Kodak DC3400Kodak updates the popular DC280 with a new sensor, lower power consumption, and a new color scheme...<<Video, Power, Software :(Previous) | (Next): Reference: Datasheet>> Page 12:Test Results & ConclusionReview First Posted: 10/5/2000 |
Test Results
In keeping with our standard policy, our comments here are rather condensed, summarizing our key findings. For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the Kodak DC3400's "pictures" page.
As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the devices performed. Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how well the Kodak DC3400 performed, and how its images compare to other cameras you may be considering buying.
Overall, the Kodak DC3400 gave an excellent performance, with great color balance. The camera's white balance system did a very good job throughout our testing, tackling even our difficult indoor lighting test with ease. We shot mainly in the automatic and daylight white balance settings during our testing, since both were reasonably accurate most of the time. We generally used the daylight setting with the outdoor shots and automatic for the other indoor targets (with the exception of the Musicians poster, which required daylight white balance to deal with the large amount of blue in the image). On our Davebox target, the DC3400 accurately reproduced the large color blocks on the left, and picked up the difference in the magenta and red color blocks in the middle, horizontal color chart. Tonal handling was not as good, as the subtle tonal variations of the Q60 target were only visible up to the "E" range due to slight overexposure by the camera's metering system. On the whole, however, the DC3400 does an excellent job with color balance, even in our difficult Indoor Portrait, No Flash shot.
Visual resolution of the DC3400 in this test is roughly 650 lines per picture height vertically, and 650-700 horizontally, well on a par with other 2 megapixel cameras we've tested. These numbers are lower than we assigned to the DC280, but in the intervening time since the DC280's introduction, we've tightened our standards somewhat in this area. (This is a more subjective "call" than we'd like, and we've decided that some of our earlier ratings weren't taking aliasing and artifacts sufficiently into account.) In side-by-side comparisons, we felt the resolution of the DC3400 was just slightly lower than that of the DC280, which we attribute to what appears to be a smaller CCD chip: Since the lens itself seems to be the same, the smaller pixels of the new CCD make for lower resolving power on a pixel-by-pixel basis, although the difference is rather slight.
The DC3400 is a classic "point & shoot" digicam, with relatively limited exposure control, but enough flexibility to accommodate common lighting/exposure problems. The user can control sharpness, metering, ISO (via the Auto ISO option), flash, exposure compensation and white balance. The DC3400 had some difficulty in the low-light category, as we were only able to obtain relatively useable images at light levels as low as two foot-candles (22 lux). Anything below one foot candle was barely visible. Though the camera isn't able to produce bright images at lower light levels, the resulting images at one foot candle show only moderate noise. Turning on the camera's Auto ISO function produced the same results, but with a higher noise level and shorter exposure time. (This was similar to the behavior of the DC280, and somewhat puzzling to us: Usually, increasing the ISO of the sensor will result in a reduction of the low-light limit, but Kodak appears to have mandated a maximum acceptable noise level, and constrained the camera's exposure time as a result.) Overall, the DC3400 wouldn't be the camera to choose if you really want to be able to do outdoor photography after dark: For reference, a light level of 1 foot-candle is about what you'd find in a city night scene under typical street lighting, and the DC3400 needs about twice that to deliver a good image.
The DC3400 did an excellent job in our Viewfinder Accuracy tests, as its optical viewfinder was only a little tight, showing about 91 percent of the final image area at wide angle and about 90 percent at telephoto. These numbers are for both the 1760 x 1168 and 896 x 592 image sizes. The LCD monitor displayed the high accuracy we've come to recognize as a Kodak hallmark, showing approximately 100 percent of the final image area at both wide angle and telephoto settings (also at both image sizes). Since we generally like to see LCD monitors as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, the DC3400's LCD passes with flying colors. The DC3400's digital telephoto also produces about 100 percent accuracy at both image sizes, but image quality is highly degraded. These numbers bear some resemblance to those of the Kodak DC280, although the DC3400's optical viewfinder appears to be a little more accurate than the DC280's 89 percent at wide angle and 85 percent at telephoto.
In the macro category, the DC3400 is about an average performer, capturing a minimum area of 4.36 x 2.89 inches (110.71 x 73.47 mm). However, color balance, detail and resolution are all excellent. Likewise, the DC3400's built-in flash does a very nice job of throttling down for the macro area, managing not to be tricked by the shiny coin. The DC3400's performance in the macro category is slightly better than the preceding DC280 model, which captured a minimum area of 4.2 x 6.4 inches (108 x 162 mm).
Overall, the DC3400 did an excellent job throughout our testing. Though its low light capabilities are slightly under par, and the resolution and macro performance about average, the DC3400 manages to provide very nice image quality with wonderful, vibrant, well-balanced color in a wide range of lighting situations. Because the two cameras are very similar in design, we compared the DC3400's performance to that of the preceding DC280, and found that the DC3400 is a very nice update to the earlier model. Both cameras seemed to perform similarly in our testing, though the DC3400 slightly surpassed the DC280 in the macro and viewfinder accuracy categories, while falling very slightly short in image sharpness. Overall, the DC3400 is a worthy contender, particularly for those consumers interested primarily in "point & shoot" photography, but with a few controls to help handle unusual situations.
Conclusion
As noted at the outset, the DC3400 is basically Kodak's upgrade of their prior DC280 model. For all intents and purposes, it appears to function identically to the earlier and very successful DC280, which should help it find a ready market among point & shoot users. It offers good resolution and sharpness, excellent color, and a simple user interface. It strikes a very workable balance between pure point & shoot simplicity, and the features necessary to obtain good pictures under a variety of typical shooting conditions. A good choice for a "family" digicam.
Reader Comments! --> Visit our discussion forum for the Kodak DC3400!
Follow Imaging Resource: