Kodak V610 Optics

Zoom
An unusual 10x optical zoom range (and 40x digital) in a compact digicam.

The Kodak V610 zooms over the equivalent of a 38-380mm range in two ranges using a dual-lens design that spans 38-114 in the wide angle (WA) design and 130-380mm in the telephoto (T) design. Fine detail is a little soft with the wide angle zoom and the corners show higher than average distortion, but results overall are quite good. Contrary to what you might expect, results are also quite good at the 4x digital telephoto setting. Details are a little soft, with lower resolution, but the 4x digital zoom image is actually quite usable. Images from the wide angle zoom are in the first row and those from the telephoto zoom are in the second.

Macro
A small macro area with good detail and high resolution. Flash had trouble up close though.

The Kodak V610's macro setting performed very well, capturing a small minimum area of only 1.78 x 1.34 inches (45 x 34 millimeters). Detail is strong and resolution high, with moderately blurring in the corners from the lens. (Most cameras have some softening in the corners in macro mode.) The flash throttled down a little too much, resulting in a hot spot in the top left corner, and dark shadow throughout the rest of the frame. (Plan on using external lighting for your closest macro shots with the V610.)

Distortion
The wide angle zoom shows slightly lower than average barrel distortion at its widest focal lengths and rather high pincushion at telephoto. The telephoto zoom shows much lower than average barrel distortion at its wide angle end and average pincushion at its telephoto end.

This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel--usually at wide angle) or inward (like a pincushion--usually at telephoto). The Kodak EasyShare V610's wide angle zoom lens showed about 0.66% barrel distortion, which is a bit below average. At its telephoto end, the wide angle zoom showed 0.49% pincushioning, which is a fair bit higher than we usually see. The telephoto zoom, on the other hand, showed 0.35% barrel distortion at wide angle, which is quite a bit lower than average, and 0.13% pincushioning at telephoto, which is about average.

Chromatic aberration
The wide angle zoom shows significant chromatic aberration at wide angle focal lengths, though less at telephoto. The telephoto zoom exhibits virtually none at both wide angle and telephoto focal lengths.

Chromatic aberration was rather high on the wide angle zoom lens at the wide angle end of its range, but very little at the telephoto end. The telephoto zoom lens showed very little CA across its zoom range. (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.)

Corner Sharpness
Strong blurring in the corners of the frame with the wide angle zoom, but sharp at the center. More uniform sharpness overall with the telephoto zoom.

The Kodak V610's wide angle zoom produced verysoft corners in a number of shots, but the softness seemed to be confined to the extreme corners, with sharpness rapidly improving as you moved toward the center of the frame. The telephoto zoom held sharpness into the corners quite well (better than average).

Coverage
Very good accuracy from the LCD monitor.

The V610's LCD monitor showed close to 100 percent frame accuracy (99-102) at wide angle and telephoto settings for both the wide angle zoom and the telephoto zoom.