Kodak EasyShare Z950 review

A 10x optical zoom with a 35-350mm equivalent range, 12 megapixel stills and HD movies with sound. Add a rugged build and £199 price tag and is this Kodak’s best compact yet?

Once upon a time Kodak was probably the first name most of us associated with picture taking. In the digital age, with its thunder stolen by innovations from the electronics manufacturers, that’s no longer the case. So how can Kodak compete? On value, and so that’s what its latest compact offering in the 10x optical zoom, 12 megapixel EasyShare Z950 delivers in spades for its £199 asking price.

Pick the camera up and its build, the usual mix of plastic and metal hidden behind a sophisticated all-black finish, feels surprisingly solid for a budget model; indeed the construction betters many alternatives at £100 more. The top plate, typically for the family-friendly brand, features a well spaced, clearly designated control layout and this continues at the back, dominated by a 3-inch, 230k-dot resolution LCD. Smooth rubber padding at the front and back provides a good firm grip, though the positioning of the built in flash right next to the grip means that fingers can stray in front. It’s chunkier than other more fashion-conscious compacts too, aiding the ability to shoot handheld at the extremities of the zoom range and avoid image blur resulting from camera shake.

Optically image stabilised, the focal range provided by this compact super zoom is equivalent to 35-350mm in 35mm film terms. While that doesn’t quite match the ultra wide angle 24mm or 28mm equivalents of its competitors – and Kodak markets its own DSLR-styled 28mm Z980 model as an alternative – if users do really want to squeeze more into shot, there’s always the option to simply shuffle a couple of steps back.

Its manufacturer is selling the Z950 with the bullish tag line ‘shoot like a pro without knowing what an f-stop is.’ So whilst it does, somewhat surprisingly for a budget model, include a full complement of creative controls – courtesy of program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual modes – we also get the fully auto option provided by Kodak’s Smart Capture technology. This is its maker’s version of intelligent auto or ‘iAuto’ modes now found on Panasonic, Olympus and Canon rivals, to name a few.

Like them, all the Z950 user has to do is point the camera at a subject and it will automatically adjust settings to best suit the conditions. Kodak’s version proves reliable, though it does take a little while to find focus when presented with busy scenes or when photographing in harsh sunlight. In such seemingly ideal conditions, the camera is also wont to over-expose rather than under-expose. So we found ourselves switching to program mode and manually adjusting exposure compensation – via an additional toolbar that runs along the bottom of the screen in its creative modes – to avoid burnt out highlights. Also providing a smidgeon of hands on control are five colour effects modes: high colour, natural colour (the default), low colour, black and white, plus sepia.

In operation, with a shutter lag of 0.3 seconds, the Z950 might not be up there with a DSLR, but a wait of 1.5 seconds between shots is respectable for this class of camera.

The red ‘HD’ logo illuminated like a siren call to potential muggers when the device is in use, also alerts to the fact that High Definition video shooting is fast becoming a must – even at this budget end of the market.

Kodak here offers widely compatible MPEG-4 compression format 1280x720 pixels movies (not quite Full HD 1920x1080 pixels) at a very respectable frame rate of 30fps, up to a maximum 29 minutes per sequence, depending of course on available data storage capacity. Unlike all of its ilk, the Z950 enables the full extend of the zoom to be accessed and adjusted whilst shooting clips, though we did find the AF struggles to keep up if your subject matter is moving – vision drifting in and out of focus like a movie sequence of a cowboy who’s just been hit over the head with a bottle in a bar brawl.

As, with a widest setting of 35mm Kodak isn’t exactly stretching itself, the device doesn’t overly suffer from barrel distortion when shooting stills. We did however notice detail softening towards the edges of the frame and tell tale signs of pixel fringing between areas of high contrast, though both are only visible if actively looking. For the most part then, the camera delivers colourful if not quite pin sharp imagery when sticking at ISO800 and below.

Overall, the EasyShare Z950 comes across as all the camera you’d reasonably expect for the price, and then throws in a bit more. A better than expected showing.