Kodak Easyshare Z740 5 MP Digital Camera with 10xOptical Zoom

by Kodak

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9 x 7 inches ; 10.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007MVZ5A
• Item model number: Z740
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (169 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,520 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 24, 2003

Product Description

Style: Z740 Digital Camera

Amazon.com Product Description

The Kodak Easyshare Z740 camera is ideal for people who want to get close to their subject but enjoy the simplicity of a point-and-shoot digital camera. Its powerful 10x (38-380mm equivalent) Kodak Retinar aspheric, all-glass optical zoom lens can quickly zero in on a small object or distant scene, picking up the detail, color, and textures that a less powerful lens would overlook. The 1.8-inch, high-resolution, indoor/outdoor LCD screen and electronic viewfinder are designed for previewing a scene or reviewing and sharing shots just taken.

The Kodak Easyshare Z740 features 16 scene modes to help you get your shot.

In addition, the 5 MP Easyshare Z740 camera includes more advanced, yet simple to use, features to help people get exactly the pictures they want. These include 16 scene settings (e.g., party, sport, portrait) for various environments, continuous autofocus for crisp pictures, first and last burst modes for action photography, color options (e.g., black-and-white, sepia), and even PASM (program, aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual) modes for greater control and creativity.

The Kodak Color Science Chip collects scene data to identify and adjust factors that influence picture quality.

The exclusive Kodak Color Science image processing chip helps deliver vibrant, accurate colors time and time again. Each time you click the shutter, the Kodak Color Science Chip performs an instantaneous and advanced analysis of collected scene data to identify and adjust multiple factors that influence picture quality. The scene light source is detected and adjustments are made to capture bright whites and true, vivid colors under difficult lighting conditions--fluorescent, tungsten, or daylight. Scene content is analyzed for luminance, focal distance, subject matter orientation, and color to determine the correct exposure and to capture the natural details, accurate flesh tones, and rich colors you see in your composition.

As with all Easyshare cameras, the Z740 includes the favorites feature, which lets people store dozens of pictures in internal memory for anytime, anywhere sharing; the Share button for designating pictures to be e-mailed or printed; popular Easyshare software for computer-based picture viewing, organizing, and sharing; and even high-quality video (640 x 480 pixels) for recording and sharing life in action.

Z740 camera owners can also take advantage of a range of accessories for additional creativity, including a 0.7x wide-angle lens and 55 mm circular polarizer and neutral density filters.

The camera's 10x optical zoom is equivalent to a 380mm zoom on a 35mm camera.

A Powerful Zoom, Because Close Isn't Close Enough

• Get close to your subjects with 10x optical zoom and 5x advanced digital zoom (50x total zoom)
• Create unbelievable-quality prints up 13 by 17 inches with 5.0 MP
• Get rich, vibrant color under a variety of lighting conditions with the exclusive Kodak Color Science Chip
• Capture consistently crisp, precise pictures thanks to the autofocus system with assist lamp

Kodak Retinar All-Glass Aspheric 10x Optical Zoom Lens

• Capture your subject in crisp detail with the Z740's all-glass lens
• Get amazingly close to your subjects with the 10x optical zoom (35mm equivalent: 38-380mm)
• Get even closer with the 5x advanced digital zoom for 50x total zoom

Exclusive Kodak Color Science Image Processing Chip
With the exclusive Kodak Color Science Image Processing Chip, your pictures come to life just the way you remember it.

• A new high-speed digital processor chip, advanced algorithms, and hardware acceleration features let the Z740 make simultaneous, split-second decisions to produce rich, vibrant, true-to-life colors in almost any lighting situation
• Each time you click the shutter, the Kodak Color Science Chip performs an instantaneous and advanced analysis of collected scene data to identify and adjust multiple factors that influence picture quality
• Scene light source is detected and adjustments are made to capture bright whites and true, vivid colors under difficult lighting conditions--fluorescent, tungsten, or daylight
• Scene content is analyzed for luminance, focal distance, subject matter orientation, and color to determine the correct exposure and capture the natural details, accurate flesh tones, and rich colors you see in your composition

1.8-Inch High-Resolution Indoor/Outdoor Display

• View brilliant, sharp images even in direct sunlight
• Review vertical shots vertically with auto picture-rotation
• In review mode, quickly magnify up to 8x, fast scroll through pictures, or view multi-up

Manual and Custom Controls
Turn your creative vision into reality with a full palette of advanced program, aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual and custom controls.

Manual Controls

• Exposure compensation--+/- 2.0 EV in 0.5 EV steps
• Aperture--wide (f2.8 to f8.0) and telephoto (f3.7 to f8.0)
• Shutter speeds--automatic: 1/8 to 1/1700 second; manual: 8 seconds to 1/1000 second
• ISO equivalents--automatic: 80 to 160; manual: 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 (selectable)
• Autofocus--multi-zone, center weighted, selectable: left, center, right
• Exposure metering type--auto: TTL-AE; selectable: multi-pattern, center-weighted, center spot
• White balance--auto, daylight, tungsten, fluorescent, open shade
• Flash compensation--+/- 1.0 EV (exposure value) in 0.5 EV steps
• Flash mode--auto, red-eye, fill, off--for the right light every time

Program Auto, Aperture Priority, and Shutter Priority

• Program mode (P)--camera sets optimal shutter speed and aperture combination
• Aperture priority mode (A)--you choose aperture, the camera sets shutter speed
• Shutter priority mode (S)--you choose shutter speed, the camera sets aperture

High-Speed, Low-Light Autofocus

• Using dual-sensing technologies, the Z7400's high-speed, low-light, autofocus system precisely fine tunes and sharply defines your subject in both low-light and bright-light situations
• The autofocus system with assist lamp helps capture consistently crisp, sharp pictures even in low light
• Continuous autofocus provides 0.42 second click-to-capture time (with preview on)

Continuous Shooting and Bracketing Modes

• First burst mode--captures up to 4 frames in rapid succession at 2 fps
• Last burst mode--captures up to 30 frames at 2 frames per second (fps), with the last 4 frames saved
• Auto exposure bracketing--3 images with user-selectable brackets (+/- 0.3, +/- 0.7 or +/- 1.0 EV)

Multiple Scene and Color Modes, plus Video Capture
Free your inner creativity. The Z740 has a mode for almost any situation. You will get the shot you want, the way you want it.

Choose one of 16 scene modes to get your shot:

• Portrait--places the subject in sharp focus, softens the background
• Sport--captures subject in action without blurring
• Children--captures action photos of children in bright light
• Party--use for photos of people in indoor setting in lower light
• Beach--use for bright beach scene
• Flower--captures close-up photos of flowers in bright light
• Fireworks--use for photos of fireworks
• Snow--use for bright snow scene
• Backlight--use for photos when light is behind the subject
• Close-up--captures sharp, full-frame images at close range
• Night Portrait--clearly captures both subject and background at night
• Landscape--provides maximum sharpness for distant scenes
• Night Landscape--provides maximum sharpness for distant scenes at night
• Museum/Manner--use when sound or flash are not desired
• Text--for sharp text when photographing documents
• Self Portrait--use for close-up of self

Bring out your creativity with color modes:

• High color--for vibrant colors
• Natural color--for natural-looking colors
• Low color--for muted colors
• Sepia--for an antique appearance
• Black-and-white--for a classic look

Catch all the action with continuous video:

• Capture up to 80 minutes continuous video with audio, depending upon size of external memory card; or 5-, 15-, 30-second clips
• Choose settings for VGA (640 x 480-pixel resolution) at 13 fps, or QVGA (320 x 240-pixel resolution) at 20 fps, both with MPEG-4 compression
• Share universally with QuickTime video format

Sharing Is One-Touch Simple
The Z740 is part of the Kodak Easyshare System, so sharing your pictures is one-button simple. Just press Share.

On-camera Share button:

• Simple sharing starts right on the back of the camera
• Exclusive on-camera Share button lets you tag favorite pictures to print or e-mail later
• Favorite mode shows off your favorite pictures anytime, anywhere in an on-camera picture collection

Kodak Easyshare Software

• The Z740 includes Kodak Easyshare Software
• Works seamlessly with Easyshare cameras and docks to enable one-button transferring and sharing
• The easy way to view, edit, organize, print, or view a slide show from your computer
• Exclusive One Touch to Better Pictures feature automatically adjusts the settings on your inkjet printer to give you traditional quality photos when printing on Kodak Inkjet Photo Papers

Product Description

Kodak Digital (8582553) Kodak EASYSHARE Z740

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

395 of 400 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy Share is Easy to Use for Digital Camera Rookies Like Me!, July 30, 2005

By 

kone "kone" (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Kodak Easyshare Z740 5 MP Digital Camera with 10xOptical Zoom (Electronics)

Kodak's entry into the digital camera market was later than its rivals, the Japanese camera companies, such as Nikkon and Canon. However, with the release of the Easy Share Z740 5-Megapixel camera, Kodak establishes itself as a real competitor.

This is my first digital camera and I am quite pleased with it. I have been taking pictures with a SLR film Canon camera for over 25 years and was reluctant to go digital, as I had a great set-up (lenses and accessories) with the film format. Even so, it is readily apparent that film photography will soon be ancient history and digital photography will certainly become the future of picture taking.

The Easy Share is a very easy camera to learn. I spent about 45 minutes reading the manual with the camera in my lap exploring all the buttons, options, and settings. From that point on it was a cinch to take great pictures, as the camera is so easy to use. For those who want a simple point and shoot camera, the automatic setting will give you the simplicity you desire. For those who want more control over the camera settings, such as F-stop and shutter speed, there are settings for these as well. For this reason, the Easyshare Z740 is a great camera for general use. It has a very nice flash that pops up when you need it. The flash also has features that you can control if desired.

I bought the Easy Share because I read in reviews it was a good quality camera, and primarily for the 10-power optical zoom lens. The 10x lens is a good quality glass lens that gives sharp shots. I love the versitiliy it gives the photographer! Most digital cameras have 3x optical zoom lenses and then utilize a 5-10 power digital zoom. The Kodak Easy Share has a 3x digital zoom making the total zoom a 30 power combo. However, if you have any experience at all with digital zooms you quickly realize that they produce an inferior grainy (and usually blurry) image. However, because the Easy Share has a 10 power optical zoom, one rarely needs to go beyond this and use the digital zoom. Beware of cameras that proclaim their 20x or 30x digital zooms and the image will greatly disappoint you!

With a 512 MB flash (memory card), the camera will take about 350 pictures before having to download the pics to a computer for storage or printing. The transfer process is so easy. My wife, who is a computer illiterate can even manage this task. The software (computer) program that comes with the camera is very adequate and reliable.

The lithium battery for the camera is charged easily by simply plugging the camera into a pod that comes with the camera. There is a jack on the bottom of the camera that plugs into the pod and charges the battery without having to remove it from the camera each time, a feature that is very simple and handy.

The camera itself is much smaller than a standard 35 mm film camera so it goes anywhere with you. The controls are well-placed and easy to use. After a session or two of practice shooting, you will be able to operate the controls like a pro.

Finally, there is of course a color LCD screen that shows you the picture you just shot. There are additional controls that allow you to scroll through all your pictures, delete those you don't want, and save those you want to keep. Again, it is all very easy to learn. Coming from a film camera background, I found this editing feature to be the best aspect of digital photography, for there is no guessing as to whether you got the shot or not - it is right there on the screen in living color! If you don't like the exposure or cropping, simply take another one! In digital photography, there is no "wasting film"!

All in all, this is a solid digital camera that will please anyone interested in getting into digital photography. The price is very competitive considering the extensive options that Kodak packaged into this deal. If you are just getting into digital photography or are looking to upgrade to a higher megapixel camera, the Easy share will not disappoint you. I highly recommend it.

Jim Konedog Koenig

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This camera does so much!!, October 31, 2005

By 

Sara-s (New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kodak Easyshare Z740 5 MP Digital Camera with 10xOptical Zoom (Electronics)

I bought the Kodak z740 primarily for the high resolution and the 10x zoom, both of which are worth every penny. Once I got the camera, I discovered that it has far more to offer. It is surprisingly compact and lightweight. I found it easy to learn and operate, plus it has all the different shooting modes.
Here's what I love about it:
1)You can figure out how to use it with very little trouble. (But read the manual, to get some helpful tips.)
2)All the different shooting modes allow you to get shots you might otherwise miss.
3)The burst mode, for action shots is awesome. I was able to get sharply focused shots of ducks flapping their wings.
4)The camera has good ergonomic design; the grip is comfortable and the buttons can be worked with ease.
5)It is designed to accept accessories, such as filters and a wide angle lens.

A couple of hints:
1)The flash pops up automatically when the camera is turned on. This is normal. If it bothers you, just hold your finger over it, when you power up.
2)The wide angle lens gets in the way of the flash, so wide-angle shots may come out too dark. If you switch the camera to night mode, it should solve this problem.
3)Kodak sells accessories for the camera, but they are pricey. Look on line for other companies that sell compatible accessories for less.
4)It's a great camera. Have fun with it!!!

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Camera, May 3, 2005

By 

SCRinMemphis (Memphis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kodak Easyshare Z740 5 MP Digital Camera with 10xOptical Zoom and Kodak Printer Dock (Series 3) (Electronics)

Want a camera that is easy to operate, takes great pictures, and as "affordable"? Our family highly recommends this camera.

We came into the search with several basic criteria:

1) It must be easy to use (no background in FORTRAN or C++ required)

2) High quality (5 mpx)

3) Fast recovery time

4) Easy to move photos to the computer and print

5) AA Batteries if possible

6) 5-10x zoom

I was shocked to see the Z740 met each of these to our satisfaction.

It seemed that when we were researching, we'd find a camera that was 5 mpx, took AA's, but had a 5-6 sec recovery. Or another camera would have a 2-3 sec recovery, 5 px, but had a non-standard battery type.

We were about to give up and just buy the one that "most" fit our criteria -then a friend recommended the Z740. We've been amazed.

You select the picture mode by rotating a dial. Within seconds, you can take a video, rotate the dial, and take a still shot - No searching the menu to put it in video mode - just rotate the dial.

Focus is "point and shoot" - a set of brackets resizes to show you what the camera is focusing on and then turn green.

Picture review is easy - a single button push puts you in "review" mode - You can then zoom in or out on your picture.

Transfer the pictures by simply placing the camera on its docking station / printer, then push a button.

The computer software is fairly intuitive, though those who use other photo programs like Adobe Photoshop or Corel Photopaint may find it a bit basic.

The little printer prints GREAT photos - but they are expensive (Kodak propriety paper and ink ribbon) - $25 for 40 prints; still, it does a great job of printing "waterproof" prints. To print, you just hit the "print" after you dock the camera, or you can print your photos from the computer to your desktop printer, OR you can send pictures in to a photo developer (local camera shop, Sam's, Costco, etc.) to print only photos you want.

My wife does scrapbooking and it is ideal for her.

We highly recommend this camera.

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