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Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:51:09 +0200

I have had a series of blogs, and every single one has been, in my opinion, crap.

So, as I packed my camera (nikon d50) into its case, and grabbed my laptop charger to go to my babysitting appointment, I decided that I would pass the time on this particular evening not by reading a book or editing some photographs, rather, I would create a blog worth reading and that I am satisfied with.

So, here are my plans.

I want to incorporate my two passions into this online journal, good books and photography. So, I'll talk here either about a camera I've fallen in (or seriously out) of love with on here, or about an amazing book that I've finished (or just started, if it's THAT good).

The first ever ever thing I wish to talk about is the newest camera we have in the store.
To be completely honest, its a piece of crap.
Its worth £69. Wonderfully cheap, and an amusing price (if you're immature like me).
It's the Kodak Easyshare C713. And to be honest, when I first saw it, it looked like your typical cheap camera. Crappy plasticky body, too thick to fit in your pocket, but small enough to get lost in the bottom of your bag, and with an irratating handgrip that isn't substantial enough to provide any extra comfort, but somehow is substantial enough to get in the way.

I looked at it, and wondered why on earth my boss had ordered some in.

But then I started testing it out.

Granted, it is extremely ugly, it's this horrible shade of grey, that isn't quite silver, just a tacky, almost yellowy shade of non-white. However, if you don't look at the extreme ugliness of the camera, or feel the thin, 'clacky' plastic underneath your fingers, it is actually a really nice camera.

The technological side of it functions fantastically well for something that costs only £69. It has 3x optical zoom, yeah, not that impressive, but it is smooth, fast and amazing value for under £70.
It is 7 megapixels, wonderful! Everybody talks about 8 megapixels and up, and seem to just discard any camera that isn't an impressive number of above eight. I don't understand this! Most people that are looking to buy a compact camera don't need to print a photograph larger than A4, so, when printing this size, there really is very little visible difference between a 7 megapixel camera and a 9 megapixel camera!

I tried out the camera around the store, and took photos of folders and price tags from around 4 meters away, after taking the photo and zooming in on the image to 100% in the playback menu I was amazed, the text on the labels and folders was bold, had strong, unblurred edges and was really really clear. I am impressed.

I'm also impressed with the ISO of this cheapo camera. It goes up to 1250, pretty good when teamed with the extremely capable flash on the kodak. Granted, in very low light situations and when up to the full iso of 1250, noise is apparent and a big big problem. However, I cannot name one single compact camera for under £150 that doesn't suffer from bad image quality in low light situations. (For those not familiar with iso, it is basically a measure of light sensitivity. The higher the iso number, the darker the setting the camera can take a clear photograph in, however, in higher iso numbers, "noise" can appear, little red, green and blue dots that reduce image quality.)

All in all, I am extremely irratated by the Kodak Easyshade C713. It is so ugly, and so cheap looking and feeling, when underneath all the tack, there's a really quite a good camera, perfect for those who only need a camera for taking myspace portraits and holiday snaps.

It really is a nice camera once you get past the god-awful tackiness of it.
So. If you're next near a camera store, and want a really cheap camera that you wont have to worry about or give much attention or care, buy the Kodak C713, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Promise.

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