Customer Reviews

Kodak Easyshare P880 8 MP Digital Camera with 5.8x Wide Angle Optical Zoom

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is the best of the current line of EasyShare cameras. The 8 megapixels, RAW, Manual Zoom and Focus rings. I've been using this camera for the past two to three months and I have to say it's one heck of a camera. This camera is read to go almost as soon as you turn it on because it's manual zoom there's no need for the camera to run a check on the zoom motor. That check delays the readiness of most zoom cameras. It has multiple scene modes and the PASM manual modes plus three C (custom modes) in which you can save your favorite settings. It also has an improved video mode. This camera even has a "Bulb" mode (this is where you can set how long the shutter stays open by holding the shutter button up to 60 secs, helpful when the 16 maximum programmed shutter opening isn't long enough). It has a hotshoe for an external flash gun (P20 Zoom Flash) which gives you more flexibility and power when the ambient light and the onboard flash isn't good enough. Kodak has placed buttons on the back and top of the camera that control the most of the main functions of the camera with out having to bring up the main menu and search for them, they are White Balance, ISO, Metering, Flash, Focus, and Digital Zoom. This camera has so many options that I could spend the next hour writing about them. I really recommend going to the Kodak website and checking out the specs.

Let's get to the most important feature of this machine...the pictures. The quality is very good, the lens captures a lot of detail and is really sharp. My wife and I just had our second child, I brought the camera to the hospital and took some pictures of out newborn, some color and some black & white, they came out so well that we didn't order the usual hospital photos. The results were so good that when visitors come to our home they find it hard to believe that the photos were not professionally done. I've also taken landscapes and macros with this camera and I must say I have not been disappointed yet.

Now for the bad news... The auto focus sometimes hunts in low light and low contrast situations which is not really a major problem because you can just turn the manual focus ring and adjust it until you're satisfied. There's a lot of noise over ISO 200 (can be corrected with a good noise reduction program i.e. Noise Ninja) and you only have ISO 800 and 1600 at 0.8 megs setting, which is really only good for the web. Slow write times for RAW and Tiff modes and the camera is pretty much inoperable while the camera writes to the memory card. No burst mode when shooting RAW and Tiff modes.

All in all this is one of the best cameras out now. It's really a flexible piece of equipment and a very capable backup for DSLR users that have tired of carrying all the extra equipment that goes with owning a DSLR. It is also a very good camera for those not quite ready to make the jump to a DSLR but find they are ready to spread their photographic wings. I recommend it wholeheartedly. Check out the customer images (most of them are mine), very little or no post processing...judge for yourself!

****EDIT**** Kodak has recently released a firmware upgrade for this camera that decreases shutter lag, improves the auto focus and exposure and adds a pixel remapping program to remove any malfunctioning pixels on the sensor. I upgraded mine and I highly recommend anyone that owns this camera to do the same. It makes a world of difference in its operation.

It takes beautiful pictures, sharp, gorgeous color, etc, but it is darned slow to write the higher the resolution. Forget writing in Tiff and Raw if you are taking any pictures that need a fast write speed. Tiff and Raw are only good for portraits and nature. This is not the camera to chase the little ones around with, but my son is now 9 so not much chasing is going on. It is a wonderful portrait or landscape camera though and that is what I purchased it for. It can go all the way down to 1/4000 shutter speed which is excellent, but I am still playing with it in low light situations. It is nice to have an understanding of how cameras work, and when you do, you can use this to it's advantage. It is a nice alternative to dSLR's where you spend more for the lens than the body. I can't justify that at the present time as this meets my needs. I do also have a very fast Minolta Dimage Z2 which my son now uses in case we need something with speed. If you are chasing little ones around, you will not want this camera. If you take mostly portrait, landscape, flowers and such, you will love this camera.

There are many PROS to this camera:
- Kodak quality color (the BEST out there)
- 24mm wide-angle lens (great for more creative pics)
- 8MP and TIFF and RAW formats
- Li-Ion rechargeable battery (no more AAs)
- Hot shoe flash attachment (see CON about the flash)
- Fully manual options (good if you're a photography enthusiast or student)
- Lens has optional adapter to attach additional lenses
- The camera even takes video!
- DSLR features but much smaller, more convenient size.
- I purchased this camera online for only $399 - you can't get all these features for a better price!

And now for the CONS:
- SERIOUSLY SLOW WRITE SPEED. This was a SERIOUS issue for me. I realized that after I would take a picture, the camera was temporarily inoperable because it was writing the picture to the memory card. A "in progress" message would come on the screen and I was forced to wait - sometimes up to 8 seconds - before I could take another picture or review the one I had just taken. I was about to return the camera because of this. But I downloaded the recent firmware release from Kodak - write speed got a tiny bit better. And then I purchased a pro-quality super-fast secure digital memory card: the SanDisk Extreme III. I found it online for $70 and it makes a WORLD of difference. Don't buy this camera without that memory card!!
- The pop-up flash isn't positioned high enough. My pics usually have a darkened area at the bottom. Hot shoe flash attachment would solve that issue though.
- One last minor con is that the LCD screen could have more pixels. It's size of 2.5 inches is great but a csreen that size should have more pixels. The images on the screen look a bit grainy.

All in all, I LOVE this camera. If the cons I mentioned above were fixed, it would be the perfect camera for me.

I have taught photography at the college level, shoot 4x5 view camera work on occasion, and am very demanding about image quality. I am quite satisfied with the image quality from my Kodak P880, particularly after I installed the newest firmware upgrade available from Kodak.

I went through several 7MP to 8 MP cameras before finally getting the Kodak P880. The P880 has better image quality than some high end Sonys and Olympus 7-8 MP cameras like the DSC-V3 or the SP350. I tested the P880 against the even higher end 10.3 MP large sensor Sony R1 and the difference in image quality in a 13x19 print between the P880 and the R1 was barely perceptible after minor sharpening and noise reduction, which the P880 images accept particularly well. The zoom lens has a very useful range and is generally pretty sharp throughout its range. Balance, manual controls and features feel high end and adequate for most semi-professional needs. The camera is a little slow processing and storing pictures in RAW format and exposure bracketing modes but that really doesn't bother me because I do mostly landscape and fine art photos. RAW file format is directly supported by most versions of Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements as well as most other RAW processing programs like Picture Window 4. Unlike most sub-$500 cameras, the P880 uses regular screw in haze and polarizing filters, a real plus and it has a highly controllable hot shoe. Manual focus is usable and manual exposure control works well. The direct mechanical zoom is also nice.

Overall, the P880 is a digital camera that can either be a high end point and shoot SLR-styled camera or one that can be used as fully manually as the most classic 35 mm film SLR.

Although not small enough to slip in a pocket, the size is still reasonable and light.

I owned a camera store in Fairope, Alabama in the 70s. My camera of choice was the Nikon F2. My favorite lens were the 28mm F3.5 Nikkor for interiors and landscapes and the 105mm F2.5 Nikkor for portraits. I find the equiv to 35mm camera zoom range of 24mm to 140mm on the Kodak P880 perfect for most photographs I want to take. I like the "feel" of the P880. The more I use the camera, the more comfortable I am the manual adjustments available. The fully automatic mode works well for most applications...but in low light or other special conditions, the camera can be operated pretty much like a manually controlled cameral. Eight megipixels produce very nice 8 by 10 prints even after cropping. The big two and a half inch led is very nice and the electronic viewfinder is clear and easy to use even with my glasses. I really like having a hot shoe and pc connector for my old flash units. I have had the P880 for over a month and I guess I have taken a couple hundred pictures and I couldn't be happier. I am very glad Kodak offers such a fine camera for less the half the cost of the Nikon and Cannon SLR digitals. I realize the lens are not interchangable but that is the only difference I can see and that isn't an issue for me. If you appreciate a fine camera and can get past the stigma of a Kodak...then the P880 could be the camera for you.

Bought by P880 about a month ago. I am a sem-pro outdoor adventure photographer and I use Nikon 35mm film equipment for the most part. I shoot slide film on my F90s Nikon. I had a 5mp Kodak digital camera but wanted to upgrade to a better digital camera but I could not justify buying a Nikon D50 or D70s as they are only 6mp. And I didn't want to drop 2 grand on a D200. So I looked in the mid-range camera lines. After doing MUCH research, I decided to buy this camera. So far I am happy I did. I have taken it hiking several times, enough that I know its a good camera but of course its a toy compared to pro Nikon film cameras. But I knew that when I bought it. I wanted to have a good camera to take lots of "documentary", "fun" and "travel" shots. For the really powerful stuff I will still shoot slide film. But its too expensive to shoot with extensively!

Here's my initial impressions based on the perspective of an outdoor photosgrapher:

The Good:
1) Fairly easy to hold as its tall and has an actual grip.
2) Lightweight (but of course at the expense of impact resistance I'm sure...)
3) Great set of manual controls! This is the best part. Autobracket is good as is the interval timer which is great for self-potraits. You can walk far away from the camera and get yourself in the shot (great for solo hikers).
4) Large 2.5" LCD makes it easy to check out your photos
5) Image quality seems pretty good (although not comparable to a high-res. scan of a slide).
6) The manual zoom is great! Much better than power zooms in almost all other cameras.
7) The 24mm focal length is simply amazing! Great for landscapes and outdoor adventure shots.
8) The battery life is great. Shot 250 or so pics on a full charge and that included a lot of playing around with the menus, reviewing photos, etc. I just boughta second Kodak battery on Amazon for $16!
9) Built in flash is pretty powerful and you can add a shoe mount unit as well.
10) 8mp of resolution for the price of a 6mp camera.

The not so good:
1) Seems to write to the card pretty slowly. Definately not for action shots! Maybe this would improve if I bought a faster SD card.
2) The "toggle" button on the back for navigating through the menues worries me. Seems like it could break someday. I am gentle with it. Wish they would create a more durable feeling toggle.
3) The LCD viewfinder is hard to see on a bright sunny day. This is where a film camera is WAY better. Optical viewfinders cannot be beat.
4) The in screen manual focus is no good at all. Better just focus with your eyes.
5) Wish they would have made the handgrip a little grippier by adding a rubber stip or the like. Is a little slippery in the hands (always use a neck strap!)

In all I highly recommend this camera. If they were to improve upon some of the items for which I have some critisism, I would easily give this camera a perfect review!!

Good luck with your purchase

I bought this camera for my work. I'm an architect and I was looking for a camera with a wide angle lens for interior photography with a budget that wasn't going to break the bank. I had looked at the Kodak V570, which had a 23mm fixed lens and I was seriously considering it but was concerned about the durability and reliablilty (it seemed fragile). Then I stumbled across the Kodak P880 (Kodak should really do a better job of advertising their cameras), which is comparably priced to the V570. This camera is the next best thing to a digital SLR, and has many of the same features. My wife has a Canon Rebel XT, which is a really great camera, and the P880 gives it a really good run for the money with regards to features and picture quality at about half the price. I've had this camera about a week and have been putting it through its paces and so far I have been very happy with the results. I would recommend this camera to anyone thinking of getting an digital SLR but is hesitant about the SLR price.

Kodak has decided to move up market with the P880. The camera has lots of options and will grow with you as a photographer. It even has a movie mode in case you have forgotten your camcorder.
I like the RAW and TIFF options that allow me the option of manipulating the photos on the computer with the supplied software. The shots I have taken so far come out of the camera ready for printing, so I will play with RAW later.
Anyhow, this one I highly recommend, especially at this price. Kodak is the value leader.
8 megapixels
Super wide angle with 6x zoom.
Kodak colors--that is what they are famous for-no other company has Kodak's in-camera image processing software.
Reliability (Agfa/Polaroid went out of business-Kodak is here to stay)
Kodak is the #1 (Number One!!!) selling digital camera brand in America.
Solid construction-this camera is light, but solid.
Smaller than a 35mm DSLR, no "dust on sensor" worries from changing lenses-the zoom is right for 99% of the shots you will take.
Anyhow, I would give it 10 stars if I could!

I have the P880. If you decide to get one, I believe you will be getting a camera that is an excellent value. The Kodak P880 is easy to use, has a fantastic lens that really shoots wide angle and seems to get all the scenery and people in one shot...no need to back up to fit it all in. And the colors glow in a beautiful way. AND the Kodak P880 has lots of features and scene modes if you decide to get more experimental.
It even can shoot VIDEO!!!!
8 megapixels make the pictures full of details and color.
A Kodak for wise consumers....

I am learning about digital photography and have used a point & shoot digital camera for three years. Anyhow, I wanted something that offered more manual control in case I did not want to use the automatic feature. After much research, I found that the Kodak P880 has the options I need.
The best thing is that it is under $600.
I DID NOT want to spend $1000 or more on a camera or a bunch of lenses. Some people even spend over $2000 or $3000 if they want to get a hi tech digital SLR with good lenses-not plastic lens kit lenses. Anyhow, that is beyond what I want to spend.
((((This is KEY---I want to use a camera that will take high quality pictures and not have to worry with each bump whether it broke and whether it was stolen and I am out $2000.)))
The Kodak P880 takes wonderful pictures-it is true that Kodak has the most lifelike colors and skin tones are perfect. And the price makes the P880 a real value.
Best of luck to all the new owners--I am sure we will all be using the Kodak P880 for years to come!