Kodak EasyShare Z612 6.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Zoom

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 4 x 2.5 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000DZHA6O
• Item model number: Z612
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,220 in Camera & Photo (See Bestsellers in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 21, 2006

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description
Kodak has raised the bar with the Kodak EasyShare Z612 6.1-megapixel zoom digital camera. With a powerful zoom and precision optics, a 6.1 megapixel resolution, and easy-to-use creative manual and custom controls, including video, the Z612 packs a powerful punch into one compact, handy camera.

The Kodak Z612 features an all-glass 12x Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon f2.8 to f4.8 optical zoom 35 to 420 millimeter lens that delivers extraordinary performance and sharp pictures, as well as image stabilization that enables improved image quality at longer zoom ranges and slower shutter speeds. This camera includes a 6.1-megapixel sensor that delivers excellent resolution for prints up to 30 x 40 inches, and provides you with five resolution settings that give you the freedom to pick between quality and quantity per what suits you best at the time. The Z612 lets you view your pictures with brilliance and clarity on its high-resolution, indoor/outdoor viewable 2.5-inch color LCD display, or its high-resolution electronic viewfinder, whether you are shooting vertically or horizontally, both views feature auto picture rotation. You can also quick magnify up to 8x, fast scroll through images, or view multi-up in review mode. And with 32MB internal memory and the ability for expanded external memory via the SD/MMC card slot, you can keep shooting pictures. The Z612's Kodak Lithium-ion rechargeable digital camera battery has an outstanding capacity that provides continuous and reliable power and can be recharged easily via the included Kodak Lithium-ion battery charger.

The simple-to-use video features on the Z612 let you record VGA video at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second (fps) with sound, and zoom during the video for increased versatility. Image stabilization enables a steady capture, and you can lessen memory use via MPEG-4 compression. This unit also lets you print multiple frames on a 4 x 6-inch print, or save single frames for later e-mail to family or friends. The Kodak Perfect Touch technology on the Z612 makes your pictures as vivid as when you took them, with better, brighter images that show richer detail and clear up dark shadows to reveal brighter smiles. This camera features on-camera cropping, a histogram function that lets you verify the exposure of your picture on live view, quick view, and review. The Kodak Z612 provides you the option of eight different scene modes, including; portrait, landscape, bright, action, close-up, party, text and museum modes, as well as five color modes, including high, low, natural, sepia, and black and white.

Kodak's Z612 gives you multiple choices in customizing your controls, such as Program mode, Aperture priority mode, and Shutter priority mode. This camera also lets you manually set your exposure compensation, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO equivalents, and includes auto and manual controls for white balance, flash mode, autofocus, and exposure metering. The exclusive Kodak Color Science image processing chip provides vibrant, true-to-life colors in every picture using advanced algorithms and hardware acceleration features that let it make instantaneous and advanced analysis of collected scene data to influence picture quality. Not dubbed the Easyshare for nothing, this camera lets you share pictures right out the back of the camera using its exclusive share button, or transfer pictures at high speeds to your PC or other devices via the built-in USB 2.0 connection. And with the included Easyshare software, you can organize your pictures to find them instantly, select from a variety of easy-to-use printing options, share pictures with family and friends, as well as get creative with or edit your pictures in a variety of ways. This compact unit weighs 10.6 ounces without batteries, and measures 4.1 x 2.9 x 2.7 inches (W x H x D).

What's in the Box
The Z612 Zoom digital camera, Kodak rechargeable Lithium-ion digital camera battery, Kodak Lithium-ion battery charger or equivalent, USB and AV cables, lens cap with strap, neck strap, Kodak Easyshare software, Getting Started kit, custom camera insert for optional Kodak Easyshare camera and printer docks.

Product Description
The 6-megapixel Kodak Easyshare Z612 Zoom Digital Camera is a compact camera with a 12X Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon optical zoom lens with Kodak's image stabilization technology for sharp shots and steady videos. The camera's easy-to-use performance features include a 2.5 inch display, PASM modes, auto-image enhance, on-camera cropping, histogram and advanced video designed to help aspiring photographers take better pictures with sharper detail. Video format - Quicktime Multiple scene modes - Sport, Portrait, Night Portrait, Landscape, Night Landscape, Self Portrait, Bright scene, Action, Close-up, Party, Text & Documents, Manner & Museum, Flower, Sunset, Backlight, Candlelight, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Children Modes Sharpness - High, normal, low Tripod mount - 1/4 inch standard 5 color modes - High color, Low color, Natural color, Black and white, Sepia Shutter speed - 16-1/1000 sec. in 1/3 step increments ISO equivalents - (automatic) 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 Normal Focus range wide - 1.6 feet (0.5 m) - infinity Normal Focus range tele - 3.9 feet (1.2 m) - infinity Macro Focus range wide - 4.7 inches - 2 feet (12-60 cm) Macro Focus range tele - 2 - 4.3 feet (60 cm - 1.3 m) Flash mode - auto, off, fill, red-eye pre-flash Color modes - high color, natural color, low color, sepia, black and white White balance - Auto, daylight, tungsten, fluorescent, open shade System Requirements - Windows 2000 SP1, or XP OS, Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, 600 MHz processor or greater, PowerMac or Powerbook G3, G4, G5, iMac, eMac or iBook computer, Macintosh OS X 10.3 or higher, Safari 1.1 or higher, 128MB RAM, 200 MB Hard Drive Space Available, CD-ROM drive, Available USB port Dimensions - Width 4.1 ? Height 2.9 ? Depth 2.7 inch (104 ? 74 ? 69 mm) / Weight - 10.6 ounces (300 grams)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

111 of 112 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easyshare Z612 - WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL CAMERA!, June 22, 2006

By	D. Werkheiser (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I LOVE this camera! I have a Nikon N90, which is an excellent camera, but I wanted a digital, smaller camera. Several years ago, I bought a Toshiba PDF4300, and my husband purchased a Nikon Coolpix 5000. Both of these digital cameras are not user friendly or fast. As a result, we stopped taking photos. I bought a Kodak C model Easyshare camera for my mom for Mother's Day and was shocked at how easily I was able to immediately start taking photos. There were dedicated Review and Delete buttons by the LCD panel. What a concept! (To this day, I have problems deleting on my Toshiba.) It made me want to start taking photos again. I studied specifications from camera to camera; e.g. Canon, Nikon, Kodak, but I kept coming back to Kodak's simple, easy-to-use formula. I decided on the Z612 for a multitude of reasons: size, speed, stabilization, TV quality video with stereo audio, 2.5 LCD with 233K pixels, 35mm to 420mm zoom, 6.4 MP, ability to use a 2 GB SD card (with the best res (6 MP), this card can hold 491 photos), etc. I called some camera stores in town to see if they carried the Kodak Z612, because I wanted to see it in person, and I was surprised at their snobby responses that they don't carry Kodak. Don't let that kind of attitude stop you from seeing this camera. I found one close to home, and bought after looking at it - great sale price, too. This is the easiest camera out of the box. Very fast! Excellent quality - no red eye on my new kittens. In one day, I took 200 photos, copied them to my computer - no hassles. I am the happiest I've ever been with a camera. As an additional FYI, Kodak announced the P712 in London on June 20, 2006. This should be better than the P880 which I was considering. If you want to add an external flash and things, the P (Performance) line is the way to go. For this purchase I wanted size, quality, AND EASE OF USE. It looks like the new P712 is very similar to the Z612, which was announced Feb 2006. (Z is for high zoom, 6 is for MP, and 12 is for 12x zoom.)

I am ABSOLUTELY THRILLED with my Kodak Easyshare Z612. (No, I do not work for Kodak.)

90 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One important drawback, October 26, 2006

By	Gail (Iowa) - See all my reviews

Kodak Easyshare Z612

Pros

1. There are dedicated buttons for setting focus, flash, timer, review, information, delete, menue and share photos. Because the buttons require a solid punch, I have not not had the problem of accidentally resetting the camera when handling it. This makes the camera easy to use.

2. The x12 zoom works great and so does the image stabilization. I was able to take photos of people without a tripod from significant distances (15-20 feet) allowing for candid, non-intrusive shots of subjects. Because there are blur and poor exposure warnings, almost all of my photos came our sharp and bright. At the longer distances on the flash range, it was necessary to enhance the exposure in editing and I was amazed at the quality of the correction. Unless I was very close to the subject, the skin tones were good. I have submitted some sample images for your review.

3. I really like the software that comes with the camera. I normally edit the photos in a retail store because the touch screens are so easy to use as compared to my complicated and tedious computer software. The Kodak software was simple and had fun features such as turning the photos into cartoons or coloring book pages. Plus, the software is integrated with the Kodak website for easy photo sharing.

4. The camera is lighter weight (10 oz w/o batteries) and smaller than the Kodak "P" (professional) series. [...] While it is no substitute for a pocket camera, I think I would still use the z612 as my primary camera on a road trip.

5. The LCD screen is large at 2.5 inches and the EVD is bright. In comparison to other cameras I have used, I can see the LCD screen in bright sunlight but it is on the dim side in the normal mode. There is an option to brighten it beyond normal, which I have not tried.

6. The batteries, which come with the camera, seem to last around 50 photos with lots of telephoto adjustments.

7. The camera does come with a lens cap and lens strap, which I attached to the hook for the neck strap. The cap pops off and hangs out of the say when the camera is turned on. It is NOT necessary to keep track of the lens cap.

Cons

1. The wide/telephoto lever is located immediately to the right of the viewfinder. I use my left eye when looking in the viewfinder and it is very, very difficult to use the wide/telephoto at the same time. My thumb ends up poking my right eye. If I had tried this camera out in the store, it may have been a show stopper. This is a significant con, which dropped my rating by one star.

2. The icons and text describing the scene options are on the small side compared to the space available on the LCD screen. My current camera uses a descriptive photo with large text for the scene options. After you select a scene option, you have to toggle the wheel off and back onto the scene option to get back to the scene menu. This is cumbersome.

3. The icons on the camera body for the flash, focus, et. al are small and may be difficult to see for the 50+ consumer.

4. The battery indicator does not come on until the batteries are low. I would like to know the status of the batteries at all times.

5. For macro photography, you have to be at least 4.7 inches away from the subject for the focus to work properly. This is a long distance for macro photography, so your photos may require cropping for a really close look. I did some test photos of a grid and the tightest I could get (while maintaining good focus) was an area of around 2 inches by 2 3/4 inches. Too much cropping degregates the image quality. If you want to take pictures of ladybugs in high resolution, you may want to consider another camera that has a better macro mode and a super macro mode. Cropping to a grasshopper size works--but a ladybug size seems to be beyond the limits of this camera. (I did get a good shot of a ladybug, but I had to leave a lot a background to maintain a quality photo.)

Conclusion

This is a light-weight, easy to use, affordable camera with a large, bright LCD screen and bright EVD viewfinder. The image stabilization and the integrated editing software is a real plus. This camera will work for a beginner photographer, as well as, a serious amateur who wants some control over settings but doesn't want to spend the $ for a DSL. I would have liked a super macro mode, but the trade off was more expense, weight, no batteries included and a smaller, dimmer LCD screen. (Check out the Canon IS 3S or Sony super zoom) While I may not be able to photograph the texture on a bug's eye, at the end of the day, I'm really most interested in good candid photos of people. All in all, I am very pleased with my purchase and I'm having lots of fun taking pictures. Check out the images I have shared. If you buy this camera, I also recommend that you download the full manual from Kodak and take the time to edit each photo with the included software. (Note: I have not tried the video on this camera.)

7/12/2007 update. I still love my z612 and lots of acquaintances seem to have camera envy. I just wanted to mention that the Kodak editing software does not allow one to straighten or sharpen photos. I am now using picasa2 by google, which is available through a free download. It has very easy photo editing capability that is easy to use and is significantly better than the Kodak version. Google also offers a free web service for storing and sharing up to 1 gig of photos. The best thing about this service is that your friends can download a HD version of the photos for free. On the Kodak website, you can share photos but friends can only download a low quality version or buy prints or a CD.

98 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 Stars for a great camera, June 29, 2006

By	K. G. Schneider "Librarian, Writer, and Booka... (Tallahassee, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Update: I concur on the blurring issue. It doesn't happen frequently, but sometimes, particularly on close-ups, the autofocus won't focus no matter what I do. Then the next picture is fine. Possibly a firmware issue Kodak could address with an update?

Note: only a couple of tiny issues keep this from being a 5-star review. To me, "5" means "close to perfect," and the Z612 isn't quite there--but I still love this camera! The Z612 has all the ease of an EasyShare with features found in more demanding cameras.

Pro

Nice small size for its key features: 6.1 mexapixels, 12x zoom, and image stabilization

Brilliant, huge viewfinder--by far the best in this price range

Trademark Kodak color--pop-out clear and beautiful

Buttons and switches are clearly labeled and easy to use, particularly the huge, well-placed release button

Foolproof picture-taking, but easy to access advanced features

Easy to transfer pictures, either with the USB cable or the optional dock (you don't have to get the printer dock; there's a $40 series 3 dock that just charges and transfers)

Loaded with easily-accessed scene settings, including a separate toggle for three of the most popular

Accepts regular camera batteries in addition to its rechargeable battery--though on a four-day trip where I took a lot of pictures I didn't seem to get anywhere close to exhausting the juice


Con

The rubber boot covering the USB transfer port seems a little flimsy

The manual is cryptic on some features

As with all non-manual zooms, the Z612 zoom is a bit trigger-happy

I'm not quite as impressed with close-ups such as flowers as I was with my old DX6440 EasyShare... so I thought I'd buy a close-up lens, but:

To use generic 55mm lenses, you need a special 49 to 55 mm lens adapter made just for the Z612--but this accessory isn't available yet! Come on, Kodak.

Still, a lot of camera, both for the cost and for the ease of use. Oh, and it's rather attractive, too--I took it to a conference and a lot of people commented on my "nice camera."