Customer Reviews

Kodak Easyshare V530 5 MP Digital Camera with 3xOptical Zoom (Silver)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I've had about seven digital cameras now, and this one is my favorite of the bunch.

Pros:
- Excellent picture quality. In my opinion, Kodaks take the best digital pictures of all point and shoot cameras. Colors are bold and bright, and daytime pictures don't get washed out.
- Very compact size. Sexy and stylish. Fits easily into your jeans pocket.
- Many picture-taking modes for daytime, nighttime, moving objects, close-ups, portraits, etc.
- If you use a desktop computer, the dock comes in handy and provides a convenient place to store the camera and charge it.
- Video quality is superb. By far, the best I've seen on a point-and-shoot camera.

Cons:
- The zoom buttons on the back of the camera, combined with the camera's small size, make it impossible to zoom and take a picture with one hand. I miss the zoom dial on the front, operated with the index finger rather than the thumb, on my older, bulkier Kodak. With this camera, if you zoom, you have to use two hands.
- You have to use the dock, and have it plugged into a wall outlet, to transfer pictures to your computer. I think this is pretty silly. No way to just connect the camera itself to your computer, or to transfer pictures without a wall outlet nearby. This also makes it impossible to charge your camera by plugging it into your computer with the USB cord.
- Speaking of the dock, it's pretty cumbersome if you use a laptop (i.e., if you don't use your computer in the same place all the time).
- Camera can easily get lost because it's so small. I can't find mine right now. I suspect it's in a pocket somewhere.
- No viewfinder. You have to aim your shots using the screen on the back.
- Small buttons on back make for somewhat clumsy navigation.

Overall, I'm happy with this camera. It's a hundred dollars cheaper than the V550, and the only feature difference I can discern is the smaller screen in the back. It takes good pictures. I can't comment on the Kodak software because I use Picasa, which you can download for free and is far superior to anything else on the market. Hope this is helpful; happy shopping!

This camera is just amazing. Im a very stingy buyer. I want what Im looking for and I look for the best value on top. The Kodak V530 is probably the best camera for its price I have ever had my hands on. Its LCD screen is large and very high quality. The images and movies play back on a very high resoultion screen with a high frames per second speed time.

The camera picture quality is very sharp and natural. I took home the Canon 5megapixel equivalent for comparison. although that camera was fast and very solid, the pictures were sharp but the images comparably to what you see naturally looked somewhat artificially enhanced. The built in lcd screen was choppy, grainy and not comparable to the kodak.

Movie mode is beyond nice on the Kodak V530. A 1gb SD card makes nearly 30 min of 640x480 movie at 30fps. Its tv quality and its a great thing to use on day trips where you do not want to bring a camcorder entirely.

The dock can play the videos/pictures straight to TV and connects to a computer through a USB 2.0 port. Very nice.

I have never seen a digital camera with movie quality this good. Period. The aforementioed Canon had a good movie mode too, but its compression was horrendous. You could only make 1/3 the length for the same amount of memory.

Buy this Kodak, you will not regret it.

5 stars ++++

Appearance: I bought the silver color. It is small and sexy. It definately has a wow factor. The base looks futuristic, yet the round shape is useful for turning it around. The screen is a good size.

Usability: This camera is very easy to use. Within five minutes, I was able to figure out 80% of the features. I was a little confused with playing videos on the tv, but within a minute I got it to work.

Picture Quality: My pictures look great, even on 1.8MP. There are plenty of different settings for taking pictures.

After I ordered this camera, I wondered if I should have bought the v550 instead. But after I received it, I felt good about my purchase. The two cameras are pretty much the same except for the bigger LCD, more memory and a viewfinder. A bigger LCD just wastes more battery, and 2" is more than adequate. Built-in memory doesn't matter because everybody buys their own anyway. And using a viewfinder just takes the fun out of taking digital pics. Viewfinders are not too accurate anyway. Oh, and the v530 is SMALLER than the v550. I think I'll keep my camera.

Please don't purchase a separate power charger for this camera. Its a) not avaialable, b) not necessary. Many users below are finding out that the available separate charger packs are not compatible with this camera. I talked with Kodak, they say a separate charger is not necessary. Just unplug the power cord from the dock and take it with you on the road. The cord will plug into the camera directly. Theres no need to bring the dock station while on a trip, etc. Separate power supplies are avaiable, but its not called a travel charger. Kodak actually did it right and made it easy to take this camera on long trips away from home....nothing extra to buy.

I was torn between giving this a four star rating and a five. The camera itself is amazing, like something from the future. Add a 1 GB memory chip and you have a capable camcorder that slips into your pocket. The picture quality is fantastic. It earns five stars.

Nevertheless, this is a digital camera, and I can't give it five stars because the software that comes with it is buggy. The very first movie I took is lost forever because the software kept crashing partway through the transfer on my PC. When I tried installing it on my Mac, the installer crashed, although it installed anyway and I'm able to use it there.

Hopefully these problems will be fixed soon. I don't think they should dissuade anyone from purchasing this camera - it's just phenomenal.

PROS:
-Size: Compact
-Appearance: sharp and sleek looking camera.
-Camera Interface: Simple to operate in auto mode, all the buttons are clearly labeled on the camera.
-Features: The camera has many different modes for taking pictures, yet simple enough to point and shoot with also.
Price: Isn't too bad considering you're getting a 5MP & 3X Optical Zoom for your money.
Picture Quality: Excellent quality, even when you use the 3X Optical zooms
Video: Video Quality isn't too bad, it gives you the options. (Consider buying 1GB SD card)

-Installation: V530 has a booklet inside with pockets that contain information that you remove in order to setup and install the camera. (Very user friendly start-up guide)
1. Starting first with a start-up guide
2. Installing software
3. Setting up the camera dock
4. Installing the battery
5. Taking pictures
6. Uploading them into the Easy Share program

-Registration: This is done before you install Kodak software, very easy to follow.

CONS:
-EasyShare photo editing software, it reminds me of a prison. Your image can be added into the Kodak program very easily, but it's difficult to extract them out of it.
-Short battery life, but extra batteries for this Kodak model are affordable at $20.00 each.
-Can't transfer pictures out of their software very easily, requires some computer knowledge.

-How to side step Kodak software listed above:
1. Select the custom option to just install the dock and card reading software off of the disk on your system.
2. Click the Easy Share button on the dock pad should bring up a simple generic interface to copy the images into "My Pictures" folder.

Over-all: The V530 seems to be a very user friendly camera that Kodak has created for taking digital pictures. They have provided a good amount of information on their homepage for support, updates and additional products you can add to the easy share series. It was a positive purchase besides trying to figure out how to not use their software for the camera.

This digital camera is an excellent value for the money. It is very compact and well built with an aluminum shell rather than plastic. The buttons are a little small, but they are sturdy and click well. The lcd is big enough for clarity, it is bright and detailed, with very good color fidelity and contrast. The menus are very easy and intuitive to navigate and the amount of buit-in flexible features are amazing. But where this camera really shines is the quality of the pictures. Some people have complained that indoor or lowlight pics come out too dark, I have to disagree with that, I found that pics requiring the flash were bright enough to illuminate all the necessary subject's details. The biggest surprise for me was the excellent video capabilites of this camera. You literally don't need a camcorder anymore. This camera's video quality is comparable to vhs and it is smooth and colorful with a built-in stabilization feature which eliminates any shaky moving images. The sound is also loud and clear and a 1gb card can hold up to about 30 minutes at 640x480 or 60 minutes at 320x240 (at this lower resolution the loss of quality is minor and the image still looks very good). Another thing, you can hook up the camera to a tv or vcr and you can view the pictures or videos on them. the tv image is clear, with excellent color fidelity, brightness and contrast ratio, you can even record the video (and/or just the pictures) on a vhs tape and make your own home movies. I still feel that A regular film camera gives a better more realistic picture than any digital ones, but nevertheless as far as digital goes, this is the one. Whatelse can you expect from a digital camera this small and inexpensive?. Overall: EXCELLENT!

This little camera is truly amazing. For the price ((...)) you really get a lot of features. When I show it to people they kind of laugh at it's size but soon stop laughing when they see what it can do. But first the drawbacks. You need a really big memory card or a lot of little ones to do video. I put a 512mb in it and it will only take about 14 minutes of video at high resolution. And video is one reason I bought it(it does video at 30 fps which is way faster than almost all cameras in the 200 dollar price range). Most cameras in this price range do high resolution video at 10 -14 frames per second so fast action video looks like stop action on other cameras. Secondly, you can only charge the battery while in the camera with the included Dock/charger but you can buy a charger for about $25 that will do this. The battery is not very strong(it will only last for about 120 pictures before needing charging). But I did do 50 minutes of video and took 50 pictures on one charge with power left and it only took about 1.5 hours to recharge the battery. I have yet to find a way to turn off the terrible digital zoom(digital zoom is no good on any camera - Why they put it on anything is beyond me. You can hear the zoom on playback of video. Of course there are other little nuisances here and there but all cameras have them.
And now, SOME of the good.
1. It's light and cute( I keep thinking about Mission Impossible), you can take video and most people don't realize they are being videoed, Ha, ha, because the thing looks too small to do video, especially high qualty 30 fps.
2. The controls (buttons) are a lot simpler than that wheel on other Kodaks, especially when going back and forth from video to stills.
3. TV quality video(30 fps). No blurred or stop motion effects when recording fast action.
4. The large LCD(2 inches) is very clear and easy to see.It is viewable from 170 degrees in any direction and no other camera I tried could do this. They all went dark or way light when viewed from anywhere but straight on. This featute is a home run.
5. It has a speaker so you can listen to your video sound from the camera on playback.
6. You can stop, pause, and fast rewind and forward the video on the camera playback.
7. Simple, simple, simple to operate.
8. You can zoom during video recording although as I said before, it is audible on playback. It's not that loud, you can barely hear it if people are talking.
8. That's enough for now - I may add later.

This camera is great. It has a very bright and big LCD screen with a 170 degree viewing angle, meaning you can see whats on the screen without looking dead on. I love the size of the camera. It takes awesome pictures. I have printed many pictures from it and they all look outstanding. The only downside is a short battery life compared to some other cameras but getting a second battery is cheap and simple solution. I had an HP 2.0mp before this and this one does not even compare to it.

A few months ago I purchased the Kodak V530 after doing thorough research on the web. The price point for the features and perfomance of the camera cannot be beat.

I took this camera earlier this month on a 16 day cruise across the Atlantic and on to a land tour of France, England and Scotland.

In Scotland I slipped into some rapids and was thrust over a small waterfall,etc. The Kodak V530 was in my shirt pocket and underwater (rushing water I might add) for about ten minutes. I was clinging for dear life with the only handhold and foothold I could find which both happend to be for my left hand and foot. As I was waiting for help I rememberd my camera and reached with my free hand to pull it out from underwater and threw it to someone on shore.

I really had no hope for the camera but was hoping to salvage my 1 gig secure digital card with over 400 photos from my trip.

Unbelievably after drying out all day and then me running the hair dryer over it for five minutes or so back at the hotel the Kodak V530 came back to life and has worked as good as new since then. Now it may prematurely rust or something but right now it is what I consider the miracle camera. The only thing I had done was to almost immediately take the battery and SD card out to dry seperately.

As far as performance goes from a cold start to taking your first pic the camera will come on and the lens extend all in about two seconds! Shutter lag is almost zero and the menu is the easiest of any digital camera I have ever used.

I love this camera!!!