Camera Test: Kodak EasyShare Z885

Posted on November 22, 2007 - Filed Under Cameras, Photo, Reviews | Leave a Comment | 87 views

Just how much camera can you get for less than $200? A whole lot, it turns out. Our test case: the Kodak EasyShare Z885 ($166, street), which comes with 8.1MP capture (more than enough), a 5x zoom (a leap ahead of the usual 3x), and an ISO 8000 setting (holy cow!).

As for image quality, you also get a whole lot. At ISO 80 and 100, the Z885′s Certified Lab Test results were Excellent, with average resolution over 1700 lines, Very Low and Low noise, respectively, and Excellent color accuracy. At ISO 200 and 400 there was no significant drop-off in resolution, while the noise did bump up to Moderate.

By ISO 800, noise increased to the Unacceptable level — although not by much — with a mild drop of about 7 percent in resolution, to about 1590 lines, ranking Extremely High. At ISO 1600, additional noise reduction obviously kicked in, with resolution just squeaking into Extremely High at about 1500 lines. So the Z885 is still quite usable at ISO 800-1600, as long as you stay with moderate enlargement. (Compare it with other current compacts: Its noise performance at these ISOs is considerably better than the noise from the much pricier Canon PowerShot G7, Nikon Coolpix P5000, and Ricoh Caplio GX100.)

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