Downsides: my biggest complaint is that pretty much everything resets when you turn the camera off, so by the time you set up your camera, the moment might be gone - very frustrating! the date and time even reset when you leave the battery out too long! there are no fast shutter or aperture controls, and no AF assist lamp so you can't take focused shots in "dim" light without the flash. Not so great if you take lots of macro shots since all you'll see is flash glare. Also, by saying "dim" lighting, I mean indoors, daytime, during the summer without DIRECT or very bright sunlight. There's also a bit of purple fringing.
     Overall, a great camera if you just need it for point and shoot use. Very nice colors and great resolution for the price. In my opinion, one of the best things about this camera is the non existent redeye, since compact cameras are usually used for taking pictures of people, not scenery. Other compacts have awful redeye. Not recommended for creative shooting though. The Canon ELPH S410 is about the same price but is 1 meg lower, has no scene modes or an action mode, but focuses better in low light and has better picture quality. Sony W1 costs more and has limited control over shutter and aperture settings, and has an excellent movie mode. Canon Powershot A75, A85, and A95 cameras have much more manual controls (which means you can take better pictures in different situations) and are much cheaper (except for the A95) but are bigger, though not too big.________________________________________
Product Reviews:

Great Design - Average Pictures, December 25, 2004
Reviewer: Capo
When I first saw this camera, I thought to myself, "Kodak has finally gotten it right." Ever since they started making digital cameras, Kodak has had, in my opinon, some of the best picture quality available. The metering has always been dead-on and the pictures, although somewhat over-saturated, have always featured deep, sharp colors and extraordinary clarity. The only thing that prevented me from buying a Kodak digital camera was the fact that their bodies were cheaply made out of lightweight plastic. Then they moved into the Easy Share line of cameras geared to the entry-level market and things went from bad to worse with the camera styles getting progressively larger and the bodies getting progressively cheaper.

     But with the release of the LS753 (and its 4 MP younger brother the LS743), Kodak finally smartened up and made an ultra-compact, sleek, attractive, sturdy camera geared to the mid-level user. And the camera is every bit as nice as it looks on the internet. The LS753 is a slick little device. Weighing in at just under 6 oz. (without battery) and measuring just larger than a deck of cards, this camera is small enough and light enough to easily fit in your pocket or comfortably fit on your belt. The body is made of high impact plastic and features a metallic front that gives the camera a sturdy feel without making it too heavy or bulky. It's finished in a metallic silver with just a hint of blue tones which, in my opinion, makes for a very attractive color. Ergonomically, everything is exactly where it should be and the camera feels very comfortable in your hand. One of the nicest features is the inclusion of a button on top of the camera to quickly change flash settings. Also, the camera features a small dial on top, right in front of the shutter button, which allows you to change camera modes. The default setting is always automatic so you never have to worry about accidently setting the dial somewhere you don't want it and then having it in the wrong position when the camera starts up. All in all, this is a perfect design. But, unfortunately, the positive features end there.
      As I said, I was fully expecting that this camera would have taken beautiful pictures, based on my past experience with Kodak. I mean, with today's technology, picture quality should only be getting better, right? Wrong. Here's why:
     1. The pictures, although clear and crisp in bright light, are far too dark when taken with the flash. But the problem is not consistent and it has everything to do with the automatic ISO and speed settings that the camera uses. At equal distances, some of the flash pictures will be far too dark and some will be acceptable. It seems that the shutter is very fast, but maybe too fast for the size of the lens and the power of the flash. It seems to me, for the majority of the automatic flash pictures, that the camera is not letting enough light in. In fairness, you do have manual control over some of these settings (exposure and ISO) and I'm sure, with some tweaking, you can get closer to the right mix. But, for this size camera, why should we be concerned with such things? This is a point-and-shoot, and you expect to be able to do just that.
    2. The flash is far too small for the camera and, more often than not, you will find that it will light up only the very closest objects. This gives the unpleasant effect of having only half of your pictures illuminated. Coupled with the problem above, the bottom line is that flash pictures are not at all acceptable for this price camera. When compared to my Canon S40, which is a similar compact camera, there just is no comparison. The Kodak is just not acceptable for indoor use.
     3. The camera features a 1.8" LCD display which is crisp, sharp, and easy to see even in bright places. However, it has one major flaw which is that the pictures appear much more dull and dark on the LCD screen then they do when viewed on a computer. (Even the ones that actually are dull and dark as described above are FAR worse when viewed on the LCD screen). This can actually be a difficult adjustment in the beginning because, when previewing pictures on the screen, you may be inclined to discard pictures that you think are too dark, only to find out that they would have been acceptable (or close to it) when viewed on a computer.
     4. The low battery indicator is not at all obvious, with just a very small flashing white icon in the far bottom corner of the LCD screen. Maybe I'm not paying enough attention, but I almost never see it. And it seems to comes on just before the battery actually dies. The end result is that the battery dies and the camera shuts down as a surprise. And not a pleasant one.
     5. The autofocus is terrible, particularly in lower light conditions. You will find that you have to discard about 10% of your pictures because of blur, even with the most steady of hands. This is beacuse the camera was made to point and shoot very quickly without having to wait for the camera to autofocus. And, 90% of the time, it does fine. But for the other 10%, it is very frustrating. I would rather have the camera autofocus for a second or two and beep when it is in focus so that I know the picture is ready to be taken. Not having to wait is a nice feature, but you have no idea what the end result will be. I have also had problems with the camera focusing on the wrong subject. For example, just today I took a family portrait using the auto-timer and the picture was blurry. Obviously it had nothing to do with movement because neither us, nor the camera were in motion. It just has to do with, again, bad internal automatic settings.
     Is it all bad? Well, not really. As I said, the design is great. And if it had better guts, the camera would be perfect. One thing I love is the comapct battery charger that plugs right into the wall. I wish more camera/camcorder manufacturers would catch on to the fact that we consumers like to remove the battery and put it into a separate wall charger without having to lug around wires, an AC transformer, etc. Kodak has gotten this part right. I also recommend the separate custom made leather case that they sell. This fits the camera snugly and offers a lot of protection in a very compact package. One last positive note is the battery life. I had one fully charged battery last through approximately 150 flash pictures and it had plenty of life to spare. This is a very positive feature for this size camera.
     In fairness, I have not tested this camera with the docking station or with any of the EasyShare software which is supposed to be a major selling point of this Kodak line. I am just not that type of user. I prefer to remove the SD card and load my pictures to my computer using a card reader where I can manipulate them. But, even if these EasyShare features are flawless, it would not make up for the lousy flash pictures and the all too often blur. Nothing, not even ergonomic design, can make up for bad pictures. And, unfortunately, that's just what this camera takes.
     What if you only use it outdoors? Well, then this camera would be a winner. But, I'll go out on a limb and say that the majority of the point-and-shoot market will not be limiting themselves to outdoor shots. That said, Kodak really missed the mark on this one. Which is really dissapointing to me because they passed up a golden opportunity to make the perfect digital camera.

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