My first digital camera was a Kodak DX6440, which was a fantastic camera back in it's day (2003). After the Kodak, I had a Fuji J20, which I was very unhappy with; very noticeable vignetting (dark corners) with all of the pictures. I decided to go back to Kodak and so I purchased the M530. Very happy with it! The feel of it, the image quality, user interface is all very very good.
Pictures are incredibly crisp, clear and accurate for a sub $100 camera. The smart capture mode works very well too and is reliable.
There are a few minor annoyances though. One, the camera doesn't remember which mode to start up in. It automatically defaults to smart capture every time the camera is turned on. This is somewhat irritating since you aren't likely leave the camera on for a long time between shots, and if you want to take pictures with more manual control, you will need to select the mode you want every time the camera is started up. Luckily, the user interface is pretty well designed though where you don't need to hit a dozen buttons to do what you want to do.
Two, the auto white balance can be somewhat unreliable. I find that colors either turn out too cool (blueish tint) or too warm (redish tint), although some shots turn out perfectly. The problem seems to be exacerbated when taking pictures of landscapes. The angle of the sun also affects the white balance selection. Turn towards the sun and you may get different colors than you get turning away from the sun. I would say the auto mode gets it right about 70% of the time.
Lastly, because this camera uses a very inexpensive lens, there is some minor light falloff present in some of the pictures. I find that it is only noticable when the sky takes up a large part of the scene in the picture. You'll notice a very gradual darkening as you move towards the two upper corners. The problem is minor though, and for most people it shouldn't be a problem. I, however, find it annoying.
Overall though, this camera is a fantastic buy. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a cheap, yet decent quality point and shoot.
Kodak EasyShare M530 12MP Digital Camera with 3x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7 Inch LCD (Carbon)I love this camera. It is compact, comes in cute colors, has a vivid screen and takes crisp, clear pictures. I'm no professional, but for an on the go college student this has surely passed the test. It outshines my old camera (a samsung) and I have yet to get a blurry picture, even when taking shots of mountains while driving at 60 mph. The new share function on the new Kodak line is awesome as well! One small thing I also ended up liking alot was the small grip area (the greyish black part on the side); makes the already light camera super easy to hold. Amazing fast face recognition too. Overall, two thumbs up if you're looking for an easy to use camera that takes awesome pictures!
This camera was a last-minute rush order for my trip to Vietnam. I had a couple of uptight days when Amazon sent me an email telling me my Kingston 4gb SDHC card was shipped separately, and "the remainder of your order will follow as soon as those items become available." Since it was rated "in stock," I was wondering what the issue was. However, Amazon got it to me by Tuesday night after I'd ordered it the previous Friday. So, Whew! good going, Amazon.
I'm fairly electronic-gadget functional, but I'm no techno-wizard. I had a little time to check my camera out the night I left, and while waiting at the airport. Buttons and controls are laid out well, and the learning curve is pretty easy. The last thing I wanted to do was stand there fiddling around with buttons while people waited. In that respect, it worked fine- the Smart Mode, the default start-up mode, worked in most cases. I was able to quickly engage the flash settings when needed (most of the time.) I tried some daytime and night time panoramic shots; the internal stitch feature worked flawlessly. I learned that the night-time panorama and landscape modes keep the shutter open for a looong time; if you move the camera, the shot blurs. So you need a solid surface to rest the camera on when you do stuff like this.
I've learned what most of the 22 different "Scenes" automatic feature-settings are, but I haven't reached the point where I can push the button, and go right to the appropriate setting. The on-screen description of each "Scene" setting tells you what you need to know.
I found the view screen to be large enough both for shooting and sharing. People were always looking to see how a shot turned out.
I'm very happy with picture color, clarity, and sharpness. I took a few shots under an awning where it was bright outside, and the subjects under the awning were not quite light enough. I can upgrade that in post-photo processing. There's a "Scenes" setting for both backlit and forelit shots, but, as I said, I didn't spend the extra time to access the setting before the shots.
My obligatory bee-on-a-flower and butterfly shots were made using the 3x zoom feature. Due to the 12 megapixel rating, I can magnify the shot and still get excellent detail. I shot the bee close up in Smart Mode and the butterfly from a distance. I wish I'd used the close-up or flower settings in "Scenes," but I just wanted to get the shots quick while they were happening. I had to delete a couple of the bee shots due to camera-motion blurring, but the ones I kept have plenty of clear detail. 3x zoom is a little minimal, but, hey, I didn't even pay a hundred bucks for the camera.
My rain and fog atmosphere shots came out the way I wanted them, with visible rain coming down. Landscape shots are sharp and detailed.
We ended up at a karaoke and dance club, and every shot there came out just the way I wanted it. Everyone was happy with the shots I took of them, both around the table, or on the dance floor or at the mike. The flash was adequate for the dim interior. I used the pre-flash non-red-eye setting for all the night club shots.
Charging and up-loading is super-simple. There's a mini plug for the camera, with a USB at the other end of the cable. There's a two-prong plug to insert into a socket for charging; you plug the USB into the plug. Upload via USB to the computer was quick and easy. Battery life held up fine for the week I was using the camera. I entered a lot of email addresses for the "Share" feature, but I haven't used that yet. There's an on-screen keyboard that makes email address entry quick and simple; accessing this list is also easy.
So, overall, I'm as pleased as I can be with how this camera works. I basically kept it in my pocket and whipped out & turned it on whenever I wanted. It starts up almost immediately, and being bounced and constricted in my pocket didn't seem to bother it at all. I didn't experience any buffer delay before the next shot was available.
I shot a few trial videos just to learn how to use video, but I didn't take any permanent video. It's easy to shoot, and seems to work, from my fiddling around.
I ordered it with the Kingston 4 gb Class 4 SDHC card featured on the same page as the camera. They seem to be a good match- the Kingston's a good price, with plenty of photo space.
One tiny complaint- the camera battery & card door kept coming open when I pulled the camera from my pocket. This is probably more due to how I use the camera, but a better latching system is surely in order. I googled "Kodak M530 battery door problem" and didn't see any rash of complaints on this.
As a non-high-tech camera guy and a short-time owner, I've gotta give this camera an enthusiastic two thumbs up. - Digital Camera - Kodak - Kodak Easyshare - Easyshare'
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