An incredible camera for the price

Kodak cameras have always impressed me. They offer much more of a camera than anybody else does at the same price point. The Z712IS is no exception.

I bought this camera because of its 12x zoom lens and 7.1MP resolution. I frequently attend conventions and other events where I have to take pictures from across a crowded room. The 2x zoom lens on my previous camera is simply inadequate for this task. Most inexpensive digital cameras don't have a zoom lens powerful enough for this task (typically 3x), which is why I was so happy to see the Z712IS, with its 12x zoom lens at a $250 price point.

Infant mortality (at least for the battery compartment)

Before I go into the review, I would like to mention a manufacturing defect I encountered. I don't believe most people will suffer from this problem, but diagnosis was annoying enough that I want to share my experience with others.

The camera is designed to work with AA batteries (Lithium, preferably), a CRV3 Lithium battery pack, or Kodak's proprietary KLIC-8000 rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery.

When I bought the camera, I immediately installed the CRV3 battery it came with. This worked just fine. I tried using a set of NiMh rechargeable batteries (from an older camera), and like another reviewer reported, they did not last very long. This did not surprise me, however - the owner's manual very clearly states that only Lithium batteries should be used.

Because I don't want to keep on buying CRV3 batteries (they cost about $8-10 each), I went to a local store to buy a pair of KLIC-8000 batteries. I also bought a series-3 dock for the camera, which web searches led me to believe would charge the KLIC-8000 batteries in the camera.

When I got home, I found that the camera would not power on with a KLIC-8000 battery. I assumed that this was because they were not charged. So I put one in the camera and attached it to the dock. The dock's status light turned red. The dock's manual says absolutely nothing about the light turning red, so I had no clue what it meant. I let it sit that way for several hours and tried to turn the camera on again, with no luck.

At this point, I concluded (incorrectly, as it turns out) that the dock must be defective or incompatible with the camera. I returned the dock to the store and sent an e-mail to Kodak's support staff. I also ordered a standalone KLIC-8000-compatible charger from Kodak's web site.

A few days later, Kodak support e-mailed me back saying that the Z712IS will not charge its battery on a series-3 dock (the red light means "not charging"). I grumbled a bit (why couldn't the owner's manual say this?) but let it go at that, since I had already ordered a proper charger.

When I got the charger, I fully charged both KLIC-8000 batteries, put them in the camera and - nothing. It still wouldn't turn on. (It still worked fine with a CRV3 battery.) At this point, I brought the camera back to the store and exchanged it for another. The replacement had no problem working with the KLIC-8000 battery packs, and it is that camera that I am using now.

I eventually re-tested in-camera battery charging with a friend's series-3 dock. The battery appears to charge normally. So Kodak's support person was wrong.

Features

The Z712IS has quite a lot of useful features. The most important ones (to me, anyway) are:

1: 12X zoom lens
2: 7.1MP resolution
3: Support for SDHC memory cards (up to 4GB)
4: Movie mode (records to MPEG4 QuickTime files)
5: Full manual control, including focus, for those times when the automatic modes aren't sufficient.
6: Low-light (down to ISO-1600)
7: A very large (2.5") display

First impressions

The first thing I noticed is that it powers on very quickly. It takes only two seconds from sliding the on/off switch until it is ready to take a picture.

The zoom lens also moves very quickly. It takes only three seconds to cover the entire range from 1x to 12x. The auto-focus can't quite keep up with the zoom, but it catches up quickly enough afterwards.

Recycle time is also rapid. Even at maximum resolution, I can take pictures more rapidly than one per second. There is enough memory to take eight 7.1MP pictures in rapid succession before I have to wait for the images to be flushed to the memory card. The camera also has a burst mode where it can take up to six pictures in rapid succession (approximately 1/4 second per image). There is also a burst mode where it will take up to 30 pictures at this speed, discarding all but the last six - this is useful when you're trying to get a picture but don't know exactly when the event will happen, like when someone is blowing out birthday candles.

Movie mode works as expected - it records video to QuickTime files with MPEG4 encoding. It supports either 640x480 or 320x240 resolution. The auto-focus doesn't always keep up in movie mode, and it definitely does not have as many features as an actual camcorder, but the mode is nevertheless useful for those times when you need to record something and don't have a proper video camera handy. At 640x480 resolution, it records at approximately 512KB per second, up to the limit of the camera's memory, so a 4GB card should (at least in theory) be able to hold up to 133 minutes (2.2 hours) of video. The camera can not record more than 80 minutes to a single file, however, so you'll need to shoot multiple clips if you want to fill the memory card with video.

There are several "scene" modes, for taking pictures under special conditions. These include modes for taking portraits, night shots, snowy conditions, pictures by candle light, and pictures of fireworks. Most of these modes appear to be presets for the various adjustments (ISO, shutter speed, aperture, etc.)

Picture quality is excellent. The camera auto-focuses accurately, colors are accurate, and there is almost no noise in pictures taken under normal lighting conditions. The image stabilization system works well enough that I can snap a sharp image even when zoomed all the way in. (Kodak says this model has "optical image stabilization", but they don't say how this differs from "digital" or any other kind of stabilization. But regardless of what it is, it seems to work well.)

Panorama mode

One interesting mode that I spent time playing with is "panorama". With this mode, you can take three pictures and the camera will stitch them together into a wide panoramic picture, much like what I occasionally do using Photoshop on my computer.

There are actually two panorama modes: left-to-right and right-to-left. They both work the same, but require you to take the pictures in different directions.

In panorama mode, after you take the first picture, its edge will be superimposed on the left (or right, as you choose) side of the viewfinder. You then align this with the scene as you snap the second image. Ditto for the third image.

The few times I used the panorama mode, I found that the stitching was not perfect, but was often good enough. Especially if the scene is far enough away to minimize the inevitable distortion that is caused by these kinds of images.

That is, with still images. If something in the scene is moving, the camera has a much harder time stitching the images together, and often botches the job.

Overall, I think this is an interesting feature, but I think Kodak needs to improve the algorithm. I'll be very interested to see how it works in future cameras, but for now, I'm going to continue using Photoshop for making panoramas.

Getting the pictures out of the camera

Kodak includes their EasyShare software, but I did not install it.

I use a Macintosh computer and prefer to use Apple's iPhoto application for managing my pictures. When I attach the camera to the Macintosh using the bundled USB cable and turn it on, iPhoto automatically launches, detects the camera and lets me click one button to download the pictures/movies. This works exactly as expected and requires no special software installation.

The camera's USB interface is slow, however. The documentation calls it "USB 2.0 Full Speed" which is terribly misleading. Full speed USB 2.0 is 11Mbps - the same speed as the older USB 1.1. USB 2.0 devices that run faster than this are called "Hi-Speed".

Because of this, I prefer to offload my pictures by removing the SD card. I place the card in a high-speed USB 2.0 SDHC card reader and attach that to the computer. Just like with the camera's USB cable, iPhoto automatically launches and lets me offload the pictures and videos

What's in the box

Included with the Z712IS is:
- A lens cap (with attaching cord)
- A neck strap
- A CRV3 Lithium battery
- A USB cable
- An audio/video cable
- An adapter "insert" for Kodak's series-3 docks and similar printer-docks
- Kodak's EasyShare software for Windows and Mac OS X
- A "getting started" guide

The camera has 32MB of internal memory (28MB available for picture storage. This is only enough for 11 pictures (at 7.1MP) or 40 seconds of video (at 640x480). You should definitely buy an SD card to expand this capacity. With a 4GB SDHC card, you can shoot over 1800 pictures or record over two hours of video before it fills up.

Notably absent from the package is the full "user's guide" owner's manual. That must be downloaded from Kodak's web site. It's not even included on the CD-ROM. (To assist others, who may not think to look, here is the URL for the user's guide: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/publications/. Scroll down to the Z712IS and there are links where the manual may be downloaded or viewed.)

Overall, I have found Kodak's documentation (printed, downloaded, and web-based) to be lacking. I am familiar with technology and photography, so I don't require a lot of instruction, but I think many customers will never realize the full potential of their Z712, simply because they were never told about it.

Final thoughts

At this time, I have only owned the camera for a few weeks, so I have not had the opportunity to give it a more thorough test, but so far, I am very happy with what I have seen.

I would definitely recommend this camera. It's far more capable than other similarly-priced cameras and can hold its own against many more expensive (non-SLR, of course) models.

Update: 1 Year Later

I've been using this camera for over a year now, and I am still quite happy with it.

Using the 12x zoom lens, in conjunction with its various "PASM" configurations, I have been able to take good pictures from across dimly-lit (but with the subject spotlit) large rooms. These are the kinds of pictures that a lot of inexpensive cameras simply can't take.

The fast recycle time is also great when taking pictures at events like parades and air-shows, where delays can lead to lost memories.

The KLIC-8000 battery holds quite a lot of charge. On a few occasions, I've shot over 350 pictures without having to recharge. This is a lot better than I got from my previous camera, using AA-size NiMH batteries.