Kodak EasyShare Z990 12 MP Digital Camera with 30x Optical Zoom, HD Video Capture and 3.0-Inch LCD

Well, Fans.KODAK has forgotten us.They have exited the camera business.Probably NO SUPPORT for this camera soon..Eastman Kodak Co. -- which invented the digital camera in 1975 -- is getting out of the digital camera business.The bankrupt printing and imaging company announced today that as part of its efforts to focus on profitable lines of business, it plans by July to get out of the digital camera, pocket video camera and digital picture frame business.While Kodak itself may no longer offer these products, Kodak-brand cameras may continue on the market, as Rochester-based Kodak said it would explore licensing its name to another company offering such gear."It's sad to see, but not totally unexpected" given that growth of photo taking on smartphones competes directly with the point-and-shoot digital camera market in which Kodak played, said Hilton resident Steve Sasson. The now-retired company researcher, along with colleague Gareth Lloyd, received a patent in 1978 for their 1975 invention of the digital camera, which weighed eight pounds and was larger than a shoebox."You can't escape the emotional aspects of it, to be sure," Sasson said. "But I'm an engineer and engineers love to change things and we're used to change."Kodak for some time has seemingly had a love/hate relationship with digital cameras. While it was one of the planet's largest digital camera companies in the early to mid 2000s, it also was competing in a market with numerous competitors and very slim profit margins -- factors that had Kodak CEO Antonio M. Perez in 2006 famously referring to digital cameras as a "crappy business."And in 2011, the company announced a strategy of focusing only on profitable areas for its digital cameras, meaning it would cut the number of products and the locations they were offered."Today's announcement is the logical extension of that process, given our analysis of the industry trends," said Pradeep Jotwani, president of Kodak's Consumer business segment.Kodak estimates the move will save $100 million annually.Kodak does not itself make digital cameras, but instead has them manufactured. Company spokesman Christopher Veronda said 400 Kodak employees worldwide -- including roughly 120 in the Rochester area --are dedicated to the digital capture device business, and not all of them will lose their jobs.With digital capture devices out of the picture, Kodak's Consumer segment will include its desktop inkjet printer line, its online Kodak Gallery, its retail store-based photo kiosks and labs, and its camera film and photographic paper business.The company also will continue to offer Kodak-brand camera accessories and batteries.Kodak said it plans to continue to honor product warranties and provide technical support and service on digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames.On Jan. 19, the company filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Today's move is the first substantial step Kodak has taken since then indicating its restructuring plans and intentions.Ditching the digital capture business did not require Bankruptcy Court approval, though it was reviewed with the bankruptcy judge and unsecured creditors committee, Veronda said.------This makes me really unhappy.I feel KODAK betrayed itself.------Note: Even though Kodak has declared bankruptcy - This does not mean they are out of business.Kodak took a bridge loan and continues to operate as usual. During Bankruptcy - Kodak willshed expenses and obligations - just like GM did. As you may recall, GM was bankrupt a few years ago.I still feel Kodak did a really decent job in designing this camera and the build quality is really good.Everyone else bashing this camera - they are probably not on the proper firmware level which is V1.12. Or they have bought used cameras that have been dropped and abused.---------This Camera is the best deal around. I know this as I own 3 Cameras and an iPhone (which is a camera too)I bought this Z990 in January 2012 and I just love it.You don't have to know a thing about taking pictures or camera's with this one.You can set the camera to the "Smart Capture" mode and hand the camera to your 5 year old..your 5 year old can take a great picture even.Just press the shutter button down 1/2 way, camera beeps and then you press it all the way and you'll get a great picture.As you gain more experience and confidence with this camera, you can get technical with it and adjust all the settings.What is the best - is the high def videos you can shoot.I mean, with this camera - you are a movie producer and director - all in one.All those Discovery Channel videos..If you go out and shoot Hi Def 1080p video with this camera and hold it fairly steady -you'll have footage which rivals what you watch on Discovery Channel.I kid you not.I have been doing this for a week now.As you are shooting videos - you can zoom in and out and the camera will automatically focus - and really focus fast.This camera is crazy good.You can even shoot video through the window of your car even when the car is movingdown the road and it will focus and capture the actionon anything far away - moving or not!Other cars, people, the snow.With this camera with a 30X lens, you are your own reality show producer and your family and friends are the stars.How great is that?I tried this Kodak Z990 head to head with my $700 Nikon D5100 on shooting 1080p video.The Nikon D5100 would not focus nearly as fast as the Kodak Z990.And, the video is in 1080p - the same HI Def that your TV will show on the very best HiDef cable channel.This is really - a movie studio in the palm of your hand.You can capture movies of your toddler, kids at football, anything.And put it up on youtube.Or, you can plug a mini HDMI cable into the side of the camera and plug the other side of the HDMIcable into your Hi Def TV.Then set the camera to play the movie - and guess what? Home movies right on your TV.In Hi Def too.Don't believe me? Want proof?You can watch my videos I took with this camera here:search youtube for the user moviestudiolandThese are the demo videos I took with this camera on youtube under the username moviestudiolandThey are crystal clear. I took dome of these standing on the side walk and some of themthrough the windshield of the car - while moving/driving even.-----Why you would want this camera:o Kodak Z990 is less than $200.o Kodak Z990 - You can just turn it on to the RED Camera ICON - point and shoot. A great picture will come out.o Kodak Z990 has high end features and quality of an SLR semi professional camera - yet anyone can use it.o Kodak Z990 is self guided to use - via menus.o Kodak Z990 can print to a Kodak Hero printer - without involving a computero Kodak Z990 Can use a 32 GB SD Class 10 memory card and hold THOUSANDS of pictures.o Kodak Z990 Can hold maybe few hours of home movies in 1080p HighDef TV format with IF a 32GB SD Memory cardis purchased and installed.o Kodak Z990 You can transfer home movies directly from the camera to play on SOME NEWER TV's via the SD card which holdsthe pictures and movies the camera has taken.o The camera can - ALL BY ITSELF - Play a really professional slide show directly to your HDTV - via an HDMI cable.o You can switch quickly from taking pictures to reviewing what you have taken with the PLAY button on the back of thecamera.To see how I arrived at the above statements, then you'll have to read the rest of the review.. :-)-----I purchased a Kodak Z990 after reading many of the reviews on Amazon and elsewhere.I also wanted to own the best DIGITAL camera that Kodak made.I liked the look of this camera as it looks a lot like my trusted Nikon SLR's.And, I liked the 30x zoom. Best of all - the PRICE. Less than $200.This camera can make you into a movie professional. The 1080p movies are really nice which the camera can take.The Kodak Z990 has exceeded my expectations for a camera under $200 and that has most of the features as an SLR.My Camera experience: (I am by no means a professional photographer)I have owned and still own a Nikon D70S for 4 years which a friend gave me as I did some work for him.I just began to own a Nikon D5100 a month ago which retails for $700 or so.I was able to get the Nikon D5100 on very good terms. So cost was not an issue.I also own an iPhone 4S which takes photos and can record 720p video and takes decent photographs.I really wanted to see what Kodak would come up with and I wanted to buy something designed by Kodak - an iconic American Company based out of Rochester, NY.Initial Impressions:The Kodak Z990 came in a nice Amazon cardboard box. Inside was a nicely done Kodak box with the camera.I opened the Kodak box and had it flipped the wrong way. So, the contents went onto the floor. The camera is in it's own area and did not come out. I collected the contents and found that to remove the camera without wrecking the box - take the Kodak box apart by opening the end of the box with the flaps.Note: I never read the Kodak manual or the internet on HOW to use this camera or anything. I just started to try to use it.o I found the Kodak Charger to be well built.o I found 4 Kodak rechargeable batteries.Put the Kodak batteries into the camera straight away - without charging them. The charge on the batteries was probably 1/3 left.Exploring the Camera:I ran the camera from 9pm to 12:30am just exploring features.I took a bunch of pictures in the house.Then the batteries ran down. So, I put the Kodak batteries into the Kodak charger.Green lights come on to indicate charging. I am betting the Kodak charger is a slower trickle type of charger. In the morning, the batteries were warm - this indicates that the batteries are charged. The green lights were still on. So, you don't know if your batteries are charged. Just see if they feel warm. Warm means done. I did not initially put in an SD memory card, I just used the memory in the camera.On the Nikon chargers - the light blinks when charging and is steady when finished.The Kodak - charger looks to NOT tell you when the batteries are finished... The light stays green.Next morning I put the batteries back into the camera and fully charged as indicated by the camera charging icon whichwent from RED to WHITE.What computers do I own and use for Photos:My laptops owned are: Apple Macbook pro with Lion on it. (takes SD cards). A dell laptop with Windows 7 64 bit.How do you get the pictures and videos onto your computer:@ For the Mac running LION - I just put the SD card into the Mac Book Pro.Iphoto came up and imported all the pictures and video into iPhoto. I did not even need to install anyadditional software.@ For the Windows 7 (x64) Dell computer - I just put the SD card into the SD slot in the computer.Windows 7 mounted the card as the E:\ Drive. I could drag and drop the MP4 videos onto a Youtube uploaderand load the videos up to Youtube that way. I could drag and drop the .mp4 video files to a folder and double click themWindows Media player opens up and plays the 1080p Hi Def video. Very nice.** For the .KDC raw files - you need to put in Kodak Easy Share software if you are shooting photos in RAW.The Kodak Easy Share software will allow the RAW .KDC files to be retouched and exported as .JPGs.How much of the Manual did I read to learn this camera? (none!)Never read the little manual that comes with the camera. Just explored the options using the camera itself.Very easy to use and powerful features.How to turn on the camera:Turn on the Kodak Z990 with the momentary switch which slides right to left on the top of the camera.If the lens cover is off - the camera will start. If the lens cover is on, the camera will tell you and then it will shutdown and go off. Take off the lens cover and repeat.The rotary function wheel selects the mode of operation - just like a typical Nikon.Take lens cover off. Power up the camera.LED comes on to show you where the rotary wheel is pointing in the dark. Nikon does NOT have that!Screen come on in "Smart Capture Mode". The rotary wheel is on the RED camera.What this means- you can probably point at anything and the camera will take a picture of it.What did I try first:The first things I tried are what other reviewers could not get to work:o HDRo and the 180 degree PanoramaWhat is HDR? HDR takes a few (3) photos really fast at different exposures and merges them into one good photo.The trick is to hold the camera really STEADY and zoom it out (not in). The camera is looking for similar images to merge. If you move the camera around the images will not match and HDR fails. I was able to take some great HDR images when zoomed out and holding steady.What is Panorama? This is a fantastic feature to take a 180 degree shot. And the camera guides you on how to do it.First: Rotary selector to SCNNext: Press DISP button.now use the square/silver nav button to select the Panorama icon and press the middle button which is called OK in the middle of the nav button.Press the photo take button 1/2 way down to cause a focusThe camera will show 3 brackets - [1][2][3].Start on the left of the room - take one picture. Then note - the right side of the left picture is on the left part of the screen. For the 2nd picture - match the screen of what you are seeing to line up with the greyed out area of the 1st picture. The camera guides you on how to help you stitch the scene together. Take the 2nd picture. Repeat moving to right. Once the 3rd and final picture is taken the camera merges the three pictures into one big picture and saves it to the SD card (if inserted) or standard memory. It is very cool as the processing all happens IN THE CAMERA. This is very good for Realtors to use to take a picture of the inside of a house.---OK let's explore how to use the camera and get around the Navigation.Here are the buttons and controls you see on top of the camera - looking down onto it:On top of the camera:On/off momentary switch - obvious. The camera will turn it self off in about 20 seconds if you don't use it.The rotary wheel - for major function selection. Has ICONS on it.The silver zoom / un-zoom back and forth selector and "focus now" and "take a picture" buttonThree little buttons below the power button::A shooting frames button marked by "pages" or "frames"A button with a flower which controls focusing bias - macro - super macro - infinity or manual focusA timer button - for taking pictures of yourself when you are in front of the camera and have no one to take a picture of you.On the rear of the camera:A nice rotary jogging button (Like Nikon's have). This rotary can be used to glide through the settings menus.* EVF/LCD - Turns off the screen and puts the screen in the "optical window"* Silver/Red record button - press to record a videoTo the right of the LCD display screen:* DISP - puts extra functionality of what you can navigate to with the square NAV button to display "on the screen".* Flash lightening bolt - turns of or on the flash (This is HARD to find on a Nikon)* Magic wand button - Displays effects of what is possible in any mode which the rotary wheel on top is set to* Trash can button - delete a photo in the review photos mode.* Silver play button - go from photo shoot mode to play back pictures or movie mode.* Red Share button - pre assign pictures to be shared or uploaded to Facebook, Orkit, Kodak Gallery and others. You can mark the picture after you take it which is handy.----Making sense of all the features.You don't need to read the manual. Just use the camera!Comment about shooting frames fast: (Both Nikon and the Kodak Z990 have the "burst frames" feature)The burst frames feature is a very advanced feature. When this is set, you focus and press the shutter buttonONCE. And the camera - all by itself - will fire the shutter 5 times or 9 times in a second.You might ask - why the heck do I want to do this:Well, if a race car is crossing the finish line - you can't time it via your eyes and tell your finger in timeto press the button and catch the car. So, you let the camera take a bunch of pictures in rapid successionall by itself.Or if your son or daughter is a track star and is crossing the finish line.Or you are watching a horse race and the lead horse is ahead by a nose. Well, you get the idea.The camera can attempt to shoot pictures in this professional high speed burst mode.This is activated by the little button top which is the left most of the three small buttons with picture frames on it.On firmware 1.10 this does not work very well.On firmware 1.12 after an upgrade - this works better.When this mode is enabled:The camera will shoot 5 frames or pictures per second (Without flash)orThe camera will attempt 9 frames per second (Without flash).The flash can't keep up as it takes time to charge.I put the camera on this very professional, most intense picture capture mode - RAW in the largest Megapixel (12MP) size.The camera would take 5 or 9 frames or pictures in burst - you can hear the shutter clicking fast. click, click,click, click, clickbut -The movement and transfer of those pictures to the SD card takes many seconds. During that time, nothing else works.You can' change modes with the rotary switch. You can't take more pictures.Hey, if you were trying to catch a race car across the finish line - well, at least you got the shots!The only way you will get a camera to process realtime is to spend $4000 and up. So, this is OK to put up with.Note: Most people will never use this mode. But, like a turbo in your car engine - this mode comes in handy.When you move the image type to a low res JPEG - you can take pictures in burst and it does not jam the camera for a few seconds at all. You can take all the pictures you want and keep going and going.What slows down burst is the size of the picture. Keep them small and the Camera keep going full speed.My Nikon D5100 gets to 17 RAW photos in Burst Mode and then it also slows down and start to transfer the files to theSD card.So, to get the camera to take pictures fast and have no wait, you need to select smaller picture resolutions - smaller MP sizes.Remember, this is STILL a lot better than an iPhone 4S as far as pictures as you have A HUGE LENS.-----OK, so the main Rotary knob selects the modes of the camera.So, we will turn that knob all the way around 360 degrees and discover what the camera can do:1) Starting at "RED camera" ICON on Rotary (Easiest)Turn it on and rotate the top rotary to the RED camera.Press the silver "take picture button" 1/2 way down. Beep beep - focused! Press all the way down. Done. Picture taken.If flash was needed, the flash popped up and it flashed.2) Rotary dial to "HDR" labelThis is HDR mode. Hold camera very still. Press silver 1/2 way down. Focus. Beep. Then all the way down.Shutter goes about 3 to 5 times. Takes multiple pictures of the same thing and integrates them into the camera. Use in low light to get a bright picture.3) Rotary dial to "Paint Brush" ICON - Creative ModesNote the screen in the back. Select one creative mode of:o Night exposure - tweaks ISO and F stop and shutter speed for night photoso Dramatic - increases colouro Intelligent Portrait - Guessing this uses an HDR mode for a faceo Photo booth - This takes 4 timed photos and puts them into a print like from an old school pass port photo bootho Automatic Panorama - This will attempt to create a left to right panorama automaticallyRotary dial to "person's face" ICON - Portrait mode.Press DISP next to screen to get options to tweako Contrasto Sharpnesso Setup (wrench)Rotary dial to "person running" ICON - sport modeThis looks to set the camera up to catch fast moving objectsPress DISP next to the screen to get options to tweako Picture quality - RAW, or 3 JPEG modes. Raw is a .KDC file. (The Mac iphoto understands the Kodak RAW)o Wrench - entry to setupRotary dial to "SCN" position - this offers quick setup to scene modes (this is where the guided "better" Panorama is )(When you go to SCN - the screen on the basck of the camera shows large ICONS of sample scenes and are labeled:o Night Landscapeo Day Landscape called Landscapeo Stageo Fireworks (No not Katy Perry)o Flower - *macro mode?)o Guided Panorama (my favorite effect)You select one of the above with the menu wheel or using the arrows and the OK button.Rotary dial to "M" label - This is Manual Mode. It works! I really pounded on this mode and it stands up to a Nikon Manual ModeNote: This is the "camera techie" or "gourmet professional" mode.The secret to Manual mode - hit DISP near the screenThen ALL the manual settings are displayed ON top of the screen.USE the silver square arrows and the OK to get around the manual settings.Or - use the rotary selector - black rotary wheel - This is totally well done.Select a manual mode of:o f stop (High F stop is let more light into camera. Useful at night. Narrow depth of field. Low F stop - less light.o Shutter speed - How much TIME the shutter will stay open. Use a short time to capture speeding objects moving very fast.o Flash compensation - you can boost the output of the flash or you can reduce it.o ISO - up to 6400 (now you know how an OWL sees at night) ISO means - how much does light affect what the cameracan see. Low ISO - best quality but needs a lot of iight. High ISO - works best at night but picture grainy.o White Balance - Defines the color of white.o Color Modeo Contrasto Sharpnesso Focus/Exposure Zone - Where in the view does the camera try to get a focus.o Picture Quality - This means file type. RAW - the camera spits out a ,KDC file. Or, JPEG of low, med, high qualityo Wrench - the Major camera settings.I tried most of these manual settings. They all work.I tried to starve the camera for light by high F stop and fast shutter. It worked. And the flash went up to high charge level and made a super bright flash with a good hearty "pop" to try to compensate.Rotary dial to "S" - You control Shutter speedPress DISPYou can change the shutter speed. The camera adjusts the F stop for the best pictureYou can change:o Shutter Speedo Flash power / compensationo ISOo White Balanceo Color Modeo Contrasto Sharpnesso Focus/ Exposure Zoneo Picture Quality - file type RAW, JPEG of low, med high.o Wrench - setup camera settingsRotary dial to "A" - F stop. You control the F stop or how much light enters the camera.This is the same a- but you can only control the F stop or how much light you let into the camera. Thecamera then computes the speed of the shutter. Press DISP for the options to tweakSame as S (but F-stop is allowed here and shutter speed is greyed out)This is Aperture mode on the Nikon and most other cameras. Kodak uses the "A" for this as they should. But, clarify it as F-stop on the menu. Well done!o F-stopo Flash power / compensationo ISOo White Balanceo Color Modeo Contrasto Sharpnesso Focus/ Exposure Zoneo Picture Quality - file type RAW, JPEG of low, med high.o Wrench - setup camera settingsRotary Wheel to "P" Program mode.The camera takes care of F-Stop and Shutter speed for you. You can't change these as they are computed for you.Press DISP near the screen and tweak the usual options:"P" is the FOOL PROOF mode where as you can tweak a few things - but for the most part, the exposure of the picture willbe correct.Once you learn "Smart Capture" well, then the next mode to progress to is "P" or Program mode.You can't go wrong in "P" mode.you can control all the below (You can't control these in "Smart Capture" modeo Flash power / compensationo ISOo White Balanceo Color Modeo Contrasto Sharpnesso Focus/ Exposure Zoneo Picture Quality - file type RAW, JPEG of low, med high.o Wrench - setup camera settingsRotary wheel back to "RED Camera" Smart Capture..This is the FAILSAFE where we started this whole round the rotary discussion.You can ALWAYS get a decent picture on Smart Capture.We end up where we began.This is the EZ mode and the FAILSAFE.Pressing DISP -yield you NO tweakable options. As Kodak wants this to work - so you can't mess it up.Basic setup modes:OK - what can you do with the Wrench?? Or the "main setup menu?".You see the wrench a lot on the menus..You don't need to go in here a lot..But, you will be in here when you first get the camera.Let's review:Select the wrenchShare button settingsControl what social networks the camera will understand - This controls what can be seen from the RED share button (Used to tag the pictures and distribute them from Easy Share software)Picture size (for still pictures)Aspect Ratios 4:3 or 16:9 of pictures and MP sizes 12, 10.7, 9.0, 6 and 3 MPVideo size (for recording videos)HD 1080pHP 720pVGA (ipad compatible)WVGA (ipad compatible)LanguagesEnglishGermanSpanishFrenchItalianBunch of Asian languages - Chinese, Japanese and others.Russianand others!! Very well localized.People tag settingsThis is incredible. Matches faces to names. Like Facebook does!Exposure BracketingUI display:Shows color distribution graph (Like Nikon's can do)Framing grid (I never use this)slide show settingsSlide show - use this to hook up to an HiDef TV and show slides..Transitions- slide- fadeLoopsSlide interval in secondsAuto focus controlContinuous (always autofocuses)Single AF (just when you press the shoot button 1/2 way down. My favoriteLCD BrightnessAuto - There looks to be a light sensor on the rear of the camera.High power (will eat battery)Power save (dimmer but saves battery)Just use auto for walking around. Use High power for in a car - maybe in city car chase when you transit tunnels.Sound volumePlays videos out to speakers near the eye piece on the rear of the cameraDate and TimeSet them here.Video outNTSC or PALReset CameraYou will lose all your settings!Computer ConnectionKodak Easy share software or not.Safe Mode(I don't use Safe mode. I want total control)FormatFormats the SD card if you inserted one - or the internal memory. This is the best way to erase the SD card.AboutWhat level of firmware - I upgraded from 1.10 to 1.12---How to take a video..Press the silver button on the rear with the red bullseye.Goes right into record mode.I have posted videos taken from this camera the Kodak Z990 onto youtube under the namemoviestudioland. Search for moviestudioland to see the videos in 1080p.----How do you play back the pictures in your Kodak Z990?Easy.Hit the silver play button with the arrow below it ">"The camera groups the pictures and movies to:ALL - Everything on the SD card and in the camera's internal memory.People - (if you tagged the pictures with the RED share button. Or the camera figured out a person's faceDate (grouped by date)Use the arrows to go back and forth.If there is a movie you took you will see a red circle and a play.Press OK to play.The sound comes out the rear of the camera.And - You see something you want to shoot?Now aim, press the shutter button down 1/2 way - focus and shoot!You are instantly out of play mode - and shooting pictures again.Then hit the play button again - to go back to reviewing pictures..----Thanks for reading this review and I hope it was helpful for you to decide to buy an American Designed product theKodak Z990 camera.It is about 1/3 the cost of my Nikon D5100.I plan to do a side by side comparison.Pros:o Camera may be found under $200.o Famous Optical Quality German made lens.o You are supporting American / German jobs by buying this camerao You can use it with out reading the operating manual.o 1080p Videos are great quality.o Flash is very strong. Incredible flash power output for a small camera.o Takes raw pictures in .KDC format. RAW pictures can be adjusted on Kodak Easy Share software on a PC or Maccomputero Can download photos into an iMac Lion Macbook pro (with out additional software) and iPhoto can import themo Can download into a Mac using Kodak Easy Share software also and in addition to iPhotoo Can download into a PC on Windows 7 using Kodak Easy Share software.o Fast mode switch to record a 1080p video - just press the video record button.o RAW pictures loaded into the Mac book look pretty good. Colors under flash look good.o Failsafe picture taking in the (red Camera) Auto or easy mode.o Lighter than most Nikon SLRo Has a 30x zoom. You can zoom anything and see it.o The batteries are easy to put in as the diagram is aligned with the battery bay exactly.o Seems to focus fast when taking videos.o 1080p Videos uploaded to Youtube are very good and stunning.o macro modes - like super macro works really well. My Nikon D70S can't touch it. I have not tried on the Nikon D5100yet.o Manual Mode: Manual mode seems to deliver a "preview picture" in the LCD viewing screen.When you dial in the setting you want - and hold down the shutter button 1/2 way and get the beepand the camera is focused - the LCD screen seems to approximate to the best ability the actual picture you willprobably get. If the F stop is way up and the shutter speed is way up the screen will show a darkened image -just the same way as the picture will probably turn out.o The Kodak Z990 formatted a 32GB SD Flash memory card that my Nikon D5100 said was "unusable"and needed fixed. That is pretty cool. I put the memory card back into the D5100 and it works great again. (I had copied computer software onto the card to transfer it from computer to computer and that broke the 32GB SD memory card)Conso No optical view finder. The view finder may look like an optical view finder - but it is just a small screenWith the exact same rendition as the large screen. This does not seem too useful.o Plastic shutter and zoom ring. I just don't like important buttons to be plastic.o When the camera is setup to take RAW pictures in a continuous mode - the camera can take up to 12 RAW pictures -about one a second. After 12 seconds - it will not take any more pictures. And, moving the rotary dial will notshow that the camera is responsive. Postulation: The camera is busy transferring pictures to the SD card andignores other requests. This is a quirk and I have seen my Nikon's do this too. This is on the Z990 1.12 firmwaretoo - as well as the V 1.10 firmware which came with the camera.o The battery door - could snap off if you are rough with it or in a hurry. Looks to jam or bind in a certainposition.o The tripod mount in the bottom is a plastic hole. This was a cost cut. But, ok, the price on the cam is good.o The navigation OUT of a menu - can be tricky. You need to get back to the FIRST item then hit the UP arrow to getout. This will confuse or trap you. But, it is also an endearing aspect of the camera as I never had to read themanual to use it.o HDR is fussy. You need to be really really steady to get it to work.Check out the videos produced by the Kodak Z990 on youtubesearch youtube for the name moviestudiolandThis camera is more like an SLR than it is a simple point and shoot.I don't like point and shoot cameras. Having a solid SLR like the D70S and as of late the D5100 Nikon has setmy expectation bar pretty high.I expected this camera to own up to the competition and work accordingly.For the most part - it does - and for 1/3 of the price.I looked at Kodak's line up of what Kodak brings to the table lately.Kodak has a

Years ago I bought a little 2MP 3X Zoom digital camera. It was a Kodak and it took great pictures. Several years after that I won a Kodak Z650 in an online contest and flat out loved the pictures it took. So when the stars aligned and Amazon had the Kodak Z990 on sale and my gift card balance was enough to afford it I jumped at the opportunity.I really LIKE the Kodak Z990 and I'm sad that it will probably be the last Kodak camera I ever buy...I LIKE this camera... I almost love this camera. While my Z650 almost never came out of Auto mode I find myself accessing the PASM controls and bracketing the exposure compensation when I use this camera.It isn't that the Z990 doesn't take great pictures. It does. It just takes a little work to get them.The camera is hefty, weighing in at 1 LB. 5 OZ. (593g) and feels substantial. To me it feels like what a camera should. The gripping areas on the front handgrip and rear thumb rest are lightly rubberized and the non-movable ring on the lens has a sturdy ribbed rubber covering.The controls are reasonably easy to access and use. I like that you can use either the 5-way controller (similar to a Kindle's) or the clickable toggle wheel next to the thumb rest to access and control many of the camera settings. I like having the zoom controls on a ring around the shutter button. It feels easier to use than those cameras that have this control on the back. It also requires a very light touch as with 30x total optical zoom the lens and controls are very sensitive. At first you will find yourself zooming or going wide-angle past the point you wanted but with a little practice it becomes much easier to control.The Z990 uses AA batteries (4) which, personally, I think is great. You can, in a pinch, get replacements at any convenience store, gas station or mega-mart in the US. It also comes with a serviceable if feature free slow battery charger and four Kodak brand rechargeable NiMH batteries. I've since replaced these with a smart charger and better batteries but out of the box they're enough to get you started.Another great addition is the Optical View Finder. This is incredibly handy when shooting outdoors in bright sunlight. The 3" LCD screen is great but in direct sun it, like all LCD screens, becomes almost impossible to see.I've, as of the time of this review, taken a bit over a thousand images and a handful of videos with my Z990 and I've barely scratched the surface of experiencing all the features and functions it has to offer.Some notable features are:Two panoramic image modes. One has the camera stitching two or three images together to produce the image and the other allows you to hold the shutter button and 'sweep' the camera to produce the panoramic image.Multiple Kodak film time emulations - Kodacolor, Kodachrome, Ektachrome, T-MAX, TRI-X as well as standard B&W and Sepia modes.In camera HDR mode.Multiple burst modes.Full 1080p video in stereo.The camera can even emulates a Photo Booth taking four images in quick succession and stitching them together.Nothing being perfect the Z990 has a few cons I feel need to be mentioned:The memory card is stored in the battery compartment and the battery door is one of the few things I worry about breaking on this camera. It is light plastic and not easy to close with batteries installed.To use a USB cable to transfer images from the camera to a computer the camera needs to be powered up requiring removal of the lens cap (because the cap mounts on the body not the lens). I don't like that it needs to sit with the lens exposed for no reason.The lens isn't threaded so you cannot use any filters with this camera.Preview mode, where the camera shows you the last image taken, cannot be disabled on this model, you can bypass it somewhat by 1/2 pressing the shutter once the preview displays but it would have been nice to be able to turn off this feature.In conclusion:While the Kodak Z990 Max isn't perfect it is an affordable bridge camera that takes excellent pictures day or night with an extremely powerful zoom lens, a host of useful features and controls that can only be topped by DSLR cameras. As Kodak's last hurrah, it's a pretty good note to go out on.