The big attraction of the Kodak Easyshare V705 is that it offers a wide angle lens in a seriously compact body. In fact the wide angle lens offers one of the widest focal lengths you are likely to find and is classed under ultra wide angle at 23mm. This is quite an achievement in a pocket sized camera. In order to do this Kodak have built two lenses into the Easyshare V705. One covers the wide angle shots and the other the more standard zooming in and out. The two lenses combined give a total of 5x zoom.
Other factors to take note of are the seven megapixel sensor and the camera's general ease of use.
Image Quality - click to see larger photos
On the whole I was happy with the test photos I took. They are not perfect, but in the main the results are good.
The most noticeable point about all the photos is the strength of the blues in the photos. This leads to very strong skies when looking at the outdoor shots. The photos were taken on a cold winter's day and the Easyshare V705 produces much deeper colours in general than most other brands of digital camera manage.
Other factors relating to the outdoor scenic shots include sharp focusing at the centre of each photo. It is noticeable though that there is a sudden drop in sharpness as you get close to the edge of each photo.
From time to time I can see a purple tinge to what should be blue colours. This is highlighted by lines on the boats. There is also a small amount of noise visible in the skies. This detracts from the overall picture quality when you start to make larger size prints. Glare from the sun is handled well at a difficult stage of the year with the sun relatively low in the sky.
When the wide angle lens is in use the Easyshare V705 struggles to keep objects horizontal across the width of the photo. If you look at the second outdoor shot you can see a building on the left hand side of the photo that slopes down at an angle.
The text shot for colours is especially vibrant. Based on my views of the outdoor photos this is not surprising.
This vibrancy shows up on the outdoor portrait. In my view it gives the photos an orange glow that I would prefer to see toned down.
The indoor portrait is a success. In this photo the camera manages to produce a high level of focusing in challenging conditions. It has also managed to avoid red eye in my test shot. Although I cannot guarantee that the Easyshare V705 will always be free of red eye the design of the camera does place the flash unit further away from the lens than most other cameras do. This gives this camera a good a chance as any pocket sized model to keep the problem relatively under control.
My other indoor test also produces a good result. Although a bit dark in places focusing levels are again good when taking the conditions into account.
When it comes to close up work I have no complaints about the quality of the focusing, but there is a colour caste in my macro shot. This could be a problem if you are planning to take similar shots to my test shot, but is likely to be less of an issue for outdoor nature close up shots.
Finally my tests for higher ISO settings give fairly standard results. There is the expected decrease in overall picture quality and I would suggest avoiding the use of higher ISO settings whenever possible.
Shutter Lag and Recycling Times
One area where the camera excels is when it comes to shutter lag. Shutter lag is the time in between the shutter button being pressed and the photo actually being taken. It has caused the ruin of many a snapshot and is often a problem with consumer level digital cameras. With the Easyshare V705 having two lenses there are two sets of shutter lag times. This is because the focusing time of a lens can make a significant contribution to shutter lag.
Using the wide angle lens I was able to take a single shot in 0.13 seconds and five photos in 5.58 seconds. When I turned the flash on a single photo took 0.16 seconds and five photos took 6.14 seconds. Switching to the zoom lens and turning the flash off, a single shot took 0.15 seconds and five photos took 6.02 seconds. With the flash on the time for a single photo was 0.22 seconds and for five photos 6.16 seconds. These are all exceptionally fast times.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Features
The features you will find on the Easyshare V705 are typical of the majority of point and shoot type digital camera.
The wide angle lens has a focal length equivalent to 23mm in 35mm format. It has an aperture of f/2.8. The zoom lens has a focal length of 39 - 117 mm in 35mm format. The camera also has a 4x digital zoom feature.
There are three focusing modes - normal, infinity and macro. In macro mode the camera can focus from 5cm away from the subject. You can choose between multi point and centre weighted focusing zones.
For lining up a shot and accessing the menu system there is a 2.5 inch LCD screen. This is made up of around 230,000 pixels.
Extra lighting is provided by the built in flash unit. This has a maximum range of 3.1m. This falls to 2m when the zoom lens is in use. You can set the flash to be on, off, automatic or automatic with red eye reduction.
The Easyshare V705 has a pre built selection of scene modes. When you select the most appropriate scene mode for the photo you are about to take the camera will use what it believes to be the best settings for the shot. In theory this should lead to the best possible photos. The scene modes you can use are: portrait, panorama left-right, panorama right-left, sport, landscape, close-up, night portrait, night landscape, snow, beach, text, fireworks, flower, manner/museum, self portrait, party, children, backlight, panning shot, candlelight, sunset and custom.
Another popular feature is the self timer. This can be set to either a two or ten second delay. There is also a burst mode that lets you fire off seven shots in quick succession (maximum speed two frames per second).
Other controls you have access to include changing the sharpness levels and setting the colour (high color, low color, sepia, black and white).
As you get to know the camera a bit more there are a number of more advanced features you may wish to use. These include white balance (used to give better balance to colours), higher ISO settings (used to either freeze motion or brighten photos where flash cannot be used), metering (helps you to get the overall exposure levels right) and exposure compensation (helps in situations of high contrast and to lighten or darken shots).
Although the exact shutter speed is controlled automatically by the camera there is a long time exposure available. This selects a shutter speed in the range 0.5 seconds to 8 seconds. Shutter speeds range from ultra-wide: 8 - 1/1448 sec.; 3X zoom: 8 - 1/1170 sec.
For budding movie directors you can shoot TV quality movies (max resolution 640 × 480 pixels - max speed 30 frames per second). You can zoom during recording and sound can be recorded. The maximum length of any movie is 80 minutes. You can also produce a still photo from a video.
As with the vast majority of current digital cameras the Easyshare V705 can be connected to a television set, computer and PictBridge compatible printer. Kodak include all the necessary cables and software in the box.
Ease of Use
When it comes to ease of use I think the camera does well. The settings you are likely to use on a regular basis are controlled through buttons on the back and top of the camera. These include features such as zoom, flash and picture review. When you do need to dip into the menu it is laid out in a logical progression.
Cost
At the time of writing this review you will need to pay around £165 to buy the Easyshare V705. Other similar cameras you may be interested in are the Canon IXUS 65 (£170), Sony DSC T50 (£200) and Panasonic DMC FX07 (£175).
Style
Compared to other digital cameras the Easyshare V705 presents a more elongated rectangular shape. With dimensions of 101 x 49.8 x 20.4mm you can slip it into a pocket although it will be touch and go with smaller pockets. It is available in black and weighs 124g.
Battery Power
A lithium ion battery is used to run the camera. Kodak do not supply any battery estimate figures. A battery charger and battery are included in the box.
Memory Cards and Storage
The Easyshare V705 has 32MB of storage built into the camera. I was able to take a surprisingly large number of photos (32) before the storage became full. This gives you the chance to give the camera a thorough test out. Before any serious use you will need to pick up a memory card. The camera is compatible with SD memory cards.
Click here to save money on SD cards..
Points I like:
Wide angle lens
Low shutter lag times
Ease of use
Where it is not so hot:
Focusing dips towards the edge of shots
Lens distortion creeps in with wide angle lens
Summary
Once again I think Kodak are trying to break new ground with the Easyshare V705. It may not be the very best when it comes to picture quality, but when you take into account the fast shutter response, ease of use and a wide angle lens I think it is well worth considering.
Kodak Easyshare V705 Front View
Kodak Easyshare V705 Back View
Kodak Easyshare V705 Top View
Sample Menus
| Kodak Easyshare V705 Summary |
| Description: | 7 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom lens |
| Ease of Use: | 9 |
| Features: | 8 |
| Colour: | 8 |
| Macro: | 7 |
| Indoors: | 8 |
| Value for Money: | 8 |
| Style: | 7 |
| Movie Mode: | 8 |
| Image Quality: | 7 |
| Build Quality: | 8 |
| Total: | 78 |
| Verdict: | The Kodak Easyshare V705 is an innovative digital camera with an ultra wide lens incorporated in a very compact body. The camera scores highly for ease of use and excels when it comes to low shutter lag times. |
| Review Date: | February 2007 |
| Click for: | Sample Images |
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