Kodak DC280 2MP Digital Camera w/ 2x Optical Zoom

Amazon.com The Kodak DC280 digital camera offers Kodak's intuitive user interface, plus a high two-megapixel resolution and a variety of advanced features. Its 1,792 x 1,200 resolution allows for fine detail even at large image sizes. The Kodak DC280 also includes a 2x optical/3x digital zoom and macro capabilities. The built-in flash comes with four modes including red-eye reduction. Special camera modes include time lapse and burst modes as well as auto and manual exposure settings. Kodak's easy-to-use menu system is one of the most intuitive we've seen in the digital camera realm. The camera also includes special effects (black-and-white mode, sepia mode, borders included, document mode) and auto or manual exposure settings. The Kodak DC280 has a large, bright 1.8-inch LCD monitor. Kodak includes a generous 8 MB CompactFlash memory card. The camera supports USB connectivity for fast, cross-platform downloads. While the DC280 comes with four AA batteries, like all digital cameras, it drains batteries quickly. We recommend investing in a set of rechargeables. Product description Extensively used with minor scratches. Working good. ONLY camera with Lens cover. NO battery, NO cable, NO Accessories. Review Kodak's first-ever 2-megapixel digicam, the DC280, is a "feel-good" camera. It feels good to hold, good to set up, good to shoot with, and really good when you see the image quality it produces. That's not to say it's perfect, but as an all-around point-and-shoot, it comes pretty close. Kodak hasn't reached its potential in digital camera design because it has sometimes ignored features customers want and included unnecessary features instead. The DC280, however, is cause for celebration and shows that Big Yellow may finally be on the right track. The first thing you'll notice about this two-toned gray-and-black beauty is its weight. Most digicams are almost too light to hold steady while shooting pictures, but this camera has the heft and feel of a conventional 35mm point-and-shoot and is perfectly balanced. Its optical viewfinder is slightly larger and brighter than most others, too. The Kodak DC280's setup is a snap, unlike the Epson PhotoPC 800's (Reviews, this issue, p90). A simple, intuitive scroll-through menu sets all functions to your preferences. Let's take a scroll. One button turns on the menu, and two others move you up or down through highlighted items. For example, if you want to set compression quality, scroll down to the Quality icon and press what Kodak calls the Do It button to view three choices: Good, Better, and Best. Make your choice, press Do It again, and you return to where you were in the main menu hierarchy. Nothing could be simpler. You've got a fair number of choices, too. You can add a date stamp, adjust exposure (just darker or lighter; no f-stops or shutter speeds), add a border to your picture, select resolution, set white balance (or leave it at auto), choose matrix or spotlight metering, sharpen or soften images, and double the ISO for low-light pictures without flash. You can also lock your exposure at a certain setting - for example, giving all the pictures in a panoramic series a consistent look. Of course, the camera has some shortcomings. The optical zoom lens is limited in range - only 30mm to 60mm (equivalent) - and it's a bit slower than most - f-3.0 at the wide end and f-3.8 at full telephoto. It's also not threaded, so you can't use auxiliary lenses. You can shoot only three rapid-fire shots when you first turn on the camera; thereafter it's a longish 13 seconds between shots at any resolution. The LCD monitor doesn't display images in real time; at about 20 frames per second, it's a bit jerky when you move the camera to frame an image. And the effective monitor size is only 1.6 inches because of the unusual image proportion. Since the DC280's high-resolution image size is 1,760 by 1,168 pixels, you can print a 4-by-6-inch photo without trimming a pixel. But this is a 2-megapixel camera - hardly what you'd buy to output small pictures. To print an 8-by-10-inch photo, you must lop off a bunch of pixels from the long side of the image, so effective resolution is only 1.7 megapixels (or 1,460 by 1,168 pixels). Still, since 8-by-10-inch images print very well, perhaps this is quibbling. To its credit, the DC280 does have a complete top-deck status display of all critical menu settings and lets you set the flash modes, self-timer, and macro mode using three buttons. You can examine pictures on the LCD right after you take them, and delete unwanted shots immediately. Other features include slide-show capabilities and NTSC or PAL video out - so you can view pictures on TV. If you're going to use either feature, though, make sure you buy the optional AC adapter or you'll quickly drain the batteries. The camera comes with a 8MB CompactFlash card and four Kodak NiMH batteries, plus a charger. Finally, a Kodak-exclusive menu mode lets you prepare your images for insta