January 14 - January 21

Kodak DC280 Zoom by Alessandro Cancian Millennium Bug notwithstanding, my holidays for this year are over. Pity, because I had fun. In three weeks I crossed Italy from south to north, travelling through incredible landscapes and encountering traditions so diverse from one another as to appear almost incompatible with the surroundings. I had brought with me one of Kodaks new digital cameras, the DC280 Zoom. Breathing in Venices magical air in an atmosphere of ancient times is something to be remembered, so I wasted no time in taking some pictures. I had a chance to test the Kodak camera as an absolute tourist, complete with all the pros and cons associated with this status. Speaking as a tourist, the DC280 is definitely a good gadget. The battery life is one thing Kodak can be proud of. A much longer than average duration allowed me to shoot three complete photographic sets. My advice, however, is to equip yourself with rechargeable batteries, considering the speed with which digital cameras "eat up" standard alkaline batteries. The DC280 comes with a 20 MB CompactFlash memory card that can store up to 32 hi-res shots (1760x1168 pixels) or up to 86 lo-res pictures. This is a good storage capacity, but sometimes insufficient for a tourist with no portable computer to download those pictures. Once regular memory is full, in fact, you can only dump your photos onto a computer or use a second memory card. Rest assured, 32 shots can be used up pretty fast, especially if there is something youre really interested in. The software bundled with the DC280 is perfect, and the program for image downloading is easily installed and quite fast, especially if you can use a USB port. This Kodak camera is compatible with PCs (via a serial port), Macs (via an ADB port), or new generation computers of any denomination as long as they have a USB port. In addition to this program, theres also a plug-in for Adobe PhotoShop users, though the download seems to get slower. Adobe Page Mill is a touch of class for those who want to devote themselves to creating web pages with pictures taken with the DC280. From the point of view of setting up, the degree of control offered by Kodak is very good, with light control and flash operation a breeze. The LCD display on the back of the camera allows you to monitor the shots youve taken in a rather accurate fashion, although in full sunlight it might be difficult to see anything. Now for the Achilles Heel and what impressed me the least: picture quality. Even though the colours where remarkably true to reality, I had some problems with strong light and dark areas. In spite of all my efforts with the controls, in conditions of strong illumination there was a loss of detail, almost to the point where barely the outline of the subject could be made out. With dark areas, on the other hand, I got a kind of over-saturation of the pixels. The DC280 is better than an entry-level camera, but this is exactly the reason for my sense of dissatisfaction. Its very good for web use, but too expensive if compared with other models on the market. This 2.3 million pixels camera sells for $1199 CDN, which in my opinion is a little too much. To get more info, visit http://www.kodak.com

 

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