Kodak DC4800 ZoomKodak's first true 3 megapixel consumer camera has excellent color and *amazing* low-light capability!<<Reference: Datasheet :(Previous) | (Next): Print-Friendly Review Version>> DC4800 Sample ImagesReview First Posted: 7/31/2000 |
| We've begun including links in our reviews to a Thumber-generated index page for our test shots. The Thumber data includes a host of information on the images, including shutter speed, ISO setting, compression setting, etc. Rather than clutter the page below with *all* that detail, we're posting the Thumber index so only those interested in the information need wade through it! ;) |
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Outdoor portrait: (718k) The extreme tonal range of this image makes it a tough shot for many digicams, which is precisely why we set it up this way. The object is to hold both highlight and shadow detail without producing a "flat" picture with muddy colors and Kodak's DC4800 performs relatively well. We shot this image with the daylight (251k) and automatic (253k) white balance settings, as well as four of the adjustable color temperature white balance settings: 4,500 Kelvin (244k), 5,000 Kelvin (244k), 5,500 Kelvin (244k) and 6,000 Kelvin (245k). We ultimately chose the automatic setting for our main shot (718k). The daylight setting resulted in a much warmer image with a slightly magenta cast. Changing the color temperature setting also produced a few fairly accurate images, as the 4,500 and 5,000 settings came out very close to the automatic, while the 5,500 and 6,000 settings were too warm. (We really liked the way the explicit color temperature settings let us make fine adjustments in white balance.) Color balance looks quite throughout the image, although the blue flowers seem a little dark and the skin tones seem just a slightly pink. To its credit though, the DC4800 had no problem with keeping the blue flowers blue. (Many digicams tend to push this hue toward purple, but not the DC4800.) We also shot an image with the camera's saturated (742k) color setting, which really made the colors jump! (This is a feature we've been expecting to see on digicams for some time now, and we expect to see more of it in the future. Now, how about a variety of saturation settings, so the user can pick the one the like best from a range of them? - Never satisfied, that's us. Kudos to Kodak though for implementing this feature.) The image overall appears just slightly soft, but there's good resolution throughout the image. Great detail in the shadow areas, with a moderate amount of noise. Our main image (718k) was taken with a +0.5 EV exposure adjustment, selected as the best tradeoff between having the model's face light enough, without losing too much detail in the highlights. The table below shows the results of a range of exposure settings from zero to +2.0 EV in the automatic white balance setting. Exposure Compensation Settings:
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Closer portrait: (651k) The DC4800 performs nicely on this "portrait" shot, helped by the camera's 3x optical zoom which helps to minimize geometric distortion. (The availability of longer focal lengths is a key feature if you're going to be shooting close-up people shots.) Shooting in the automatic white balance mode, our main shot (651k) was taken with +0.5EV exposure compensation. This was the same compensation level as in the Outdoor Portrait above, but the different tonal content of this shot meant that we lost a bit more of the highlight detail in the white shirt in this version. Resolution and detail look much crisper in this close-up shot, particularly in the strands of the model's hair and in the green leaves next to her shirt. Noise is present in the shadow areas but remains moderate. The table below shows the results of a range of exposure settings from zero to +2.0 EV. Exposure Compensation Settings:
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Indoor Portrait, Flash: (483k) The DC4800's built-in flash does a great job with this test, illuminating the subject and allowing a little ambient light into the image. First, we shot without any exposure compensation adjustment, resulting in this (486k) well-lit image, which appears just a hair too dim. Next, we adjusted the exposure compensation to +0.5 EV (483k) and to +1.0 EV (471k), both of which brightened the image appreciably. We chose the +0.5 EV setting for our main image, because the highlight areas appear in check and the shadow areas are nicely illuminated. Color balance on these shots looks about right, but just slightly muted. Next, we combined the internal flash with a slower shutter speed (503k), to allow more ambient light into the frame. Although this image looks slightly warmer than the others, the lighting is very nice and the highlight areas seem a little less harsh. Notably, there are none of the bluish highlights we frequently see in this situation, caused by a mismatch between the color of the flash and the room illumination. We have to say that the DC4800 produced some of the best-balanced flash shots of any camera we've tested to date. (July, 2000) We also took advantage of the camera's flash sync terminal to connect an external flash (491k), which was bounced off of the ceiling in conjunction with firing the internal flash. The resulting image had much softer lighting, but our little amateur's auto strobe unit was a little underpowered for the application. Still, the DC4800's external flash worked well, and would produce good results with a more powerful strobe unit. Overall, the DC4800 did exceptionally well in this test! |
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Indoor portrait, no flash: (529k) This shot is always a very tough test of a camera's white balance capability, given the strong yellowish color cast of the household incandescent bulbs used for the lighting. The DC4800's white balance system did an exceptionally good job with this difficult light source. We tested both the automatic (179k) and incandescent (177k) white balance settings, in addition to several of the color temperature selections. We chose the automatic setting for our main series, as the incandescent setting was a little too warm and all of the color temperatures we shot with also produced very warm results. We shot at the 2,500 (181k), 2,800 (181k), 3,000 (180k), 3,200 (182k), 3,500 (185k) and 4,000 (185k) Kelvin settings, each of which became progressively warmer, with the 2,500 Kelvin setting resulting in tones similar to those of the incandescent setting. Color balance already looks pretty good in the automatic white balance setting, but we went ahead and shot with the saturated color option, for a little extra oomph. We wound up choosing the saturated image for our main shot (529k), which also features a +0.5 EV exposure adjustment. We also tested the camera's ISO settings, shooting at 100 (504k), 200 (594k) and 400 (799k) (all of which also have a +0.5 EV exposure adjustment). The 100 setting seemed to produce the most accurate results, as 200 and 400 exhibited a progressively increasing magenta cast, as well as higher noise levels. The table below shows a range of exposure adjustments from zero to +1.5 EV using the automatic white balance setting in both the neutral and saturated color balance settings. Natural Exposure Compensation Settings:
Saturated Exposure Compensation Settings:
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House shot: (1164k) NOTE that this is the "new" house shot, a much higher-resolution poster than we first used in our tests. To compare the image of the DC4800 with previously tested cameras, here's a shot of the original house poster in the automatic (1392k) white balance setting. We again shot in a large selection of the camera's white balance settings, including automatic (433k), daylight (430k), fluorescent (435k), manual (440k) and several color temperatures (4,000 (440k), 4,500 (438k), 5,000 (437k) and 5,500 (436k) Kelvin settings). We selected the automatic setting for our main series, because it seemed to produce the most accurate white value and color balance. The daylight setting produced very warm results, while the fluorescent setting appeared a little too cool. Manual seemed just a hair too warm as well. Of the color temperature settings, the 4,000 Kelvin setting resulted in a color balance similar to the automatic setting. As the color temperature went up towards 5,500, so did a warm cast throughout the image. Resolution is just a bit off the very best we've seen from 3 megapixel digicams, but there's still very good detail in the shrubbery and tree limbs, and overall the image is easily in the top tier. A moderate amount of noise is perceptible in the roof shingles, as well as in some of the shadow areas. In-camera sharpening is just slightly noticeable, but not too heavy-handed (it's usually given away by a tiny halo effect around the light and dark edges of the white trim along the roof line). Color is excellent, resolution very good, a very nice image overall. The table below shows the full range of resolution and quality settings for the DC4800 in the automatic white balance setting.
We also shot with the DC4800's variable sharpness setting. Both the sharp and soft settings do a nice job of altering the image. Oddly, we noticed on the soft setting that the color balance appeared slightly off, mostly noticeable in the roof shingles, which had a slightly pinkish hue. Sharpness series
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Far-Field Test (1141k) This image is shot at infinity to test far-field lens performance. NOTE that this image cannot be directly compared to the other "house" shot, which is a poster, shot in the studio. The rendering of detail in the poster will be very different than in this shot, and color values (and even the presence or absence of leaves on the trees!) will vary in this subject as the seasons progress. In general though, you can evaluate detail in the bricks, shingles and window detail, and in the tree branches against the sky. Compression artifacts are most likely to show in the trim along the edge of the roof, in the bricks, or in the relatively "flat" areas in the windows. This is the strongest test of detail of any that we do, with exceptionally fine detail in the foliage and the texture of the bricks. The 4800 shows good detail here overall, and excellent corner sharpness with very little chromatic aberration. The camera did have a little trouble with the very strong highlight on the bay window of the house (which was actually a bit more forgiving in this shot, taken on a hazy summer day). Some detail is likewise lost in the pine needles against the bright white sky. Overall a very good performance though, albeit not quite as sharp as the studio shot of the house poster above. We shot with the automatic (381k), daylight (391k) and several color temperature white balance settings (5,500 (388k), 6,000 (386k) and 6,500 (383k) Kelvin). We eventually chose the 5,500 Kelvin white balance setting for our main shot (1141k), because it showed the most accurate color balance. The automatic setting produced similar results, although they were just a hair cooler and a little too light. The daylight setting was also too cool, and the 6,000 and 6,500 Kelvin settings were too warm. As we mentioned, color balance looks good throughout, as do resolution and detail. There's a moderately high noise level in the roof shingles, but it's not too bad overall. We also shot sample images with the camera's color balance settings. The saturated color (1205k) setting noticeably livened up the image with much brighter greens and slightly more vibrant reds. Strangely though, the high-saturation setting seemed to lose detail in the shrubbery and foliage. (? Very odd, we can't think why higher saturation should equate to lower sharpness.) The standard black and white (808k), black and white with red filter (806k), black and white with yellow filter (831k) and sepia (757k) settings also produced nice monochromatic images. The table below shows the full resolution and quality series in the automatic white balance setting.
We again shot with the DC4800's variable sharpness settings, with the results below: Sharpness series
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Lens Zoom Range We've received a number of requests from readers to take shots showing the lens focal length range of those cameras with zoom lenses. Thus, we're happy to present you here with the following series of shots, showing the field of view with the lens at full wide-angle, the lens at full 3x telephoto and the lens at full telephoto with 2x digital telephoto enabled. The DC4800 shows a very wide angle, with a slight barrel distortion visible along the curb of the road. Resolution is quite good at wide angle, with the image softening slightly at the telephoto setting. Digital telephoto of course gets dramatically softer, since it isn't introducing any additional picture information, but merely expanding the image from the central portion of the CCD.
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Musicians Poster (1077k) For this test, we snapped sample images at the automatic (354k), daylight (352k), manual (355k), fluorescent (355k) and the 4,000 (356k), 4,500 (353k), 5,000 (354k) and 5,500 (355k) Kelvin white balance settings. We chose the 4,500 Kelvin color temperature setting because it produced the most accurate skin tones and overall color balance. The automatic setting resulted in a slightly warm color cast, which looked very similar to the 5,000 Kelvin color temperature setting. The daylight setting produced a much warmer image. Manual resulted in a slightly pink cast, and fluorescent appeared very bluish. Additionally, the 5,500 Kelvin setting appeared very warm, and the 4,000 Kelvin setting appeared just slightly cool. Thus, the 4,500 Kelvin setting produced the best overall image, with very good color overall. Color balance seems quite accurate in both the skin tones and the model's blue robe. The image is again just slightly soft, but there's quite a bit of detail, especially noticeable in the bird wings and silver threads on the blue robe. (At this point, 3 megapixel digicams are really exceeding the resolution limits of this particular test poster.) A moderate level of noise exists throughout the image (mostly visible in the blue background), some of which may be coming from the actual poster. Below is our standard resolution and quality series in the 4,500 Kelvin color temperature white balance setting. Resolution/Quality series
We again shot with the DC4800's variable sharpness settings, with the results below: Sharpness series
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Macro Shot (1090k) The DC4800 does a good job in the macro category, capturing a minimum area of 3.65 x 2.43 inches (92.77 x 61.84 mm). This places it about in the middle range of current consumer digicams for macro shooting. Very nice color and detail, although resolution still appears a little soft. We picked up only the slightest hint of distortion, as the edge of the dollar bill seems to curve a little. The DC4800's onboard flash (1080k) does a very nice job of throttling down (some digicams are tricked by the shiny coin). The large silver coin does reflect a lot of light, but overall, the illumination looks very good. |
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"Davebox" Test Target (530k) We shot this test with the daylight (165k), automatic (164k), manual (173k), fluorescent (165k) and 4,000 (166k), 4,500 (166k), 5,000 (166k) and 5,500 (164k) Kelvin color temperature white balance settings. The daylight setting produced very warm results, while automatic produced only a slightly warm image. Surprisingly, the fluorescent setting resulted in a nearly accurate color balance, and manual resulted in a very cool, bluish image. Of the color temperatures, 4,000 Kelvin produced the most accurate results, with the other three temperatures getting progressively warmer. We chose the 4,000 Kelvin setting for our main image (530k), as it produced the best color balance overall. The large cyan, magenta and yellow color blocks on the left side of the target look quite accurate, with just a little weakness in the cyan. (These are often a problem for digicams we test, showing lower saturation in the so-called subtractive primaries.) The DC4800 does separate the red and magenta color blocks on the middle, horizontal color chart, although the hue difference appears minute (many digicams try to blend the two colors into one, which the 4800 does to a slight extent). The subtle tonal variations in "B" pastel range of the Q60 chart are just barely distinguishable, with the "C" range showing more distinctly. The shadow area of the briquettes shows great detail with a moderately low noise level, but the details in the highlights of the cheesecloth are nearly lost. (The DC4800 seems to do a better job with shadow detail than with highlights.) Below is our standard resolution and quality series for this target.. Resolution/Quality series
We again shot with the DC4800's various color settings, with the results below. We did find that the saturated color setting seemed to significantly brighten the giant cyan color block to a more acceptable level. Color Effects Series
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Low-Light Tests The DC4800 did an absolutely outstanding job in the low-light category, as it produced bright, useable images as low as 3 EV (1/16 foot candles). This is really amazingly dim: It's as dark as our $500 Sekonic light meter will measure, and so dim that we literally have a hard time finding our way around the studio. Even more amazing is how remarkably noise-free even the 16 second exposure at 1/16 foot-candle and ISO 100 was: Incredibly, there seem to be none of the bright glints from "leaky pixels" we're accustomed to seeing in almost every digicam we've tested at these limits. No question about it, the DC4800 now holds the crown for the best low-light capability we've found in a sub-$5000 digicam to date! (July, 2000) We shot with all three ISO settings, finding that image brightness remained very nice at the 100 setting and mainly increased in noise level with the 200 and 400 settings. The table below shows the best exposure we were able to obtain for each of a range of illumination levels, at all three ISO settings. Images in this table (like all our sample photos) are untouched, exactly as they came from the camera.
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Flash Range Test (New) (This test was added in August 1999, so cameras tested before that time won't have comparison pictures available. As we go forward though, all the new models will have similar tests available). Kodak rates the DC4800's flash power as effective out to 10 feet (3.2 m) at the wide angle setting and out to 6.5 feet (2 m) at the furthest telephoto setting. In our testing though, we found the DC4800's flash to be reasonably effective all the way out to 14 feet, with just a slight bluish tint in the highlights starting around eight feet and a slight magenta cast starting at 12 feet. It may be that the flash has a lesser range in typical picture-taking conditions, but it did quite well in our tests to a much greater distance than Kodak rated it for. The table below shows results obtained at a range of distances from eight to 14 feet.
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ISO-12233 (WG-18) Resolution Test (521k) The DC4800 performed well in our resolution tests, coming in about in the middle of the current (July, 2000) pack of 3 megapixel digicams. We called the resolution at about lines per picture height in the horizontal direction, although we found some aliasing as low as 650 lines, albeit pretty mild. Vertical resolution was lower, about 650-700 lines per picture height, but aliasing appeared as early as 600 lines. As noted, this is about the middle of the field for 3 megapixel cameras we've tested to date. We felt the results from the DC4800 were actually a bit better in the "real world" images we shot than in this laboratory test. Color aliasing was quite pronounced at vertical frequencies over about 900 lines per picture height, and present to a much lesser extent along the horizontal axis beginning in the same frequency range. Overall, a good performance, if not at the top of the field. Resolution/Quality series,Wide Angle
Resolution/Quality series,Telephoto
Resolution/Quality series,Digital Telephoto
Sharpness series
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Viewfinder Accuracy/Flash Uniformity We found the DC4800's optical viewfinder to be pretty accurate, just a little bit "tight", showing fully 98 percent of the final image area at wide-angle (506k) and about 93 percent at telephoto (514k). (Note the change in our nomenclature, dating from spring 2000: Previously, we referred to this viewfinder behavior as "loose" rather than "tight".) The LCD monitor was even more accurate, showing 100 percent of the final image area at wide-angle (488k) and 98 percent at telephoto (506k). (We suspect this variation was actually more reflected the difficulty of determining *exactly* where the boundaries of our test target rectangle are on the LCD, rather than any actual variation in LCD accuracy as a function of focal length. We like to see LCD monitors as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, and DC4800 (like essentially all Kodak digicams) does very well in this category. We did notice that the images framed with the optical viewfinder are rotated clockwise slightly, about 0.5 degrees. This is an annoying but not uncommon digicam manufacturing defect, caused by the CCD being placed in the camera slightly rotated relative to the camera body itself. The 0.5 degree error of the DC4800's optical viewfinder is fairly slight , and you'll probably want to rely on the LCD finder if you're doing really critical framing anyway. We also shot with the 2x digital telephoto (293k), which resulted in about 95.6 percent frame accuracy. The much softer resolution of the digital zoom makes framing very difficult and the distance between the camera and the target at that point makes the flash practically ineffective (hence the very dark image for this shot). Optical distortion on the DC4800 is moderate to high on the wide-angle end, as we measured a 1.01 percent barrel distortion at that focal length. Distortion is lower at the telephoto end, with a 0.2 percent pincushion effect present. Chromatic aberration is also very low, showing about one and a half pixels of coloration on each side of the black target lines. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.) Flash distribution looks pretty good, although there's a moderate amount of falloff on the left and right sides at the wide-angle setting. |
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