Customer Reviews

Kodak Easyshare V1003 10 MP Digital Camera with 3xOptical Zoom (Mystic Purple)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I am a total caveman when it comes to things digital. I have had digital cameras before but always felt reluctant to use them as they were too complicated, batteries ran out, the viewing screen was too small, and you had to wait a long time between shots. Well, I am here to tell you to buy this machine. It is great: simple to use; rechargable batteries, large viewing screen; very short wait between shots; AND it connects right up to the Kodak Easy Share printer (or you can remove the SD media and stick that into the printer) and makes exceptional quality photos. For $200 you can't beat this camera.

I got this camera for Christmas and was impressed that I was taking pictures literally within a minute of charging the battery. It's so easy to use, you don't even really need a manual, the joystick and control panel are very intuitive and simple. Even easier than my old APS camera! I had resisted upgrading because I saw so many people struggle with "programming" their cameras - the user guide for my Dad's Sony is 50 pages - yuck, too much hassle! But this is about as point-and-shoot as it gets.

However, I became trepidacious after reading the negative online reviews of the camera. So, I took about a gazillion pictures to test it: self portraits, people, cats, close-ups of the detail in my Christmas decorations, indoor, outdoor, daytime, nighttime. I used as many of the modes as I could. I choose a couple dozen representative shots for printing (NOTE: I don't print my own, I upload them for printing at my local Walgreens). I was more than happy with the results: all the pictures came out beautifully, far exceeding my expectations.

So, as a camera for normal use (vacations, holidays, friends, family & pets), I'm thrilled. The speed hasn't been an issue; I still miss a few shots of my cats (they're not overly cooperative...), but not any more than with any other camera, 35mm, APS, or digital, that I've ever had. However, I don't have children so I can't comment on how appopriate this camera is for catching sports and play all the other kids' action.

I haven't used the video much, but to be honest, I considered that more of a novelty in a camera in this price range. If I was looking to shoot quality video, I'd expect to pay accordingly. To me, that's the kind of advanced feature that needs some input from Consumer Reports.

I think this is the perfect camera for the casual photographer and/or the technically-challenged. I'm very happy with it and can't wait to start scrapbooking all my new pictures!

I want to give this 3 1/2 stars, but it's not possible so I'm giving it 3 stars. Bought the Kodak EasyShare V1003 in July for my mom. She's never had a digital camera before so I was looking for something easy to use, not too many complicated buttons. The camera was easy for her to learn how to use. The problem came when we printed out some pictures. The quality of the printed pictures was iffy. Some shots were stunning, great color, unbelievable detail. Others looked much worse than they did on the camera's LCD screen and the computer screen. I noticed that bad shots occured most often when we took pictures of people inside. Faces were not very detailed, and everything came out much darker than it looked on the camera's and computer's screens. I played around with the camera a lot over the past week, taking lots of test shots in different settings, and I've come to the conclusion that the camera has problems with taking photos of groups of people (bad facial detailing) in indoor situations from more than five feet away. If you stand pretty close to someone, the camera usually does ok (flash can sometimes be too powerful, washing out details and colors) but faces are blurry when you stand further away compared to the output of other digital cameras (my relatives have Canon and Sony cameras). The pictures are ok, certainly comparable in quality to our old 35mm film camera from the 90s. It's just that other modern digital cameras can capture much finer detail of faces in in-door situations than this Kodak. I've learned the hard way that megapixels aren't everything, camera lens and in-camera processing matters alot too. I've just ordered a 7 megapixel Canon model for my mother. My sister has this Canon and the print output from her camera is fantastic compared to what we've gotten from this Kodak. Shop around, higher megapixels don't translate into better details in photos.

I've started taking more trips, and my little Sony Cybershot 3.2MP wasn't doing it for me anymore. I picked this camera up on a whim, because it was under $200 and 10MP--the most I'd seen in this price range.

What a great camera! First, it's light and small, so I can stick it in my pocket on hikes or vacations. Second, the colors are vibrant and the pictures sharp. And third (my favorite) it has a timer so I can actually be IN the pictures I'm taking!

I spent 2 years looking and waiting for the right camera to come around. I tried another Kodak easyshare as I like the EASY-ness of them. I was not happy with that one, so went to the V1003. I bought it at circuit city BIG mistake (they have a 14 day return) It is not possible to make sure ALL the features on the camera work in 14 days. And with this camera, they do not work. The video is VERY noisy! The camera keeps adjusting (why I don't know) and the internal noise causes noise in the audio of the video. Also with 10MP you'd expect perfection of colors etc. Not the case. There is a strange blue glow off of white objects in certain shots. The settings for beach etc for adjust to bright light changes the colors also. I took a picture of a pond covered in lily pads and the sun was at an angle that was too bright. I used the beach settings and a few others for bright light and the colors of the pond changed. The pond appears bright blue in some areas.....believe me this pond is NOT blue. Trying to take sun pictures with the "filters" causes a weird flower pattern...like a daisy. My previous camera was a simple Kodak Easyshare 3.1 and it took better pictures, and better video (no noise!).
The buttons on the camera are inset a bit and very small. I have small hands and it still is difficult to press the buttons. I usually have to press on several times to get it to come on. As far as speed, there is too much time between pressing the shutter button and waiting for the green light to actually take the picture. If you expect to get a shot of something that happens quickly and you need your camera to respond quickly...you'll miss your shot. If this camera comes down in price significantly, it might be an ok buy... As you will see by my edit, this is another thing you have to do BEFORE you can do something else with the camera. There are too many steps and too many ways to miss what you want to capture.

EDIT and UPDATE: to solve the problem with the noise in video if anyone has this issue, I found the following:

When the camera is in the video mode. You can change the AF Control setting to Single Auto Focus mode, Please folow these steps:
1. Turn the camera on.
2. Set your camera to video mode.
3. Press menu button.
4. Move the Joystick up/down to highlight AF Control then press the OK button.
5. Choose Single AF, then press the OK button.
6. Press the Menu button to exit.

I have this camera and I like using it. The controls are easy to navigate. I disagree with the comment about it being too slow. The camera is set to have a preview after a picture is taken. You can change this setting to less time or press the shutter button half way down and the camera will take a picture immediately after the last. Good value for 10mp.

This camera is tiny enough to fit in your back pocket & you don't have to wait a week & a half after hitting the power button to start shooting. I especially love the anti blur setting as I am usually laughing at my subjects! It's really easy to switch from mode to mode, & the view screen is huge!

I'm torn about this camera.

On the one hand, it has really nice picture quality: really brilliant colors with enough light and lots of MPs for the price. Then again pictures tend to run a bit blurry at times and the response time button-to-capture lags a bit.

Overall I'm really happy with the pictures. This camera is a nice fit for what I need: I don't take photos often, and when I do I like doing artsy quiet shots. If you're more on-the-go and need higher performance, go with a CANON.

AUDIO CLICKING ON VIDEO FEATURE: Videos will have a clicking noise in the audio. It wasn't until I read another Amazon review that I discovered this happens because of the Auto Focus feature. Thankfully it's stopped since I've turned the feature off. Absolutely annoying design flaw.

I bought this camera for only $140 and that price was one of the defining factors for my purchase. I had read all the reviews and yet I thought that this camera couldn't be as bad as some people thought. Sadly it is. I used to own the kodak V603, which was only 6 MP, but it still performed better than this camera. That camera was ruined after I went kayaking and I and my camera went into the water. I also used to own the C340 but my brother broke that. It was only 5 MP and did better than this camera. Next time I'll buy the V1253 as a replacement.

Negatives:
-The picture quality is low compared to the V603 except in bright light where it is about the same. Pictures come out blurry indoors and often grainy.
-In the sun, you can't see the screen at all.
-You can hear the camera zoom in and out when taking video, and even when it's quiet you hear too much noise.
-IT FREEZES A LOT. That pissed me off the most. I thought it was just my camera but my mom's friend has the same problem with the same camera.
-The button to turn off flash is in the upper lefthand corner, which is inconvenient for people like me who prefer it next to the On/Off button to immediately turn flash off.
-After using it awhile, it says "Unrecognized file format" when I go into review to view pictures it recognized only a minute ago. To fix that i just turn it off and leave it alone for awhile, but it does get annoying.
-Takes a long time to focus.
-Takes awhile to turn on.
-The camera itself is pretty thick.
-Anti-blur mode makes pictures grainy instead of blurry.

Positive:
-It looks nice.
-Good pictures outdoors.
-The joystick is fun.
-Perfect touch technology right on the camera.
-Over 20 modes to choose from to fit your setting, including panorama.

Overall, this camera sucks. Even though i haven't tried the V1253, I'd recommend trying that over this camera. At least the V1253 has face recognition, HD video, and a large screen that may actually show excellent quality pictures the V1003 can't deliver.

I bought the V1003 last week. I was impressed with the 10 MP, the price, and the printing dock. I have one question however. Will you tell me what the heck it is with Kodak that they feel a viewfinder is no longer needed??? I get a bit queasy trying to focus and compose an image with just the screen in the back. A coupled viewfinder would really make it sweet in my humble opinion. Also, the shutter recycling time is indeed a bit slow, and I don't know why. I am reconsidering my purchase for a SONY or a CANON or NIKON. It's really too bad, though! It could have been much nicer if the camera was properly designed and engineered in the first place.