Kodak Z1285 Review

The Kodak EasyShare Z1285 couples a twelve megapixel CCD imager to a SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON branded 5x optical zoom lens with a 35 - 175mm equivalent focal range. For framing images, there's a 2.5-inch 115K pixel LCD display, but no optical viewfinder - an increasingly rare feature these days. Images are stored on Secure Digital / MultiMediaCards including SDHC types, or in a generous 58MB of available internal memory.

The Kodak Z1285 offers 19 scene modes to help beginners achieve the results they're looking for without the need to understand subtleties like shutter speeds, apertures and the like, but still provides program and full manual exposure modes for the more advanced shooter. The Z1285 determines exposures with a multi-pattern, center-weighted, or center spot TTL metering system, and offers 2.0EV of exposure compensation in 1/3EV increments. Five white balance settings are available including an auto mode, and ISO sensitivity is controlled automatically or manually from 100 to 1600, with a 3200 mode available at 3.1 megapixel resolution or lower. The EasyShare Z1285 also offers a HD movie mode, capturing 1280720 clips at 30 frames-per-second, as well as VGA (640x480) and QVGA (320x240) mode, recorded in QuickTime MPEG-4 format.

The Z1285 is capable of displaying stills and videos in High Definition, using the optional Kodak EasyShare HDTV dock. Images and movies captured on the Kodak Z1285 are transferred to your computer over a USB 2.0 connection and power comes from a two AA batteries, with two Oxy-Alkaline disposable batteries included in the product bundle.

The Kodak EasyShare Z1285 lists at US$199.95, and starts shipping January 2008.