Full Review

Yes, it truly has been 5 years since I have written a review. In celebration of what may be an epinions comeback, I have decided to share with you some information on the Kodak EasyShare C340.

A decent camera for a reasonable price? You don't say.

The sole reason for this purchase was an upcoming excursion to Japan. I spent a good two hours perusing various cameras at the local Best Buy, and after much deliberation with the sales clerk opted to choose this one. The reasons you ask? Honestly the deciding factor boiled down to two options. The first was the price. In the camera market today, there are a vast majority of products to choose from. The downside to this however, is that in order to get a good camera, you generally have to spend a small fortune. The sample pictures and the clarity of photos (5 Megapixel max) on this model were excellent for the $150.00 price tag. The second reason was the lens. The lens on the Kodak series of digital cameras is glass. This allows for better clarity when taking pictures.

Another nice feature, although not a requirement, is the easyshare compatibility. Basically, for a small price extra you can purchase a docking station for your camera. This docking station allows you to connect the camera to your computer, and utilizes a one-touch option to transfer your photographs. It also acts as a charger for the camera. The package that includes this docking kit (along with a miniature tri-pod) runs around $50.00. All in all not a bad bargain.

Hind sight is 20/20

Now do not misunderstand the title of this section. This camera is still fantastic for the price, but given a few things I have noticed since the purchase, I would probably have selected a different model. Depending on what you expect to do with your camera, this may or may not affect your decision to purchase.

The first issue is the power-on. Once you turn the knob to on, it takes 5-10 seconds to power the camera up and extend the lens. Sometimes you just want to be able to get the shot and not wait. The second aspect is the video. Yes this camera does have video recording abilities. The down side to this is the sound quality. Whenever videos are recorded, unless you are in a quiet setting the microphone creates an intermittent, loud static throughout the video. personally I would rather settle for slightly less than perfect video in exchange for the sound quality.

Another issue is the software. Although it is nice in its own way, it can be very quirky and not work at times. I've had multiple occasions where I have had to shut down the software via process elimination (tech stuff), and restart it in order to get the transfers to work.

Onto the ravings

Yes, even though it has its faults, there are still many features on this model which are wonderful. The first is battery life. I have a rechargeable battery that I received with my purchase. On many occasions I have been out for 8 hours or more, and the battery has yet to fail on me. Now, the reason for this may be how I take pictures, which brings me to another positive. The menu on this camera has a plethora of options to choose from. As with most digital cameras, this unit uses a digital viewfinder. In the options you can opt to turn this on or off as you see fit. Being that I usually use a manual camera (Pentax K1000), I prefer to use the eye viewfinder for photos. Because of this I keep the digital viewfinder off, therefore saving battery power.

There are options to switch between Color, B/W, and Sepia; as well as many options to select from for photo type. There is also a favorites feature, which allows you to save your favorite photos, and prevent them from being deleted when you clear your memory card. This particular model comes with a telephoto zoom, as well as a digital zoom. The telephoto does not extend very far, however using the digital zoom can get you a very close up shot of an object from a distance. The downside to digital zooming however, is that it can cause major distortion in the final picture. Use it sparingly if used at all.

The final word

The product as a whole I would recommend to most anyone. If you are looking to buy a camera for video purposes I would steer clear of this model. The picture quality is medium to mid/high at best, however still very good for the average Sunday photographer. To truly take splendid pictures, you may want to spend the extra money, as it will be well worth your investment.