Kodak Dc215 Zoom Digital Camera Software Download [NEW]
Kim Hinshaw
Manufacturer Overview
Kodak has to be near thetop of the list in anyone's mind when you mention "photography." While the bulkof their enormous business is built upon conventional film-based photography,they clearly recognize that the future lies with digital. Accordingly, they havedeveloped arguably the broadest line of digital cameras in the business, rangingfrom basic point & shoot models to professional ones costing in excess of$20,000.
The DC215 represents the current entry point for their line ofcameras, aimed at the casual point & shoot user looking for good color andease of use in an inexpensive digital camera. It's an update of the enormouslypopular DC210 and DC210 Plus, using the same lens and CCD, but with improvedprocessing hardware and algorithms.
Highlights
Executive Overview
TheDC215 is the latest entry-level camera in Kodak's extensive digicam lineup. Wereviewed the "Millennium Edition" of the camera, which sports an all-metal,gold-toned body, and comes equipped with a USB-based card reader to greatlyspeed image downloads to your computer. (The "Standard Edition" has asilver-toned body, and doesn't include the card reader.) The compact metal caseand mass provided by the four AA batteries give the camera a solid heft,distinct from many of its plastic-bodied contemporaries.
As the follow-on totheir very successful DC210 digital camera, the Kodak DC215 is designed firstand foremost to be easy to use for the non-technologist point & shoot camerauser. The most common control settings (flash mode, macro setting, andself-timer) are made directly through external buttons. Other functions areselected via a very graphic and user-friendly menu system on the camera'sback-panel LCD screen. The menu system is navigated intuitively by using up anddown, right and left arrow buttons adjacent to the LCD, and the aptly named"Do-It" button to confirm selections. A slider switch selects major cameraoperating modes (capture, review, connect (to the computer), and preferencessetup). A toggle control for the zoom lens and the shutter button complete theuser interface.
Shots can be framed using either the "real view" opticalviewfinder, or the more accurate LCD preview display: As in most digitalcameras, relying on the optical viewfinder saves considerable batterypower.
The fixed-focus zoom lens covers a somewhat wider fieldof view than those of most digicams, with an equivalent focal length range of29-58 mm. When not in use, the lens retracts into the body, and a snap-on lenscover protects it from scratches and dust. (The lens cover is thoughtfulattached to the camera body by a short tether, preventing its loss: Otherdigicam makers take note!) As noted, the lens is a fixed-focus design, whichmeans the camera is a bit quicker to snap a shot, as it doesn't need to wait foran autofocus mechanism to complete its work. The camera likewise has no troublewhen shooting flash pictures in near-dark conditions, where autofocus designsmay not focus properly. The downside of the fixed-focus design is some softnessin subjects shot at infinity, and a restricted macro focusing range.
Images arestored on a CompactFlash memory card. An 8 megabyte card is included with theMillennium Edition version, a 4 megabyte one with the Standard Edition. Undercontrol of the menu system, the camera can capture images in either of tworesolutions (1152 x 864 or 640 x 480 pixels), and with any of three "quality"settings. (The three quality settings correspond to varying amounts of datacompression applied to the images: "Good" quality images take less space inmemory than do ones shot in "Better" or "Best" modes, but they are less sharpand show more artifacts from the compression process.)
A Video Out cableallows you to connect to a television set for image playback, and the camerasupports both NTSC and PAL video standards. Several CDs come with the camera,including both Mac and Windows versions of Adobe PhotoDeluxe and PageMill, aswell as ArcSoft's handy PhotoPrinter program for efficiently printing multipleimages on full sheets of paper. Computer interface is easy regardless of whetheryou use the Millennium Edition's card reader, or just connect via the serialcable: Kodak's desktop Mounter software makes the camera appear as just anotherdisk drive on your desktop, on Windows systems. While rather slow (as are allserial-interfaced cameras), the "mounter" interface is very intuitive andconvenient. On Mac, the standalone transfer application is very easy to use aswell.
The rear of the camera is where most of the controls arelocated. From left to right across the top are the viewfinder eyepiece, thepower switch, and the toggle control for the zoom lens. A "mode" switch is atthe bottom, selecting major camera operating modes. The color LCD screen is inthe center, flanked by up/down, right/left arrow buttons for navigating the LCDmenu screens, and controlling exposure compensation and exposure lock in capturemode. The blue button at the lower left hand corner of the LCD screen is theaptly-named "Do-It" button, which confirms selected menu options, and also turnsthe LCD panel on or off for viewfinder operation when in capture mode.
The bottom of the DC215 shows only the tripod socket,located in the extreme upper right-hand corner, as shown in the photo above.This socket location is mandated by the location of the battery compartment,which occupies most of the bottom of the camera. While we applaud the all-metalconstruction of the socket, we found its location in the extreme corner of thecase very awkward.
Viewfinder
Like mostcurrent digicams, the DC215 offers both optical and LCD viewfinders. The opticalviewfinder is the "real view" type, meaning that you frame your shots based onthe boundaries of the area you see in the viewfinder, rather than having to relyupon smaller framing marks within a larger view. The optical viewfinder zooms inand out to follow the action of the zoom lens, and its representation of thefinal image is slightly more accurate than average: We measured the opticalviewfinder's accuracy at 90% of the final image area for both wide angle andtelephoto shots. (Most optical viewfinders show between 85 and 90% of the finalimage area.) In contrast, the LCD viewfinder provides the near-100% accuracywe've come to expect (and value) in Kodak digicams. The LCD viewfinder defaultsto "off" to conserve battery power, but may be turned on at any time by pressingthe "Do-It" button. A second press of the button turns it off again.
Kodakdoesn't provide any pixel-count for the LCD display on the DC215, but it isn'tone of the highest-resolution units we've seen: We'd estimate its resolution assomething on the order of 70K pixels. This is certainly enough for framingshots, but the LCD menu items could be a bit sharper. The LCD's refresh rateseems reasonably high, helping with the framing of moving subjects. As is commonamong lower-end digicams, the optical viewfinder lacks a dioptric adjustment foreyeglass wearers. The DC215's LCD display is about typical in its viewability inbright light. (Most LCDs are difficult to see in very bright light or directsunlight.)
Optics
The lens is anoptical glass, fixed focus 2x zoom design, with a focal length range equivalentto 29 mm to 58 mm on a 35mm camera. This focal length range is shifted towardthe wide-angle end, a characteristic that made the 215's predecessor (the DC210)very popular with realtors. (The wider-angle range of the lens made itwell-suited to squeezing in more of the room in interior shots.) The lens'focusing range is 1.6 feet (0.5m) to infinity at the wide angle end of itsrange, and 3.3 feet (1.0m) to infinity at the telephoto end. Macro mode has afixed focusing distance of 8 inches. In our tests, the DC215's lens isreasonably sharp at close and medium distances, but somewhat soft whenphotographing distant objects, as evidenced in our outdoor "real estate" testshot of the house. The fixed-focus design does have the advantage though thatit's always in focus, experiencing none of the autofocus problems commonto more-sophisticated cameras when shooting with flash in dark surroundings.(Many autofocus cameras will simply refuse to fire if the light level is too lowfor their autofocus systems to work.)
Macro
Macro or close-up mode isaccessed by the close-up button, also located on the top of the camera. In macromode, a subject as small as 2.23 x 3 inches (57 x 76 mm) can fill the frame.This isn't as close as many higher-end digicams can manage, but is adequate fortypical shots of small household objects. The shooting distance in Macro mode isfixed at 8 inches. The LCD monitor automatically turns on when entering Macromode and the Macro indicator appears on the display. To cancel the mode, hit themacro button again, or turn off the camera.
Exposure
Almost fullyautomatic, the Kodak DC215 Zoom handles shutter speed (range of 1/2 to 1/362second), aperture (wide f/4.0 to f/6.0; telephoto f/4.9 to f/13.5), and focus onits own. A plus or minus 2 EV (f-stop, for us old-timers) exposure adjustmentsetting is available, as is exposure locking, recommended for panoramic pictureswhere the lighting will vary as you pan to shoot the separate segments of thepanorama. The range of exposure settings and Kodak's stated light sensitivityrating of ISO 140 should result in a usable light range from about 6 to 12,000foot-candles (66 to 130,000 lux, or about 9.5 to 20.5 EV in the measuring systemwe've used previously in these reviews). The lower end of this range wouldcorrespond to an average-to-bright residential interior, while the upper end isabout equivalent to full sun at mid-day. (Extremely bright beach or snow scenescould be overexposed somewhat.)
The +/- 2EV exposure adjustment is useful in situationswhere your subject is significantly brighter or darker than the background, orwhere the entire image is much brighter or darker than normal (e.g., beach andsnow scenes). Cameras' exposure systems generally assume that the scene you'rephotographing averages out to a neutral gray. Accordingly, they adjust theexposure to produce this light level in the final image. Problems arise when thewhole scene is very bright (a beach or snow scene, as mentioned above), in whichcase the exposure system would under-expose, rendering the bright subject as arather gray tone, rather than the light color it actually is. Likewise, if yoursubject is silhouetted against the sky or other bright background, the exposuresystem will underexpose it. Most digicams, the DC215 among them let you adjustthe default exposure the metering system would select. On the DC215, thisadjustment is activated by pressing the right arrow button under the LCD windowwhile in capture mode. Once you're in this mode, you can adjust the exposure upor down in 0.5EV increments by pressing the up or down arrow buttons. Press thepurple "Do It" button to confirm your choice. (Note that the LCD viewfinder mustbe enabled to use this function.)
To use the exposure-lock feature, you must setit before taking the first of a series of pictures. It locks-in the exposuresetting determined for the first picture shot after it's set, and uses that samesetting for all subsequent shots until the function is canceled or the camera isturned off. The exposure lock function is accessed by pressing the right-arrowkey twice while in capture mode. (One press takes you to the exposurecompensation menu, as described above, the second takes you to the exposure lockscreen.)
When either the exposure compensation or exposure lock feature isused, icons will appear in the LCD window when previewing pictures.Flash
The DC215's built-in flashoffers five settings or "modes" for different picture-taking conditions. Theseinclude off, always on ("fill"), auto, red-eye reduction auto, and red-eyereduction fill. The flash setting shows in the Status Display window at the topof the camera. Adjustments are conveniently made when in capture mode bypressing the flash button located on top of the camera, near the shuttercontrol.
In wide angle mode, the flash range is specified asbeing from 1.6 to 9.84 feet (0.5 to 3.0 m), while in telephoto it is specifiedat 3.2 to 8.8 feet (1.0 to 2.7m). These ranges in fact agreed fairly well withour own measurements, although we're puzzled by the increased minimum-distancespecification in telephoto mode. Our standard tests are really oriented towardchecking the maximum range in telephoto mode, and we found that the DC215'sflash worked well out to about 9 feet, reasonably well to 10 feet, then fell offrather rapidly beyond that distance. In macro shooting conditions, we found thatthe flash was a bit bright at the minimum focusing distance, but still somewhatusable: A piece of copier paper taped (loosely) across the flash opening woulddoubtless make the flash entirely usable for close-up photos.
QuickDelete
One of the great features of digital cameras is the ability toreview and throw away images you don't want - No more wasted exposures! TheDC215 has an optional "QuickView" mode (enabled via the setup menu) that brieflydisplays each shot on the LCD just after it's taken. When the QuickView image isdisplayed, a small trash can icon appears above the left arrow button. Pressingthis button while the image is still being displayed prevents it from beingsaved to the memory card.
Self-Timer
The Self-Timer function iscontrolled via the Self-Timer button on the top of the camera. After pressingthe Self-Timer button, focus the subject and then fully press the shutterbutton. The shutter will fire in 10 seconds. The Self-Timer LED on the front ofthe camera will light for the first 8 seconds and then blink for the remainingtwo. The self-timer function can be used in conjunction with Macro mode (seebelow), helping insure sharp macro shots when the camera is used with atripod.
Shutter Lag/CycleTimes
All cameras have some delay between when the shutter releaseis pressed and when the shutter actually fires. In digital cameras, this time isused to focus the lens and set the exposure parameters (exposure time, aperture,and white balance adjustment). The DC215 was somewhat faster in this area,thanks to its fixed-focus lens, which eliminated the time normally required forautofocus operation. Shutter delays averaged 0.55 seconds for normalpicture-taking, falling to 0.38 seconds when exposure and white balance wereprecomputed by half-pressing the shutter button before the shot was actuallytaken
Shot-to-shot cycle times are a bit on the slow side,compared to the current crop of digicams. Maximum-resolution/quality images canbe captured every 11.4 seconds, while minimum-quality ones require about 10.2seconds between shots.
Operation & UserInterface:
The DC215 user interface is quite easy to grasp, withmajor camera feature settings accessed via the "Setup" menu system. Asexperienced digicam users, we found the need to switch to setup mode to makevirtually any setting a bit tedious, but recognize that grouping all the camerasettings together in a single menu system will make the unit much easier tooperate for beginning users. Frequently-used controls (flash mode, self-timer,and macro setting) are accessed via top-panel buttons, and controls specific tocapture mode (EV compensation and exposure lock) can be accessed with one or twopresses of the right-arrow button under the LCD screen. The zoom lens control isright under your right thumb as you hold the camera, and the CompactFlash memorycard slot and various I/O ports (computer connection, video out, and powerconnector) live on the left side of the camera (viewed from behind), protectedby a plastic door and rubber flaps. The batteries are located in a tray thatconveniently slides out from the right-hand side of the camera when they need tobe changed.
Power Switch
The camera turns on when you slide thepower switch to the right, the lens telescoping out when you do so. It turns offin the same manner, by actuating the power switch again. The power switch islocated on the rear of the camera, just above the LCD screen.
Shutter Button
Located onthe top right of the camera, this button sets white balance and exposure whenhalfway pressed and takes the exposure once fully pressed.
Zoom Lever
Located on the backof the camera at upper right, this lever rocks back and forth to control theoptical zoom from wide angle to telephoto. The letters "W" and "T" indicate thedirection to press the lever to take the appropriate action.
The Mode SelectorSwitch
Located on the back of the camera at the bottom, under the LCDdisplay. Slide back and forth to select one of four major operatingmodes: