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in this price range, and
it zooms in very fast and smooth. 4x zoom is actually more powerful than
the more expensive Kodak DX7630, with 3x zoom.
4 megapixels allows plenty of room for cropping your shots and still
retaining good quality.
I just got a set of photos back from Winkflash, an on-line photo lab, and
the picture quality is excellent for 4x6 snapshots.
Battery life is quite good. I went for a 4-day camping trip and filled up
an entire 512 mb memory card without running out of juice. That's with the
supplied battery, and a longer-lasting one is available for $24 on Amazon.
The extra-large LCD screen is also much better than most of the
competition, and can be viewed even in bright sunlight.
On a Macintosh, you do not have to use the Kodak software. The camera
interfaces fine with mac's Iphoto software. The Mac X image capture
software allows for downloading movies.
You can shoot movies in 640 by 480, double the resolution of most cameras.
I bought a 32x high speed 512 mb Lexar Sd card, which works fine--although
apparently there is only a minimal advantage to a high-speed card, and
Kodak does not recommend them.
For a camera case, I highly recommend the Lowepro D-Res 10AW. The DX74440
fits PERFECTLY, with room for a battery and spare memory card. The case is
well-designed, well-padded, and compact.
For the range of features, ease of use, and price, the DX7440 can't be
beat! ________________________________________________________________
I like Kodak cameras so much I just bought Kodak stock, November 30,
2004
Reviewer: Chris Rachael Oseland
I'm not joking about the stock. This is my second Kodak EasyShare camera.
My first was a basic EasyShare CX4310, which is a sturdy digital
point-and-shoot. After a year of digital photography, I wanted two things
in an upgrade: zoom, which is easy to find, and fast shutter speed, which
is not.
Most digital cameras have significant shutter lag. You press the button
and tell people to just keep smiling, really. By the time you get the
shot, they've started looking elsewhere or the smiles have faded into
irritation or the photo is just a blur of movement. I went to several
local electronics stores and experimented with display models (often
putting in my own media card so I could examine the photos later) before
making a final decision.
There are plenty of cameras with more megapixels, but I feel comfortable
in saying NONE below $900 with a comperable shutter speed. I didn't want a
digital SLR. If you whip out a huge camera at parties, people flinch. I
wanted something both fast and discreet, something I could carry in my
pocket and whip out the second anything intersting happened without having
to stage a shot.
The Kodak EasyShare DX7440 lives up to all my expectations. If it did
nothing more than take fast, clear photos, I would be thrilled, but it is
loaded with other features I appriciate.
PROS:
* The 16 built in presets work beautifully. I've been very pleased with
the results ranging from "Sports" to "Self Portrait."
* If you don't like their presets, you can make your own settings very
easily.
* This camera is great for a whole family. Point and shoot people can just
leave it on "auto." More advanced photographers can set fstop and
aperature settings manually. I particularly appriciate that Kodak made
seperate controls for the dummy and pro settings. A little wheel in the
upper right corner controls manual settings, so if your point-and-shoot
spouse picks up the camera, they don't lose your settings OR take lousy
pictures and wonder why you broke the camera.
* The preview screen on back is HUGE, making it very easy to frame shots.
* You can change aspect ratios on the camera itself, so instead of
shooting at 4x5 (equilivent of an 8x10 photo) you can set it to shoot at
2x3 (equilivent of a 4x6 photo). This means less cropping and photo
editing later. This feature is espically nice if you have a printer dock
and want to print straight from your camera.
* The video feature works shockingly well. Set it to video, press the
button once, and it will film until you fill up your memory card or you
press the same button, telling it to stop. You don't have to hold down the
shutter the whole time, which is a major bonus. The video quality is about
average, with surprisingly good sound pickup. The ability to simply plug
the camera into a TV using standard cables is *wonderful.* I never thought
I'd want something like this, but now I'll be disapointed if I ever lose
it.
* Burst mode works very well.
* Zoom is smooth and fast. You can set it to either flow organically or to
hop to 1x, 2x, etc.
* The interface software is hands-down the best in the business. You don't
have to "learn" a Kodak camera. They are very intuitively designed. Other
manufacturers could learn something from studying their interface.
CONS:
* The presets are easy to access, but just as easy to accidentally switch
while in the process of taking a photo. Several pictures intended for
party mode have ended up in "Night Landscape." They were partially
salvagable with color correction software, but still pretty
unsatisfactory.
* The camera loses the time and date settings every time you remove the
battery. If you have a charging dock, this probably isn't an issue, but
for those of us who charge the battery seperately, it gets annoying very
fast.
* Like most digital cameras, people complain about the brightness of the
flash. As a photographer, I'd say they use just enough, but as a subject,
it can be painfully blinding. This is all the more reason to take action
shots rather than lining people up for posed photos.
All in all, I love this camera and expect to use it for years to come. I
highly recommend it to anyone looking for a high quality pocket sized
digital camera.
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