Kodak Z950 Digital Camera Review

The Kodak EasyShare Z950 has a great set of features on paper: priced at around $230, it offers a long 10x zoom and captures 12 megapixel images. But there are a few performance issues that make this camera less appealing in use.

The Z950 is a rather large point & shoot: it is 1.4 inches thick with the lens in the power off position, and a lot thicker when the lens telescopes out for use. It fits well into the hand, though, with the sizable grip providing something to hold onto. We did find that some of the switches and port covers feel rather flimsy, though; they don't feel like they would stand up to extended use.  On the back of the body is a sizable 3-inch LCD screen, but this has only a middling resolution of 230k pixels, which means that images look somewhat grainy.

Performance (read in-depth performance coverage at DigitalCameraInfo.com)
We found that the performance of the Z950 was a mixed bag. Although the camera captured images with fairly accurate color and low noise, there was a fair amount of distortion in the images: at the widest zoom setting, walls and lampposts were significantly curved outwards (otherwise known as barrel distortion). We also found that the images taken at the long end of the zoom range were very soft, with fine details getting lost in the haze. We did find that the image stabilizer did a good job of making images sharper with camera shake, though: our test images were consistently sharper with this feature enabled.

We were not that impressed with the quality of the video that the camera captures. It does capture high definition video (at a 720p resolution), but we didn't find that this video was any sharper than the standard definition video that other cameras capture. Plus, the camera does not come with any cables to connect to a TV: you'll have to buy these separately.

Comparisons (read in-depth comparisons at DigitalCameraInfo.com)
There are a number of products available that compete with the Z950. The Samsung ZS3 is a little more expensive at about $300, but it is also a smaller, better camera that takes more attractive photos. The Canon SX120 costs about the same, but the images it captures are much sharper than the Z950. It does capture lower resolution video, but we found that the video that the SX120 captured looked better, with more accurate color and more detail.

For a more in-depth review, visit the Kodak EasyShare Z950 Review at our partner DigitalCameraInfo.com