Thumbs Up:

Average photo quality and mid-range features as per its price tag.

Thumbs Down:

Relatively narrow lens; a bit frustrating shooting performance.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Kodak EasyShare Z950 is a 12.2-megapixel digital camera with CCD optical sensor. It features 5x digital zoom, face detection, optical image stabilization, and frame movie shooting mode. The minimum shutter speed is 16second and maximum is 1/1250 second.

3-inches LCD display has a format of 230,000 pixels. Asperical lens has focal length of 35-350mm with F/3.5-4.8 aperture that features 10x optical zoom. The digital camera has inbuilt lens shield, and TTL contrast detection auto-focus. The zoom adjustment is motorized drive, and the focus adjustment is Automatic.

The Z950 digital camera has three types of exposure metering: Spot, Multi-segment, and Center-weighted. The exposure modes are: Shutter priority, Aperture priority, Automatic, Program, and Manual. The exposure compensation is ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps; while the auto-exposure bracketing is 3 steps in 1/3 EV step.

The light sensitivity levels are ISO 3200 (3Mpix), ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, and ISO 100. The shooting programs include Panorama assist, Night landscape, Night portrait, Self portrait, Portrait mode, Sports mode, Backlight, Landscape, Fireworks, Close-up, Children, Sunset, Museum, Flower, Candle, Beach, Text, and Snow.

There are two types of white balance: Automatic and Presets. Its presets includes Tungsten light, Fluorescent, Daylight, and Shade. The Kodak EasyShare Z950 supports JPEG image format and QuickTime video format. The video capture resolution options are QuickTime 1280×720, QuickTime 320×240, and QuickTime 640×480. The image storage resolution options are JPEG 1280×960, JPEG 1920×1080, JPEG 1800×1200, JPEG 2048×1536, JPEG 2888×2160, JPEG 4000×2250, JPEG 4000×2250, JPEG 4000×2666, and JPEG 4000×3000.

The EasyShare Z950 digital camera has inbuilt mono microphone and built-in flash. The flash modes are Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Fill-in mode, and Auto-mode. The features are Flash +/- compensation, flash range of 17.7ft, and AF illuminator.

The Kodak EasyShare Z950 has self timer delay of 2 and 10 seconds. The additional highlights are Camera orientation detection, Scene Detection Technology, Display brightness control, Dynamic Range Optimizer, USB 2.0 compatibility, YouTube capture mode, PictBridge support, Sharpness control, Cropping an image, Date/time stamp, Auto power save, Audio recording, Face detection, and Direct Print.

There is one USB connector and a micro-SD card slot for external storage. The supported operating systems are Microsoft Windows XP SP2/Vista or Apple Mac OS X 10.4 or later. The camera has Kodak KLIC 7003 lithium ion rechargeable battery that has a life of 220 shots. Kodak is providing one year limited warranty with the EasyShare Z950.

Razzle Dazzle:

The Kodak EasyShare Z950 is 2.6 inches tall, 4.3 inches wide, and 1.4 inches deep and weighs 8.2 ounces. Its body is made up of plastic and metal, while the thumb rest and the dark gray grip are rubberized. It provides solid and comfortable feel while holding in hand. The Z950 fits easily a coat pocket or handbag.

Inside Dope:

The Kodak EasyShare Z950 is a straight forward digital camera. Its design is quite similar to that of the EasyShare Z915. It features 35mm equivalent lens with 10x zoom in a compact body. This lens is not a wide-angle one used by the other companies and there are no complicated shooting options. However, you will get semi-manual and manual controls. $249.99 priced the EasyShare Z950 has 12-megapixel CCD optical sensor and provides good photo quality as per its price tag.

The main attraction of the Kodak EasyShare Z950 is 10x zoom lens at the upside front. This lens has enough range to get closer to the subject. The zoom ring, shutter release button, drive/timer button, dedicated flash button, tiny power button, and the Mode dial are located on the top. The icons of Mode, timer and flash are backlit for using easily in the dark. The HD marking highlights in red color.

The LCD display, five-way joystick, and vertical row of Play, Info, Menu, and Delete button is located on the back. There is also a Kodak Share button that allows tagging the pictures as favorite, uploading them to favorite Web site for sharing, and for both when camera is connected with the computer. You can use the joystick for menu navigation and other settings.

We like that the menu interface is attractive and very easy to understand. You can press the Info button see the onscreen description of each option. The Kodak EasyShare Z950 provides few shooting options and it attracts the casual users to work, even without any technical knowledge. You will get aperture priority, shutter speed, and complete manual controls except white balance.

The three aperture options available at wide ends are: 8.3, 6.2, and 3.5; while at long ends they are 11.3, 8.5, and 4.8. The shutter speed ranges from 16 second to 1/1000 second. The five-way joystick provides easy controlling. What’s more – the digital camera also allows adjusting sharpness, color effects, and exposure bracketing.

The Kodak EasyShare Z950 is a digital point-and-shot camera. We like that there are 17 scene modes and a Kodak Smart capture mode, which combines the Intelligent image processing, Intelligent capture control, and Intelligent scene detection. It provides a good and reliable shot. There are also Sport mode that increases shutter speed and ISO for moving objects; Panorama mode that capture two or three photos and performs stitching; and 720p HD Movie mode with optical zoom while recording. We heard the lens movement while using this mode.

You can capture three photos instantly in a row. When you press the button to capture fourth, it shows a processing screen for five seconds to store the pictures and then take fourth one. After this, you can capture more shots without any problem.

The time from power-on to first shot for the Kodak EasyShare Z950 is 3.2 seconds. The average shot-to-shot time is 3.5 seconds and 7.4 seconds with flash. The shutter lag is 0.7 second in dim light and 0.6 second in bright light. The three-shot burst mode speed is 2.2 fps.

The time from power-on to first shot is 1.8 seconds for Casio Exilim EX-H10, 2.5 seconds for Canon PowerShot SX120 IS, and 2.1 seconds for Fujifilm FinePix F70EXR. These three cameras also perform better for shot-to-shot time, but has similar shutter lag as that of the Z950.

The overall photo quality for the Kodak EasyShare Z950 is good in its class. You can manually set the Z950 camera as low as ISO 80. The Auto mode will take the sensitivity above ISO 200. The pictures looked over-processed and soft at ISO Auto, but remained fine details up to ISO 800. The pictures at ISO 1600 were only good for small print and Web usage. The photos at ISO 3200 provided poor results, even at 3-megapixel resolution.

The Kodak EasyShare Z950 exhibited a bit barrel distortion, but there were no real pin-cushioning even at the fully extended lens. The lens sharpness remained consistent and there was no purple fringe in the test shots.

We like that the exposure remains good and the Smart Capture processing performs a great job to rescue the lost details in shadows. Though it over-process occasionally, which makes photos to look washed out. The colors are vivid and pleasing; while the violets and blues look punchy and a bit unnatural. Overall, the photos are the best for small prints and Web usage; but they are average for large print.

Nitty Gritty:

The Z950 is a standard mega-zoom camera with narrow lens. It gives simple semi-manual and manual control. The photo quality and performance is average as per its price tag.

If you need a budget friendly digital camera with average performance and quality, then buy – Kodak EasyShare Z950. However, if you need the best picture quality with fast performance then you have to look elsewhere.

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