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Kodak EasyShare P880 Kodak re-enters the enthusiast market with a great 8-megapixel offering Select a topic Reference: Datasheet P880 Sample Images P880 IMATEST Results --------------------------------- 1. Overview and Highlights 2. User Report 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure and Flash 7. Shutter Lag/ Cycle Time Tests 8. User Interface 9. Camera Modes and Menus 10. Image Storage and Interface 11. Video, Power, and Software 12. Test Results and Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on P880 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag/ Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure and Flash Review First Posted: 11/23/2005

Exposure

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The Kodak EasyShare P880 features a full range of exposure control, with the primary exposure modes available via the top-mounted Exposure Mode dial. Here, the camera offers Auto, Program AE, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, Custom, Movie, Scene, Flower, Landscape, and Portrait options. The majority of these are fairly self-explanatory, as Program AE, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual modes provide varying degrees of manual and automatic exposure control. The Auto setting controls the entire exposure, with the user only able to adjust zoom, flash mode, and image size settings. Under the Custom exposure mode, you can save as many as three banks of custom user settings. This is useful if you're shooting an event with multiple lighting scenarios, such as a wedding, or if you frequently shoot under the same lighting conditions. Shutter speeds on the P880 range from 1/4,000 to 16 seconds, though the full range isn't available in every mode. (Exposure times longer than 1/2 second are only available in Manual and Shutter-Priority exposure modes.) The range is broad enough to make the P880 more than capable of handling most common lighting conditions, and the maximum 16-second shutter time makes the P880 an excellent candidate for low-light shooting.

Not only does the Kodak P880 offer the full range of manual and partial manual exposure modes, its preset scene modes offer a great deal of flexibility as well, for less experienced (or just less patient) users. The Flower, Landscape, and Portrait preset modes also feature more detailed settings within the mode. For example, within Flower mode, you can opt for the standard Flower settings for subjects as close as 10 inches (25 centimeters), or choose Super Close-up mode for even tinier objects. Super Close-up mode focuses as close as two inches (5 centimeters). The Landscape preset offers a Night Landscape option for darker scenes, and cancels the flash to preserve any ambient lighting. Under the Portrait option, the P880 offers a Night option, but goes a step further with a third mode, Anti-shake Night Portrait. The anti-shake technology attempts to reduce minor blurring from camera movement, which often occurs when shooting at slower shutter speeds without a tripod. Finally, the P880 offers even more preset shooting modes under the Scene option on the Exposure Mode dial, including Sport, Sunset, Backlight, Candlelight, Text, Manner/Museum, Snow, and Beach.

To determine exposure, the Kodak P880 uses a Multi-pattern metering mode by default, which evaluates several areas throughout the frame to determine the best overall exposure. You can also choose Center-weighted, Center-spot, and Selectable Zone modes by pressing the Metering button on the camera's rear panel. The Center options both base the exposure on the center portion of the image, either a large area or a tiny spot. Under the Selectable Zone option, however, you can choose one of the 25 AF points distributed throughout the frame. Combined with the Selectable Zone AF mode, this metering mode lets you pinpoint both the exposure and focus quite accurately. The P880 features an AE/AF Lock button on its rear panel, which can be programmed to lock exposure or focus independently, or together. It can also be used to lock flash exposures.

Exposure Compensation is adjustable from -2 to +2 exposure values (EV) in one-third-step increments. An Auto Exposure Bracketing option is available when you're not sure about the best exposure. Three or five images are captured in succession -- one at the metered exposure, and the remaining evenly distributed around the main exposure. The exposure variation between successive shots can be anywhere from 1/3 to 1 EV unit. The P880's light sensitivity is adjustable from 50 to 1,600 ISO equivalents, though the 1,600 option is only available at the lowest resolution setting, and we found that the 800 and 1,600 options produced very poor image quality.

The Kodak P880 offers a healthy range of White Balance modes, including Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Open Shade, Sunset, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Click WB, and up to three separate Custom settings. Click WB lets you use a white card to set the white balance, and you can save the image as one of the three Custom WBs for later use. If you register an image as a Custom WB option, you can also tweak the white balance with the White Balance Compensation tool (available through the Custom WB option of the record menu). A small color grid appears in the lower portion of the viewfinder display, and you can use the Multi-controller to move a small cursor around in the grid. The live display shows the effect of the color shifts, giving you excellent control over color balance. The P880 also offers image sharpness, contrast, and saturation adjustments, as well as black & white and sepia shooting modes.

Continuous Shooting
The Kodak P880's Burst shooting mode offers First and Last options, saving either the first or last few images in the series. (The number of images saved is determined by the resolution and quality settings.) In both modes, the camera captures as many as 2.3 frames per second, a number which also depends on the resolution and quality settings, as well as the shutter speed. (In our own tests, we measured a capture rate of only 0.74 frames/second at the highest resolution, but 4.9 frames/second at the lowest resolution/quality setting.) Both Burst modes are unavailable with the TIFF quality setting, and the flash is disabled in either Burst mode as well.

In addition to the Burst modes, the P880 also offers a Time-Lapse option, which takes a specified number of images (2 to 99) at predetermined intervals (from 10 seconds to 24 hours). Here again, TIFF mode and the flash are unavailable.

Self-Timer Modes
The P880 offers two Self-Timer modes, 10-Second and Two-Second. Both modes are accessed through the Drive button on top of the camera, the same button that activates the Burst, Auto Exposure Bracketing, and Time Lapse modes.

Movie and Sound Recording
A Movie recording option is also available on the Kodak EasyShare P880, accessed by turning the Exposure Mode dial to the movie camera icon. In Movie mode, the camera records moving images and sound for as long as the memory card has available space. Through the Record menu, you can opt for 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 resolutions, as well as set the recording time (either to Continuous, or to 5, 15, or 30 seconds). Both resolutions record at 30 frames per second.

As in still capture mode, you can set the P880's autofocus to operate either continuously or once, at the beginning of the recording. When operating continuously though, we could clearly hear the little clicking noises the AF system made on the audio track during quieter moments. One nice point though: Because the zoom is manually actuated, we could zoom with relative impunity during recording, without the sound of a zoom motor disrupting the audio.

 

Flash

Unlike most digital cameras in its class, the Kodak P880 offers both a PC sync terminal and external flash hot shoe in addition to its built-in pop-up flash. Both the hot-shoe and PC sync terminal accommodate a variety of third-party flash units, and work in conjunction with the camera's built-in flash unit. The pop-up flash must be manually released by pulling up on its sides, and offers five settings: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Fill, Slow, and Off. The P880's Red-eye capabilities extend beyond the typical Red-eye preflash, as you can also opt for the camera to automatically fix any Red-eye post-capture. The process adds some time to the post-capture processing, but eliminates a step later on. You can also adjust the timing of the Slow flash mode through the Expanded Record menu, either to rear or front curtain sync, or add the Red-eye preflash to the front curtain sync setting. A flash exposure compensation adjustment controls the output of the built-in flash, from -1 to +1 in 1/3 EV step increments. You can also lock the flash exposure, by pressing the AE/AF Lock button on the camera's rear panel. Kodak rates the P880's built-in flash as effective from 1.6 to 13.1 feet (0.5 to 4.0 meters) at the wide angle lens setting, or from 1.6 to 10.2 feet (0.5 to 3.1 meters) at the maximum telephoto setting.

Kodak offers a very nice little flash unit for use with the P880, the P20 Zoom Flash. True to its name, the head of the P20 can zoom to match its coverage to that of the lens, over a range from 24mm to 80mm equivalents. This has the very desirable effect of concentrating the flash's energy at telephoto focal lengths, enabling a much longer working length. The P20 is rated with an ISO 100 guide number of 24 meters at wide angle and 40 meters at telephoto. This translates to working ranges of 28 feet (8.6m) at wide angle and 32 feet (9.8m) at telephoto on the P880. Attached to the P880, the P20 offers automatic exposure, adjustable via the camera's flash exposure compensation setting, or its output can be controlled manually, from full down to 1/16 power.