Kodak EasyShare CX4200 Digital Camera
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Similar in Digital Cameras
- Digital Zoom: 2x
- Camera Type: Standard Point and Shoot
- Weight: 0.44 lb.
- LCD Screen Size: 1.6 in.
- Resolution: 2 Megapixel
- Optical Zoom: Without Optical Zoom
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From disaster to bliss
Pros
Easy to use, lightweight, great pictures
Cons
The extra "dock" costs you $70, but you don't really need it
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
With a price of under $150, this is a camera offers ease of use, good pictures in all light conditions.
After having just returned a Vivitar 3625 digital camera, because it did anything but take pictures, I was really leery of buying another digital camera. Then I read the reviews about the Kodak easy share and I thought one more try couldn't hurt.
Since we are not exactly rich, $200 was the maximum price we were willing to invest in yet another "toy".
I brought the Kodak easy share home and within a few minutes I was ready to take my first picture.
The camera itself fits into the palm of my hand, is lightweight without being cheap and is extremely easy to operate.
Two Kodak Max batteries are included, but I recommend that you invest in very good rechargeable batteries. As almost all digital cameras, this one too zaps your batteries fairly fast.
Also included is a wriststrap, but no carrying pouch.
A small plastic bag hold an attachment that you can use with the (optional) dock, that is available for another $70. The function of the dock is to hold your camera while not in use, recharge batteries while they are in the camera and to make transfering pictures to your PC extremely easy. You don't need the dock, but if you have the extra money to spend, go ahead and buy it.
The camera comes with a 16MB integrated memory. This is more than most cameras which come with only 8MB, but not enough to take lots of pictures. The camera comes with three settings for picture quality (more about that later). With the 16MB memory you can take 23 pictures at the "best" setting, 48 at the "better" setting, and 95 at the "good" setting.
We did purchase a 64MB card ($28.00) and that more than triples the number of pictures we can take without having to clear the memory. The camera will automatically detect if you use the integrated memory or an additional card.
Also included is a CD-Rom that lets you download the Kodak easy share program into your PC. Downloading takes about a minute.
There is no USB cable included. We happened to have a spare one, but keep that in mind if you buy the camera and not the dock.
The camera comes with a fairly extensive manual that also offers possible trouble-shooting solutions. For those of you who hate reading manuals, a quick start guide is included.
Installing the batteries, optional memory card and getting the camera ready to take pictures just takes a few moments. I do like the triple language feature. You can choose from english, spanish and german. This will come in very handy when my mother comes to visit. She speaks german and not a lot of english, so taking pictures will be easy for her.
Selecting picture quality is also very easy. Turn on your camera, hit "menu" and page down to what you want to change. Hit the "ok" button and you are done.
Kodak offers three picture quality settings:
"Best" - uses 2Megapixels, should let you print up to 8x10 pics and offers the highest resolution.
"Better" - 1Megapixel, good for 5x7 prints, medium resolution
"Good" - 0.5 Megapixel, good for e-mailing and screendisplay, lowest resolution.
We have printed an 8x10 picture of both the "better" and the "best" setting and both turned out great.
Since I sometimes don't know what I will do with the pictures I take, I have the camera on the "better" setting almost all the time.
This camera also comes with auto flash. It will automatically detect if the flash is needed and turn it on.
To take a picture, simply turn on the camera, point and shoot. There is a very brief shutter lag, but it's hardly noticable. The picture will be briefly displayed in the LCD screen. To review the pictures you have taken, just change the dial to review (just push a button) and look at your pictures. This will zap your battery power fairly fast, so use it sparingly.
There is a 2x zoom on the camera, but I have not used it yet, so I cannot say too much about it.
You can also protect pictures, so you don't accidently erase them, mark pictures as favorites or delete pictures with the touch of a button.
Transfering pictures to your computer is easy, even without the dock. Just connect your USB cable to the camera and your computer, turn on the Kodak easy share software and hit transfer. You can transfer all your pictures at once, one-by-one, or by date acquired. I transferred 8 pictures at once and it only took a few seconds.
You can edit the pictures with the software, e-mail them or order online prints. I have it set up so that pictures automatically get stored in the "my pictures" file on my computer, but that really wasn't needed.
I think this is a very good camera for first timers and people that are on a limited budget.
Since we are not exactly rich, $200 was the maximum price we were willing to invest in yet another "toy".
I brought the Kodak easy share home and within a few minutes I was ready to take my first picture.
The camera itself fits into the palm of my hand, is lightweight without being cheap and is extremely easy to operate.
Two Kodak Max batteries are included, but I recommend that you invest in very good rechargeable batteries. As almost all digital cameras, this one too zaps your batteries fairly fast.
Also included is a wriststrap, but no carrying pouch.
A small plastic bag hold an attachment that you can use with the (optional) dock, that is available for another $70. The function of the dock is to hold your camera while not in use, recharge batteries while they are in the camera and to make transfering pictures to your PC extremely easy. You don't need the dock, but if you have the extra money to spend, go ahead and buy it.
The camera comes with a 16MB integrated memory. This is more than most cameras which come with only 8MB, but not enough to take lots of pictures. The camera comes with three settings for picture quality (more about that later). With the 16MB memory you can take 23 pictures at the "best" setting, 48 at the "better" setting, and 95 at the "good" setting.
We did purchase a 64MB card ($28.00) and that more than triples the number of pictures we can take without having to clear the memory. The camera will automatically detect if you use the integrated memory or an additional card.
Also included is a CD-Rom that lets you download the Kodak easy share program into your PC. Downloading takes about a minute.
There is no USB cable included. We happened to have a spare one, but keep that in mind if you buy the camera and not the dock.
The camera comes with a fairly extensive manual that also offers possible trouble-shooting solutions. For those of you who hate reading manuals, a quick start guide is included.
Installing the batteries, optional memory card and getting the camera ready to take pictures just takes a few moments. I do like the triple language feature. You can choose from english, spanish and german. This will come in very handy when my mother comes to visit. She speaks german and not a lot of english, so taking pictures will be easy for her.
Selecting picture quality is also very easy. Turn on your camera, hit "menu" and page down to what you want to change. Hit the "ok" button and you are done.
Kodak offers three picture quality settings:
"Best" - uses 2Megapixels, should let you print up to 8x10 pics and offers the highest resolution.
"Better" - 1Megapixel, good for 5x7 prints, medium resolution
"Good" - 0.5 Megapixel, good for e-mailing and screendisplay, lowest resolution.
We have printed an 8x10 picture of both the "better" and the "best" setting and both turned out great.
Since I sometimes don't know what I will do with the pictures I take, I have the camera on the "better" setting almost all the time.
This camera also comes with auto flash. It will automatically detect if the flash is needed and turn it on.
To take a picture, simply turn on the camera, point and shoot. There is a very brief shutter lag, but it's hardly noticable. The picture will be briefly displayed in the LCD screen. To review the pictures you have taken, just change the dial to review (just push a button) and look at your pictures. This will zap your battery power fairly fast, so use it sparingly.
There is a 2x zoom on the camera, but I have not used it yet, so I cannot say too much about it.
You can also protect pictures, so you don't accidently erase them, mark pictures as favorites or delete pictures with the touch of a button.
Transfering pictures to your computer is easy, even without the dock. Just connect your USB cable to the camera and your computer, turn on the Kodak easy share software and hit transfer. You can transfer all your pictures at once, one-by-one, or by date acquired. I transferred 8 pictures at once and it only took a few seconds.
You can edit the pictures with the software, e-mail them or order online prints. I have it set up so that pictures automatically get stored in the "my pictures" file on my computer, but that really wasn't needed.
I think this is a very good camera for first timers and people that are on a limited budget.
