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any one had any dealings with this camera?

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To replace a Olympus C-725
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Thoughts and opinions please

Can't say ive ever used it, but Schneider lenses are the business fella. The only problem is, the ones on Kodak digital camera's do tend to suffer from barrel distortion, so if thats of any concern to ye, stay away.



There are some half decent reviews on the web, there isnt any really in depth ones though and Trusted Reviews (the best review site for Digital Camera's) dont have a review for it.

They do have a review on the Z710 however, which is closely related to the Z610, Z612 and Z650, the reason all their lenses nowadays feature only 10x zoom instead of 12x... i dunno lol - but its like the lowed end camera's always used to feature Schneider 4x optical lenses, nowdays they are just crappy Kodak 3x optical lol.

Z710 Review

Which camera do you have Matty?

I would like to have lots of optical Zoom, atleast 6mp, Maunal twisty focus and zoom.

The price of the Kodak Z1612 was very appealling for the features of the camera.

I was looking at getting the z740, but I'm thinking against it after seeing this.

I'm after optical zoom, at least 10x and low light ability

SO Joe, are you considering this camera instead now?

yup, I really like the z740, but for the little bit extra (12x optical zoom, image stabilisation e.t.c) it'd be worth it.

Dont forget the extra megapixel

to be honest, I know I have said I want atleast 6mp but really I want atlease 7mp.

Therefore the fore-runners (on ebay) for me at the moment are:
Fuji FinePix S5700
PANASONIC LUMIX DMC FZ8
OLYMPUS SP 510
Kodak Z712

opinions please......

oooooooooooooooooooiiiiiii

18x optical zoom OLYMPUS SP550 UZ, a bit out my price range tho.

OK, mary mary quite contrary.

Just noticed that 3 out of the 4 in the list I posted above are hong kong listings, I dont really wont to risk it so Im left with a choice of 2:

• The original Camera of the thread, KODAK EasyShare Z612 black
  or
• The OLYMPUS SP 510

Can someone that knows about cameras please compare them and tell me which is better, I prefer the styling of the kodak. I had a try at comparing:

• Kodak has a better zoom, 12x optical vs 10x optical of the olympus
• Olympus has better megapixels, 7.1 vs 6.1 of the Kodak, but we all know megapixels dont mean everything.
• Olympus has better iso range, upto 4000 vs upto 800 on the Kodak
• Olympus uses XD vs SD that Kodak uses (I allready have a 512mb XD)
• Kodak has faster shutter, upto 1/2000 vs 1/1000 on the olympus
• Kodak use Li-ion battery pack, Olympus uses 4xAA batteries (unsure who wins on this one)

Thats as much as I know, but all the tech spec is available in those links, it just confuses me

Hmmm why do I get the feeling you guy's are looking at camera's based on specifications and numbers alone? If thats how you intend to purchase a camera, you will almost certainly not get a great camera.

Think of this way - more megapixels "doesnt" mean better quality. In fact, given the size of the sensors being less then 1 inch in most sub £250 camera's, the higher megapixel count will actually be a hinderance and mean worse quality rather then higher quality.

The higer the zoom doesnt mean the better the image, as in the case of the Z612 vs the Z710 - the Z612 is an obsolete product, recently replaced by the Z712 and whilst a model like the Z710 may have 2x less optical zoom, it has a newer CCD, and features newer colour re-production and image processing algorythm's, which in turn lead to a far better quality shot.

Also, my camera has only a 10.7x optical zoom, which may sound crap compared to some. But not only does it have a lens of similar quality to high end SLR lenses, but it also has the ability to accept additional lens extensions... a 3x lens extension, and I then have the possibility of upto in excess of 30x optical telephoto end. The same with a wider angle lens extension would give me the possibility of maybe a 16mm wide angle end instead of the rather impressixe 28mm it has as standard.

Dont buy a camera based on megapixel count or how many mm the optical zoom is, buy it based on image quality, do some proper research, also buy one that you need, not that looks biggest and best. Without a real purpose for having such a high zoom, why buy an 18x for instance? Why buy a 12 megapixel camera for instance, when a 4 megapixel will perform just as great, if not actually better due to the size of the sensor... are you really intended to do prints bigger then A3??

For low light ability, you really need to get a camera with as high an ISO as possible. Take the Z612 for instance, the top ISO of 800 is only available when shooting in 1.1 megapixel mode, so its native top ISO is actually only 400, and to find the highest decent quality ISO with which image noise doesnt start to affect the shot badly, you go back a step further, which means the ISO would be a lacklustre 200.

My camera for instance shoots at upto 3200 native, at 800 and 1600 the quality is totally fine for using in say a print or a high quality web image. 3200 isnt too bad itself, but the noise does become noticable. Dont always go instantly on the ISO rating though, again, you need to find out how the camera actually performs at higher ISO's... another camera with an ISO of 3200 may perform really terribly bad at anything above say 800, its all to do with how badly the noise and luminance affects the final shot.

Id say first of all you need to decide what you need the camera for... if it just shots of the family, the odd shot of the car to put on the web etc, dont bother spending masses of money on something which has all the specs that you will never need. Its a case of why spend £230 on a camera that for your requirements, a £90 camera would be more then adequate?

If you want to go a step further and maybe become an amateur photographer, then a bridge camera is the way to go for both optimum quality and flexibility at a decent price. Landscape and scenic photograph demand high zoom levels, bridge camera's provide this as standard, and usually have the flexibility to go further, but this depends on the model you buy so check it out first. Then again, dependent upon the type of photography you do, a 0.4" macro mode would be better then a 100x optical zoom, again, most bridge camera's can achieve this or very near it as standard.

My current camera kit is the Fuji Finepix S6500FD, along with a 2GB XD card (you really do need a 1GB minimum), a monopod and some 2500mAh batteries, a 1 hour charger and an in car adapter. This is the basic kit required to get the best use out of this camera at stock, I still havent found the "need" for any higher telephoto of wider angle lens extensions as yet, even though I consider myself an amateur landscape and scenic photographer.

This camera isnt perfect in every sense of the word, it features the unique Fujifilm SuperCCD 6th generation sensor, for those who dont know, the Fuji SuperCCD is hexagonal pixels instead of round, so provide more calirty and definition. It also has a 10.7x optical zoom with the ability to use extension lenses, it is 6.3 megapixel, has a maximum ISO of 3200, can macro to less then 1cm, has an EVF and high quality bright LCD, features manual focus and manual zoom rings (believe me, once you have tried manual zoom, you will never go back to electronic zoom) and uses the same lens as the S9600. Oh it also has silly features like Face Detection, which some people may be interested in.

It has a wide range of modes, including the dreaded full manual mode, which ensures the user has the same amount of control over the shot as they would have on an SLR.

It took me many hours of searching around the net to decide upon this camera. I was convinced for many months that I was going to buy the Kodak Z710, which seemed to be amazing from the specs... but as I read more and more reviews of it, the general feeling was quite negative, and the S6500 and its big brother the S9600, and its younger brother the S5600 had such positive reviews and won so many awards between then, for the price I was looking to pay and the type of photography I intended to use the camera for, I found the S6500 would be most likely to meet my needs... and it hasnt just met my needs and expectation's, in many ways it has exceeded them.

At the end of the day though, if all ye can see is numbers, buy the biggest zoom and highest number of megapixels you can, im sure the camera will more then meet your needs as you arnt a photographer so wont need anything special lol.

I should also add that the best camera in the world cant make your subject any better.

One of the best shots I have ever taken and am most proud of, was taken on a Nokia 6680 1.3 megapixel phone camera. Unfortunatly, the camera suffered from a high amount of vignetting, so I had to crop to get rid of it, its probably about 1 megapixel in size now, but it is still an absolutely wonderful shot!

I have been back to the very same location multiple times since and have never been able the replicate the shot, quite simply the landscape has changed quite a bit and the lighting has never been as good to me.

So dont think that by buying an amazing camera, all of a sudden your shots will become amazing, because unless the subject is perfect too, you will get the same results as you are getting on your current camera.

Ok, thanks for that Matty, The type of photography I do at the moment is:
[list][*]Wildlife/Zoo's, which is why I want the biggest optical zoom I can afford
[*]Family/Babies/my kids, Which is why I want a fast shutter speed
[*]Landscapes
[*]motorsport
[*]I usually have my pics printed 8*10, and I am looking into getting a 10" digital photo frame

I have a budget of about £120, find me the best camera Matty

From what you have said, a camera of that price range would struggle to be best for everything, but you can certainly get a camera to meet most of your expectations and perform reasonably well on the rest.

At the moment, if you were looking to go for a bit of a bigger model (still, its not "that" big in comparison say to mine, just bgger then a normal digitcal camera), i think you couldnt go far wrong with choosing the Fuji S5600, I know a lot about this camera because its a cam I was looking at closely when considering which to buy and was for a time looking at buying it.

I have seen it in many plces brand new (including Tesco) for £109.00, but Fuji currently have refurbished ones listed at £89.99 - http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/shop/refurb/detail.php?id=89 - I don't think you can go far wrong at that price. The only things its doent have is 28mm wide angle (it starts at 38mm, but increases to 380mm iirc), it doesnt have manual zoom, and its ISO is only 1600 max.

But, it is a highly capable camera, and won the 2006 European budget digital camera of the year award! It essentially the same as the 5700 you mentioned before, but with a lower pixel count and less stylish casing.

It also has 30fps 640x480 movie mode, which is good for a cam of its price believe me.

Overview - http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/digital/cameras/s5600/
Specifications - http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/digital/cameras/s5600/index.php?page=tech_specs

Interestingly, if you were to look at a refurbished camera as a possibility, they have the S6500 for £136 atm, although on top of the price of both of these camera's, you will need to consider the fact that it is highly recommended you buy some high capacity rechargable batteries (2500mAh+) and as fast a charger as ye can get for convenience, so look at this as an extra £20 - £30, because the voltage in alkaline batteries becomes too low after about 60 or so shots, whereas NiMh batteries retain their 1.2v voltage throught their life and mine give me a good 400 - 500 shots on one charge.

Am I right in thinking 6mp is equal quality to 35mm film.

Yes and no - some people suggest its as low as 3mp, other suggest its around the 8mp range, professional's say its around the 12mp range, but its a hard one to pinpoint for the simple reason there are so many different brands and variants of 35mm film all offering different levels of quality etc.

To be correct though iirc, 12mp is about equal to the highest quality 35mm can produce.