture quality or the overall feel of the camera. I did have a couple of issues:

  1. The autofocus seems a bit twitchy, especially when zoomed in more than a little. Taking pictures of birds in flight was pretty much impossible, at least with the knowledge I have of the camera.

  2. When zoomed in, you can pretty easily lose track of your subject in the LCD. This is where an optical viewfinder would be helpful.

  3. I didn’t have much luck with macro photos, but then I just switched to my Canon S100 for that instead of trying to figure it out on this camera.

In good lighting conditions, I was able to take photos while zoomed all the way in without a tripod, but a steady hand or something to brace against helps. Battery life was very good, in my experience – one set lasted for about 500 non-flash pictures, with lots of zooming in and out.

I can’t argue with those who say the Z990 is better, since I haven’t had a chance to compare them.

Overall, I was very happy with it. I could use the zoom to get pictures my S100 couldn’t, and I didn’t want to deal with the weight of a DSLR (or risk damaging/losing it in transit.) For $130, it was well worthwhile.

They leave out the smaller EVF to save money. It makes it very hard to shoot at the longest tele setting AND hold the camera steady enough to avoid camera shake.

It’s odd in these early days of digital cameras (12 years isn’t that long) that there is a move AWAY from allowing careful composition.

It’s hard to compose an image when you can’t see the external screen in bright daylight and there is no other option. Makes you wonder if anyone actually takes pictures with the camera before going into production.

For a novice picture taker, this camera is great. I don’t have the Z990, so I can’t really comment on the differences. But, this camera is great! I’ve taken pictures fully zoomed in and by some magic, it is not blurry. I have an old point and shoot Canon, and every time I’d go 3X zoom the picture would turn out super blurry. On this one with the full 26X zoom, I can take great pictures. The other night our little town had it’s anniversary and had a firework show. This camera has a firework setting that took great pictures after I figured out how to use it. My son has a Canon DSLR that I am kind of envious of, it can take about 5 or 6 good shots per second, but it also cost about 6 times the price. But if you are a novice like me, this camera will do the job.

Bought this a couple of months ago and love it! Awesome zoom and pics!!

They’ve had these forever. They must have bought a gazillion of them. I’d love to have this camera if it just had a good battery. A cheap camera that eats batteries like candy is no bargain for me and I’ve yet to see an AA battery camera that could hold a charge for any length of time. Sigh…

You realize they make re-chargeable AA batteries, and these are far superior in cameras than alkaline or even lithium?

Just ordered this one, and I wish it would teleport to my door right now. If you’re trying to look for a better deal on a more complex camera, give up. This is it! 12 hours left. I got blue. Purple looks nice, too. Cranberry’s already gone. Reply please if you are already enjoying it. I wanna know more!

Wasn’t this same camera on Sellout during the last woot-off? I feel like it was.

If so… odd timing. or perfect timing?..

You can get a used z990 from Amazon for $136 or less!

I second that. My re-chargeable batteries for this camera last so much longer between charges (months) than regular batteries. I’ll happily take the rechargeables considering the battery pack aren’t much better than plain old batteries.

Bought this a couple of months ago. (Time flies) Took great pictures and Video. Had a little problem with the Shutter I believe. It was lagging. Anyway, I sent it in for repair, I payed for shipping. After about 2 weeks I got it back fixed and they payed for shipping. Overall, great experience.

Izzy

As others have mentioned, the z990 has an EVF as well as the lcd screen, which is a very significant benefit, especially when shooting in bright sunlight and long zoom. And the z990 sensor is also much better, resulting in better image quality. I think the lenses are roughly equivalent, but the z990 has a bit less zoom, I believe.

There is one other z990 advantage that I really like: a thumb wheel on the back of the camera for quick adjustment of aperture, shutter speed and ISO. This is a major benefit for serious shooters.

If you look around, you will find several good reviews of the z990. One negative in these reviews that came up pretty consistently was slow response by the camera to pushing the various buttons to change settings, etc… Kodak fixed his problem with a firmware update, so when you read these reviews knowing this, you come to the conclusion that the z990 is a really special camera.

I’ve been wanting one of these ever since I first saw one on Woot many weeks ago. Given that the going rate on eBay seems to be about $169, I went ahead and took advantage of this deal. I just hope the lens’s macro capabilities are as good as its zoom, 'cause I want to take lots of pics of my vintage Godzilla toys, many of which are rather small.

Does anybody out there know whether this thing is any good for macro type photography?

I bought this exact camera from Woot! the last time it was for sale. I stepped up to this from a 14 MP Fuji Finepix JX250 and straight up fell in love with the zoom. this thing takes amazing shots even at full zoom, which is a lot.

I was also surprised at how long it works on a set of batteries. I’ve been using it on and off for about a month and its still on the original ones that came in the case.

If I had to choose a con to this deal it is that the camera does not come with a hand or neck strap, and that with a neck strap the camera won’t fit in the case that is included.

Overall this is a pretty minor complaint.

I got mine in Cranberry red and it gets a lot of positive comments from everyone who sees it.

Overall I would recommend this to a friend.

Yes, it has two macro modes, one that works with the zoom lens and another super macro mode that works down to 1 centimeter from the subject in wide mode.

I took some pictures of flowers using this mode on vacation and they turned out amazing.

I certainly don’t want to hurt woot’s business, however I just bought a BNIB KODAK Z990 on ebay for $140 with free shipping. I did need to haggle a tad with the seller in order to get that price, but I think I got a pretty good camera for the money, considering its features. Shop around and do your homework.

To add to that: I, too, bought this last time it was on Woot and was disturbed to find no neckstrap (despite the fact that the user manual clearly indicates one is included.) And it’s very hard to find a neckstrap that will fit; these seem to have narrower than standard rings through which the neckstrap must fit. I’ve tried two now, and both were too wide.

Well people seem to like this camera but why oh why must they make it so cheap and ugly looking? It looks like a toy.

Thanks, that’s great news for me!

I don’t find myself missing the view finder at all. Don’t let that be a deal breaker for you.