Kodak just
announced their V570 yesterday and
PCMAG has already thrown-up the first review of this unique ultra-compact, dual-lens, five megapixel shooter. They
found this "stylish" art-deco digicam to give up "great wide-angle shots" we expected from that
second Schneider Kreuznach C-Variogon wide-angle lens. And while Kodak claims a 5x zoom, that's actually achieved via
digital zoom on the 23mm fixed lens. The actual zoom lens is a 39mm to 117mm zoom which makes it a 3x optical zoom --
that's just sneaky. They found the bright 2.5-inch LCD to be "fairly readable" in bright light which could be
a bit of a problem due the camera's lack of a glass viewfinder. The flash was also "weak" resulting in noise
and only "average image quality" in flash shots. And while the V570 boots at a "speedy" 1.8 seconds
with a "remarkable" 1.2 second reset between shots, they did, unfortunately find some shutter lag. Bottom
line: they rate the camera as "very good for an ultracompact" giving it 3.5 out of 5.
posted January 3rd 2006 9:00AM
Is it just me, or does their review lack sample photos? What kind of camera review doesn't even show some samples taken with the camera? PCrag...
How's this art-deco?
Seems that kodak is on a good way now! nice cam!
I saw a segment on ABC's GMA on this camera. The second lens takes panorama shots and the camera's on-board processor shows you where to point the camera for the next panel in a panorama. Very cool.
Zoom capability is probably the only second to number of pixels. I would never buy a camera from a maker who lied about the specs on the zoom lens. What next, claiming to be 7 megapixel when it is only 5?
Um... there is 5X zoom.
23mm - 117mm = 5.09x zoom.
It's a little awkward since it's not one continuous zoom, but that's the whole reason they went with the two lens/sensor setup, to avoid the light falloff, chromatic abberations, and other lens issues that come with longer zooms.
The $400 suggested retail price seems a bit steep for this camera, even with the two sensors & leses.
I think I'll stick with my current single lens/sensor compact unit, and save my sheckels for the real solution for the problem this camera is trying to solve - a digital SLR with interchangable lenses.
I bought the camera and I must say it's perfect for the daily use of an architect(also the picturs might be a little sharper). It's small enough to put it into your pocket an it's the one and only 23mm compact on the market.
An for the zoomies: I prefer sharp objectives without zoom and if there would exist a small 21mm camera withot a zoom I would have bought it (befor I got this camera).
Go for it if you need a wide angle camera. Films also got surprisingly good.