Customer Reviews

Kodak DC280 2MP Digital Camera w/ 2x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am a photographic and computer enthusiast and having these two elements come together is a delight for me. So, I have all the very expensive stuff, including KODAK's $20m commercial digital cameras. So, I know what quality is and how much it costs. Bottom-Line as starters, the DC280 makes great color shots with very suprising Hi-detail. The Advertisments say "good" for 8x10 photos, however, as a very picky guy, when you get past 5x7 print sizes, the pictures start to turn fuzzy. But the 5x7 prints are shockingly clear with brilliant colors. But, so what, how many prints does one make larger than 5x7 anyway. This camera is easy to use & small, and I carry it on vacation locations, when I don't want to carry my larger and heavier commercial camera. I was truly shocked at the excellent picture quality of the 280. ALSO, KODAK includes great software, so after a picture taking day/nite, one can easily connect to the yellow video plug on your TV (or Hotel TV) for a slide show of the days activities. I would recommend purchasing a 64MB memory card with the camera purchase, so you'll get plenty of picture opportunities (75+ shots) without having to worry about using up memory. In other words, since you can erase shots you don't like, take MANY, MANY shots and pick the best ones you like for printing or e-mailing. I bring my laptop with me on trips, so in the evening, I can copy the photo-files to the hard disk, and erase the camera memory card, in preparation for the next days photo activities. KODAK provides serial, USB cables, and software to accomplish this simply. Definitely do NOT buy a digital camera with less than 2,000,000 pixels. (The older models, presently having good sale prices, are technology of 2/3 years ago, and you'll wish you spent the extra money for this camera). Since KODAK has been the color business for 100 years, (well...50+years) its no surprise that they have created an electronic imager (the CCD Chip) with the BEST Color quality and detail. This is a must have, you'll not be dissappointed. If you have another few hundred dollars, check out the SONY or OLYMPUS dye-sublimation printers, which produce actual photo quality continuous tone prints up to 4x5 sizes; These printers are not dot-matrix's with all the little dots. The camera and the printer makes for a great combo family gift for under $2m, that anyone in the family can use without having to even turn on a computer, as the printer prints directly off the camera memory card. SO that you don't make yourself craze, and since its slightly different than a typical film point and shoot camera, be sure to read the instruciton booklet, before pushing all the buttons. The documentation KODAK gives you is very easy to understand, so take it slow when you open the Box for the first time. It's so intuitive to use, after the first 2 outings, you NOT need to keep going back to the booklets. JLW/991203.

For the money you just simply will not beat the performance of the Kodak DC280. I have had mine for a couple of months now, and it has literaly replaced my regular 35 mm camera. I love the convience of taking pictures then making any edits i need from my computer. The software is easy to install, and only has about a one hour learning curve to master. Very good and fast usb connection. With a fully charged set of NI-MH, AA batteries it gets fantastic long life. And the 2.0 Megapixel image is nothing less than photo film perfect, must be seen to belive. I also like the smart card memory media included, I have upgraded the 8 mb, to a 24 mb card, and on the 24 mb, I can snap over 100 photos in the best quality mode on the lower size setting, and 34 of the highest quality photos in the huge mega resolution setting. Another great feature is that this camera is very easy to use compared to the other brands I have tried. I did not even have to read the instructions, (though I would read them if I were a beginer). Try the Kodak DC280 out if your in the market for a fantastic digital camera!

Overall, this is an excellent camera and I've had nothing but great luck with it. The pictures are terrific.

I had heard a lot about the DC280 and similar digital cameras chewing up batteries, so I bought an extra set of rechargable NiMH batteries -- in addition to the set that comes with the camera. While this is still a good idea, I didn't find that the battery life was particularly bad. On a recent trip overseas, I shot over 150 pictures (many with flash) and still had good battery life when I got home -- enough for another 75 pictures. Just don't use the LCD preview screen for every shot -- that's not what it's intended for, and it WILL kill your batteries pretty quickly.

The real limitation is the Compact Flash memory. If you shoot the highest resolution possible, the camera will fill a 8mb card (which is what is supplied) with only 9-12 pictures. I typically get 32 hi-res pictures from a 16mb card. (The number of pictures you get will vary depending on the complexity of the images you shoot.) So, in addition to an extra set of rechargable batteries, think about buying the highest capacity Compact Flash card you can afford!

If you're thinking about getting a higher resolution camera than the DC280, keep in mind that you'll get even fewer pictures per megabyte on your Compact Flash cards. Personally, I found enlargements up to 5x7 printed by Ofoto nearly impossible to tell from film pictures. I'd only recommend a 3 megapixel camera if you intend to print 8x10s regularly.

A USB Compact Flash card reader is a great option, too. It saves the camera battery and allows you to quickly download your pictures without tying up the camera.

Although it sometimes feels like we're all still beta testing various digital imaging technologies, including digital cameras, products like the Kodak DC280 make me believe the "dark ages" might be coming to an end.

This is a good mid-range digital camera, perfect for those who want to capture images that will look very good on the Web. The biggest plus of the camera is image quality; this is the best camera in this price range that I tested, with two-megapixel resolution. Having quite a bit of hands-on experience with various Sony cameras, I and my partner were actually stunned by how clear the DC280's images were in a variety of lighting conditions.

There is very little to complain about in terms of interface and usability. I scanned the manual, and then just started using the DC280. The menu system and buttons are quite intuitive. One minor quibble is that one is pretty much forced to use the DC280's viewfinder left-eyed; otherwise the LCD screen smudge factor so common to digital camera will rear its ugly head. However, I use the LCD for the majority of my shooting, so this isn't a huge factor.

The DC280 uses a USB connection to transfer images to your computer. The camera mounts as if it were a hard drive, and one can preview large thumbnails of images before copying them over to your hard drive. While I was able to open the images directly into Photoshop, Fireworks couldn't get into the camera; this may have been a problem with how I have my file associations set up, however.

The camera comes with a number of features and extras. The bundled software, Adobe's PhotoDeluxe and Pagemill, are more than adequate for editing images and creating Web pages. Various simple visual effects and borders can be applied in-camera, and you can run a slide-show right out of the camera using the supplied video cable.

The DC280 includes four rechargeable AA batteries, a recharger, and four AA alkaline batteries. You can get started right out of the box. My camera sucked the alkalines dry after about 50 photos and a couple of downloads; I would suggest buying an extra set of rechargeables to carry around with you, and an AC adaptor.

This is not the perfect camera for all applications. For one thing, there are few manual controls on the camera for focus, aperture or shutter priority, and the optical zoom limited to 2X. This will mean that photo enthusiasts might want to look at something the next step up, such as the wacky-looking Nikon Coolpix 950. As others have reported, low-light shooting is not at the quality that one would hope for from a camera at this level.

All-in-all, the DC280 is an excellent camera for the price, perfect for Web photos.

With this camera, you will get great colors on your screen. I tryed the same picture with the three different qualities and with all I got excellent pictures. It has all the basic features you might need in any camera. It has a good zoom, the 'physical zoom' is not that good, then I discovered the digital zoom which is great.

It consumes a lot of batteries, but you have more than enough with the rechargable batteries and of course, the battery charger included in the camera. I bought an additional charger because I never found that the camera came with its own, so don't buy another charger.

I'm more than satisfied with the 8MB flash card. It is true that you can only take 12 pictures with the highest resolution (1800x1600) and higest quality, but with standard resolution(800x600) and the medium quality you still have very good pictures and can get about 52 pictures, which is good for a weekend. If you have a long trip and don't have a pc to download the pictures, then you might consider another flash card.

BAD THINGS: It weights a little bit more than a traditional camera of the same size, but still, it's much better that other big cameras. It doesn't come with a camera bag. You have to buy it appart.

In summary, a great camera.

I too read reviews, searched the web,compared features, and priced the various models. I did not want to spend a small fortune on my first Digital Camera, but yet I didn't want to buy a bare bones model, then curse myself that " I should have bought..." I knew I wanted Zoom, and at least 1.3 pixels, and the one that fit all my requirements was the DC280. I know there are other cameras with better color, but no zoom, or better zoom, but costs more, or......etc. The plus factors are..... EASE OF USE, NON-COMPLICATED, GREAT CUSTOMER SUPPORT, GREAT WARRANTY, AND GREAT PRICE, GREAT ACCESSORY PRODUCTS AVAILABLE. Negative factors.....lens cover could be a better fit & quality, and LCD display seems to get smugged easily....... I DO SUGGEST THAT YOU CONSIDER PURCHASING THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS: 1. KODAK CAMERA CASE ( I got mine for $17.00 ) 2. BATTERY RE-CHARGER 3. EXTRA BATTERIES 4. AC ADAPTER ( got mine for $20.00) 5. SANDISK CARD READER ( GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD)...YOU SLIP THE CARD INTO THE READER AND PRESTO..THE PHOTOS ARE DOWNLOADED INTO YOUR COMPUTER.( SOLD FOR USB,SERIAL OR PARALLEL PORT CONNECTIONS, AND FOR FLASH CARD OR SMART CARD DEPENDING ON WHAT YOUR CAMERA USES).The reader sits on you desk, so you don't have to go looking for your camera cables, or fool around with your tower all the time.......( got mine for $32.00) I get great color prints ( up to 8x10 ) and super detail, both on the computer and printed on Photo paper. I even went out and bought the Kodak/Lexmark Personal Picture Maker PM100 printer that has the flash card port built right into the printer, and the printer DOES NOT EVEN NEED TO BE CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER TO PRINT OUT THE PHOTOS!...

I finally upgraded from my original 2 year old Digital Camera - a Casio 5000SX that was great except for a poorly designed battery door. The Kodak DC280 Zoom is better in every category - clarity, features, memory capability, analog zoom, except for one - the delay in the time from pressing the shutter until it snaps the picture. Keep in mind, that the processing time is quite fast - the Kodak is ready to take your next picture quite quickly, thanks to some in-memory processing, but the delay from when you click the button until the action is captured is quite lengthy. I find it nearly impossible to get good action shots with this camera. For example, I take quite a few pictures of sand volleyball on my weekends. Only the highest flyers - the guys that can jump out of the sand and hang like Vince Carter were captured in the air, and only with me clicking the shutter button at least 2-3 seconds *before* they jumped. However, if you don't have to take a lot of action shots, well this this is an excellent camera for the money - for both amateur and professional alike.

I wanted to write a review of this camera because I hope it will help someone like myself that almost did not buy this great camera.

This was my first digital camera purchase. The reason I ultimately bought it was because it was a great value--including many extra items ( both 4 alkaline and 4 NiH rechargeable batteries, battery recharger, Adobe software, UBC Cord, etc.)that the others did not. However, I was concerned because there were reviews that mentioned that the Adobe software was difficult to use and you could not e-mail pictures using it. Both negative comments were dead wrong.

First, I must say that the camera takes truely OUTSTANDING pictures. It is also relatively easy to use. The manual that comes with it is well written and easy to understand. It comes with a quick-guide and you can literally be taking pictures within minutes.

The Adobe software is truely outstanding too. Its only negative is it does not come with a manual so you have to plow through the instructions on the computer and very often use the help screen. However, you can make all kinds of adjustments to your pictures and come out with a first rate pictures. I like to save the pictures to my hard drive in the JEP format. If I want to e-mail them, I simply send the pictures as attachments from there. No problem.

Regardless, the pictures and the software are great and any negative comments you may read from others probably are from first time buyers like myself who got frustrated with the learning curve and time it takes to get to know a new camera, new technology, how to use the software and how to print photographs. For a novice, it takes considerable time to learn. There are no shortcuts. However, once you get the hang of it, you get fantastic results!!!

One mistake I made was buying a card reader. I have a 800mh processor and the USB cable that comes with the camera literally takes seconds to transfer. If you have a slow processor, you may need a card reader.

One thing I definitely advise you to get is an AC adaptor. It is a must or you will drain the batteries. If you are going to go for a long weekend or plan to take a considerable number of pictures, you may want to buy both extra rechargeable batteries and an extra picture card.

Ihave a HP deskjet 952 printer. I have found some Kodak 4X6 borderless print paper. It comes with one or two pictures per page. For the single page, I turn it upside down in my tray (with the Kodak name up) and locate it all the way to the far right. I set the settings just the way the instructions say and I get the most unbelieveable pictures you can imagine. Once I got the hang of it, people in my office asked me where I was getting them developed! Another major positive is that Kodak has a "technical help desk." I called them a couple of times regarding how to use the new paper with my particular printer. They have an 800 number,answered right away, and were incredibly helpful and knowledgable. This was a major plus and helped me over several frustrating humps.

Regardless, this camera is a great value since it inclues many extras and provides outstanding quality pictures. Beginers do need to invest time--and be forewarned it can get very frustrating but it all falls into place with time. If you are on the fence, buy it. You will love it!

Enjoy!!

Digital cameras are here to stay. As much as I'd like to stay with my old SLR, it's time to move from film to disk. I've had the Kodak 280 for 3 months and I'll say that it was a good buy. The pictures are very good, it's easy to use - just point and click. As with any automatic camera, you don't have great control over exposure and lens settings, but for indoor and typical outdoor shots, its fine. The USB downloads fast compared to serial. The rechargeable batteries dye after about 30 downloaded pictures to your PC... get the optional AC cable (I think 39$). Everything digital is overpriced for what it is. My camera does sometimes act quirky; but I think it always has to do with low batteries. You'll have to get another set of the rechargeable nickel metal hybrid batteries if you go on the road with your camera. And the software is ok. The downloading should be easier when you don't want to touch up your photos.

I'll keep my 35 mm SLR for those vacation trips where I'll take 10 rolls of film and I want more camera control, but if you want instant, good quality pictures in an everyday, take it anywhere camera (as long as you don't need more than 35 pictures before downloading), this is the camera. Or you can take your laptop with you or buy more overpriced memory cards.

I've had this camera for 2 months now, and have taken 500 pictures with it. Some of these, I've taken duplicate pictures with 35mm or APS, and the colors on this camera (DC280) comes out way ahead.

A case in point, one ocean picture by the DC280 showed detail in the distant fog, along with varying reflections (of the fog) on the water. Dark blue sky filled in behind and above the fog. The APS picture was all washed out - you could hardly tell the difference between the fog and sky. Both were taken with automatic exposure settings, and taken within 1 minute of each other.

Down side to this camera is that 1) It eats through baterries (common problem to these types of cameas - fortunately Koday supplies NiMH rechargable batteries); 2) Limited zoom range; and 3) LCD display gets washed out in the sunlight.

Up side to this camera are 1) Excellent sharpness in prints up to 5x7 - okay in 8x10; 2) Colors that will knock your socks off (much better than the Nikon Coolpix 950 that I use at work); 3) It acts and feels like a real camera; 4) Software and Camera operations are very natural and easy to learn (I'm still stuggling with the Nikon, and I'm a computer engineer!)

Bottom line: This is an excellent entry into the digital world. It outperforms cameras that cost much more. If you can live with the limited zoom range for now, you won't be disappointed.