Kodak V803 Optics

Zoom
Very good performance from the 3x optical zoom lens. Digital zoom also performs fairly well.

The Kodak EasyShare V803's optical zoom covers the equivalent of a 36-108mm range, which is fairly typical for its class. Results were very good at wide angle, with minimal blurring in the corners and low coma distortion in the tree branches against the sky. The camera's 4x digital zoom also performs reasonably well, with tolerable losses in resolution and quality from the digital enlargement.

Macro
A small macro area with excellent detail and high resolution. Flash exposure was slightly overexposed, but better than most.

The Kodak V803's macro setting performed quite well, capturing a small minimum area of 2.27 x 1.71 inches (58 x 43 millimeters). Detail and resolution were both excellent, though there's a moderate amount of softening in the corners from the lens. (Most cameras have some softening in the corners in macro mode.) The flash throttles down fairly well, but casts a shadow in the lower left corner of the frame, probably from the lens. Plan on using external lighting for the best results with the V803's macro setting.

Distortion
Lower than average barrel distortion, low pincushion as well.

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 V803's 0.6% barrel distortion at wide angle is less than average among the cameras we've tested. At the telephoto end, the V803's pincushion distortion was also lower than average, at 0.1%. Both had minimal effect on most images.

Chromatic aberration
Low to moderate, minimal effect on images at edges.

Chromatic aberration is moderate at wide angle, showing about 5-6 pixels of coloration on either side of the target lines, but because it's not very bright, the effect is not very noticeable in most real-world images . (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.) At telephoto, chromatic aberration is lower, with minimal effect.

Corner Sharpness
Slight blurring in the right corners of the frame at wide angle, less blurring at telephoto.

The Kodak EasyShare V803 produced slightly soft corners in the right side of the frame at full wide angle, with minimal blurring on the left. At full telephoto, there's only slight blurring in the corners of the frame, with very little effect on resulting images.

Coverage
Good accuracy from the LCD monitor.

The Kodak EasyShare V803's LCD monitor showed about 102% coverage accuracy at both wide angle and telephoto. The V803 does not have an optical viewfinder.