A little disappointed, expected better photos.
I have a larger DSLR camera that is great, but, I wanted something that could fit in a pocket or on a belt clip while traveling, something like my wife's great little Kodak V603. Of course, our V603 is years old and has been bumped, splashed, jostled, and handled without extreme care, yet, her V603 still takes bright, sharp, clear photos at the click of a button. I had understood this Kodak V1253 to be the successor to that little dynamo, and, being TWICE the pixels, the normal sized photos would be that much more bright and crisp.
The camera works fine, but, it is super sensitive to movement when taking a picture. And I mean, movement simply from the shutter, even if the unit is sitting on a fixed surface or tripod. Better lighting conditions for a faster shutter speed doesn't help, and it is especially noticeable when using the optical or digital zoom features. As a result, the quality of the pictures taken is simply not there. It is as if there is a loose lens inside the camera that sometimes falls into the right place, but, most time, especially if using any level of zoom, does not.
The loose internal lens theory, however, is not likely a reality, because the video recordings appear crisp and clear, and the camera is certainly moving at that time.
I have tried many different settings to see if there is anything I could do better than the automatic, but, that did not help. I did see on other reviews that there may be software updates for the camera, so, I will need to search for those and see. But, overall, compared to the quality of our V603, this new and improved V1253 is definitely newer, but, I am not so sure of the value of the improvements.
If this were my first Kodak digital camera, I would NOT lean toward ever buying another one, but, I have owned several prior Kodak digital cameras and have been VERY satisfied with the quality of the pictures received, so, I am hoping this one is just an "oops" and I have great expectations that the next one will be newer and REALLY improved.Read full review
