Kodak Z712 IS Review

The Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS is undoubtedly the highest-specification of the company's four new cameras announced at PMA 2007. The Kodak Z712 IS is a seven megapixel camera with a Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon-branded 36 - 432 mm equivalent 12x optical zoom lens, and as the name would suggest, the Z712 IS' lens also features optical image stabilization.

Other features of the Kodak Z712 include a 2.5" LCD display with a higher-than-average resolution of 230,000 pixels, plus a 115,000 pixel electronic viewfinder, a top ISO sensitivity of 1,600 (3,200 at reduced resolution), 28MB of built-in memory, an SD / MMC card slot, USB and NTSC / PAL video connectivity. The Z712 derives its power from a CR-V3 Lithium disposable or proprietary Lithium Ion rechargeable battery with (you guessed it) a disposable battery included in the product bundle.

Z712 ISshooting modes include sport, SCN, high ISO and smart scene via auto, P (program), A (aperture priority), S (shutter priority), M (manual) and video. Scene modes include portrait, night portrait, landscape, night landscape, flower, sunset, backlight, candle light, manner/museum, text, beach, snow, fireworks, children and panorama stitch. Z712 movies are recorded in QuickTime MPEG4 format with audio, available in VGA (640 x 480) and QVGA (320 x 240) resolutions, both at 30 frames-per-second with lengths up to 80 minutes based on memory capacity.

The Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS ships from April 2007 and is priced at US$299.95.