Kodak Z950

Kodak Z950

Prasad Naik, Jan 22, 2010 1358 hrs IST

12MP camera that offers good picture quality and HD video recording

Good design & build, large display, 10x optical zoom, good details and colour reproduction, HD video recording

Slow startup time, poor video quality in low-light, does not work closer than 6cm in macro mode

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Hardware

The Kodak Z950 has a very serious look to it. Not that it looks bad; in fact, I kind of liked its understated, industrial design over some of the fancy looking cameras.

On the front we can see the large 35mm Schneider Kreuznach lens with 10x optical zoom capability. Unfortunately the Z950 does not have a wide-angle lens. On the top left is the flash with the microphone below it. The flash is just above your middle finger rests and hence does not get covered by it. On the right of the lens is the focus assist which gives out a bright white beam.

On the top above the lens is the camera mode selector. You get nine options such as auto mode, program mode, manual mode, shutter priority, aperture priority, scene mode, sports mode, panorama mode and video mode. On the right is the on/of button, countdown timer button and the flash button. Finally you have the glossy black shutter button with the zoom ring.

On the back you have the large 3.0" LCD display. The display quality is pretty good and it is clearly visible in daylight as well. The Kodak Z950 does not have an optical viewfinder however. On the right are a row of vertical function keys for preview mode, info, main menu and delete options. Next to it, on the right, we can see the loudspeaker, the 5-way joystick and the Kodak Share button below.

On the right side of the camera is a rubber flap that hides the charger port and the USB /AV out port. The camera can charge via either of the two ports. On the bottom is a plastic flap covering the rechargeable Li-Ion battery and the SD card slot. The Kodak Z950 can accept up to 32 GB of cards.

The build quality of the camera is good overall and it feels quite sturdy in your hand and well weighted. The dials and switches too work with a nice tactile feel. It isn't exactly pocketable but isn't thick and bulky like the Canon SX120IS either.

Software

I like the interface design on these Kodak cameras. It's simple and easy enough to use and has a pleasant look to it. The main menu has a transparent background, which means you can always see the viewfinder display behind, no matter which screen you are in.
The photo viewer is fast to zoom and pan through the images. You can tag and protect an image, which would prevent it from getting accidentally deleted. The Kodak Z950 also has a handy undo feature for delete, in case you accidentally deleted an important image. However, it is not like the recycle bin on Samsung cameras and the moment you step out of the image viewer the image cannot be recovered.

The Kodak Z950 also has face detection mode. The macro mode works up to 6cm only though, which isn't much compared to some cameras from other manufacturers such as Sony, which can go as close as 1cm to the subject. The Z950 lacks the convenient focus mode switching key found on some cheaper Kodak cameras such as the Z915. The feature lets you quickly change the focus mode instead of messing with the UI of the camera. The Z950 has exposure bracketing modes that allow you to take three quick pictures in three different exposure modes, which is convenient for forming HDR images.