Kodak Z712 IS Review:

The Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS is sharing your pictures amazingly simple. The Kodak Z712 IS’s all glass 12x Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon Optical Zoom Lens (36-432 mm) zooms in fast to deliver extraordinary creative performance. Capture natural details, accurate flesh tones, and breathtaking color with the Kodak Color Science Chip. A new high speed digital processor chip, advanced algorithms, and hardware acceleration features let the Kodak Z712 IS make simultaneous, split-second decisions to produce rich, vibrant, true-to-life colors in almost any lighting situation. Kodak Z712 IS’s scene content is analyzed for luminance, focal distance, subject matter orientation, and color to determine the correct exposure and capture the natural details, accurate flesh tones and rich colors you see in your composition. High-Resolution electronic viewfinder (EVF) 12x optical, 4.2x Advanced Digital Zoom - 36-432 mm (35 mm equiv.) f/2.8-4.8 Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon Lens Shutter speed - 1/2-1/1000 seconds in 1/3-step increments Scene modes - Portrait, night portrait, landscape, night landscape, flower, sunset, backlight, candle light, manner/museum, text, beach, snow, fireworks, children & panorama stitc.

I did quite a bit of research on a prosumer camera and reached the conclusion that the Kodak Z712 IS had the best bang for the buck. Other cameras with similar features usually cost $100-200 more than the Kodak Z712 IS. The features I liked best were the 12x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. It took sharp hand-held pictures (especially in low light with IS). The Kodak Z712 IS is also necessary for most handheld shots in high zoom.

The image quality was very good. The main difference between this and the more expensive dSLR is the sensor sizes and interchangeable lenses. The Kodak Z712 IS has a 1/2.5″ sensor, dSLR’s start at about 15 times that area and up. This makes a huge difference in low-light and dynamic range of the pictures. But of course dSLR’s are a lot bulkier and expensive. The Kodak Easyshare Z712 IS has a lot of advanced features, I especially like the live histogram. Performance was overall quick, except when the buffer filled (about 5 burst pictures), then it takes almost 10 seconds to write it all into the memory card.

The lens is fairly fast, meaning the aperture doesn’t close down too much when fully zoomed (its widest setting is f/2.8 to f/4.8 at 12x zoom), so there’s more available light even at highest zoom, so the shutter can be fast enough to freeze sports action, or ISO can remain low for low noise)

The video mode (640×480 30fps) uses MPEG4 compression, which allows much longer clips due to its more efficient algorithm.

Kodak Z712 IS camera is smaller than it looks in pictures, my right hand (avg size) feels kind of cramped operating the shutter button and the mode dials and buttons with the thumb. The flip side is the camera is more portable than I had imagined, almost like a compact P&S camera.

The macro mode needs to get a lot closer, it can only get close to about 5 inches.

Another thing is there’s no manual white balance in the Kodak Z712 IS. This isn’t a major concern, but for a prosumer camera, I would’ve expected this simple feature. But then again white balance can always be corrected in post-processing on a PC, but the extra step should be eliminated. Even though Kodak is known for their vivid print colors, they shouldn’t be forcing the user to use the defaults, since users might occasionally want to balance their own whites and maybe even intentionally shoot with off-white colors for effects.

One of the biggest problems with Kodak Z712 IS is how much power it consumes. I tried AA alkalines just for fun and it took less than 20 (though there’s still quite a bit of power left in the cells for other uses, the cutoff voltage seems high for triggering the low battery warning). I eventually ordered a charger & 2 Li-Ion CRV3 batteries (similar to Kodak’s KLIC-8000) and they work as intended with probably around the CIPA rated number of pictures. I believe the documents state the camera was only inteded to use Lithium batteries, but if that’s the case they should’ve made the battery a more proprietary type so people don’t confuse with being able to use standard AA batteries that don’t last long at all.

Overall it’s a great camera if you can overlook the issues I mentioned. Eventually I sold the Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS online because the size was not portable enough for my personal tastes, and also the large zoom isn’t as useful as I had thought for my type of shooting. I went with the Canon A720 IS for about the same street price with less zoom (6x), better battery life, slightly better image quality, & a more compact body.

—– By RLSd

Kodak Z712 IS Features

• 7.1-megapixel CCD for prints up to poster-size
• All-glass Schneider-Kreuger Varigon lens; 2.5-inch LCD
• 12x optical zoom; optical image stabilization; power: rechargeable lithium batteries
• Record VGA video (640 × 480) at 30 fps with sound
• 32 MB internal memory; capture images to SD/MMC cards (card not included)

Kodak Z712 IS Specifications

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