KODAK EASYSHARE Captures Great Photos of Family and Fun!

Author's Rating:

Pros: easy to use, great photos

Cons: none really

The Bottom Line: 
This is a good digital camera that is easy to use and takes great pictures.

Author's Review
The Kodak Easy Share C703 is a great digital camera for a reasonable price. It is perfect for families wanting to take pictures of each other and it takes great scenery pictures too. I've used it to do amateur portraits of my daughter and I've taken it on vacation and gotten gorgeous outdoor scenes as well.

Details
This camera has a built-in 32 MB memory that can hold about 24 pictures. It also has a SD/MMC card slot. This was not nearly enough for my needs so I purchased a 1GB SD Memory card to use with this camera and it can hold around 700 pictures at the highest resolution setting! I am happy that although there is an internal memory there is also the ability to add an extra memory cards to the camera. It was nice having the internal memory the day that I left the memory card in my computer though! At least I could get a few pictures taken!

The Kodak Easy Share C703 has a 7.1 megapixel capability and you can change the picture size if you want via the on screen menu on the back of the camera. The screen on the back of the camera is approximately 2.5 inches. This is much bigger than my previous camera and I do appreciate that. It claims to be an indoor/outdoor screen but there are times that it is hard to see when it is too bright outside. Thankfully, you have the option of turning off the screen, which saves batteries too, and using the traditional viewfinder to take your pictures. I find this hard because I can’t tell about anything I may have tried to zoom in on.

The camera has a 7.1 megapixel resolution. This is a very good resolution for 8” x 10” portraits that I have taken of my children. The literature claims that it is good enough for photos up to 20” x 30” but I have not tried this. I just know that my 8” x 10” prints have come out beautifully! This camera has a 3x optical zoom and a 5x digital zoom to help get your best pictures as close up as you need them.

There are many options you can change via the on screen menu on the camera. You simply have to push the “menu” button located on the back of the camera when the camera is turned on. These will help you create just the picture you want. Options you can change include: exposure bracketing, exposure compensation, picture size, white balance, ISO speed, focus zone, and color mode (color, black and white, or sepia are all options). You can also change the sounds your camera makes when you turn it on, snap a photo, etc., set the date and time stamp if you want this on your photos, adjust the time for the auto shut off feature, adjust red-eye reduction feature, and change the language your camera uses.

The camera has different settings for taking different kinds of photos. It has a setting for general photo taking as well as landscapes, close-ups, portraits, and videos. This is nice for when you want to take a specific type of picture. I know that the portraits I took of my daughter came out very well when I used the portrait setting.

The video on this camera comes out well, including sound. I have only taken less than 30 seconds of video at a time but you can take more if you choose to do so. It has continuous VGA video (640 x 480 at 30 fps). I was impressed with the quality of the video, especially since I did not buy this camera for it's video capabilities. When I played the video back on my computer, it was just as good as my video camera (which is 10 years old but good quality) so that was really nice.

Viewing
You can, of course, view all the pictures you have taken on the screen of the camera. You can view them as a slide show or you can view them individually by scrolling through the photos. You can also view thumbnail sized photos. You can make albums even within the camera but I haven’t tried that.

Downloading
Downloading these photos to your computer is very easy to do. Based on the directions in my user’s manual, I first downloaded the software that came with my camera. I didn’t really wind up using it however since I have photo software that I like better.

There are several ways that you can download the photos. My computer has a picture card slot so I simply make sure all of the photos I have taken are on my SD card and I insert it into my computer. I can then easily transfer any photos right to my computer. If you computer does not have the picture card slot right in it, you can transfer photos using a USB cable that plugs from your camera (inside the battery compartment door) to your computer. I don’t own one but I know that you can connect this camera directly to a Kodak printing dock as well and print your photos directly.

Batteries
This camera uses two AA batteries. The batteries last for about 60 or 70 photos and then have to be replaced. I guess I am lucky that they are an ordinary battery that can be found anywhere. But, they do get expensive to keep replacing and I do wish that they lasted longer!

My experiences
My experience with this camera has been positive. I have taken some great pictures and they are easy to take and easy to download onto my computer. You don't have to know a lot about photography to take good pictures with this camera. It does a lot of the work for you!

I like that this camera is a point and shoot model. I don’t have to worry about settings that I don’t understand anyway! I can just turn on my camera and take the pictures! They always seem to come out good and I haven’t had any problems except when my kids don’t want to smile or stand still! But, that’s not the camera’s fault!!!

Recommendations
I would recommend this digital camera. I have had a lot of success using it and taken a lot of great pictures in a lot of different situations. I have been able to do portraits and lots of vacation photos with this camera. I take lots of pictures of my kids who are in constant motion. I also like to take pictures of scenic mountains and sunsets when I get that opportunity. All have been beautiful and easy to capture using this camera. The prints I have made have turned out very nicely too so I am very pleased with this camera!