"Sunlit" Portrait:
(This is my new "Outdoor" Portrait test - read more about it here.)

High resolution and good detail, high contrast makes for slightly dark colors, but hue accuracy is very good. Moderate image noise.

• Exposure compensation: None required, much better than average.
• Contrast/Tone: High, strong highlights and dark shadows, but OK midtone detail.
• White Balance: Auto is best (slightly warm), though Daylight is also pretty good, just a bit warmer.
• Color accuracy: Very good, blues are a little dark, reds a hint yellowish. Colors are a little dark overall, due to the high contrast.
• Skin tones: A little dark, a little reddish.
• Resolution/sharpness: Good, strong detail in the bouquet.
• Shadow detail: Fair, with moderate noise

To view the entire exposure series from zero to +0.5 EV, see files Z740OUTAP0.HTM through Z740OUTAP1.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

Even higher resolution and detail, but again, somewhat high contrast.

• Exposure compensation: None required, slightly less than average for this shot.
• Exposure/Tone: High contrast creates harsher skin tones and deep shadows.
• Detail: Stronger fine detail with better definition, crisp details in the face and hair.
• Distortion: Good, zoom lens avoids distortion close-in like this.

To view the entire exposure series from zero to +1.0 EV, see files Z740OUTFACAP0.HTM through Z740OUTFACAP3.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

Normal Flash +0.5 EV

Night Portrait Mode

Pretty good exposure with the flash in the normal setting, though a more even exposure with the Night Portrait mode. A little warm-toned from the room lighting, though.

• Exposure: Bright at +0.5 EV, though still pretty good (just slightly dim) at the default exposure. Night Portrait mode results in a more even exposure.
• Flash balance with room lighting?: Pretty good. The whole image is a little pink, but there are no harsh blue highlights from the flash.
• Color: A little pink from the strong room lighting, slightly dark colors in the bouquet, but not bad overall.

To view the entire exposure series from zero to +1.0 EV in the normal flash mode, see files Z740INFP0.HTM through Z740INFP2.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

Auto White Balance

Incandescent White Balance

Good color with the Incandescent white balance, less than average exposure compensation required.

• Exposure: +0.5 EV adjustment needed, lower than average.
• White Balance: Incandescent slightly greenish but still quite good, Auto a little pink.
• Color: Skin tones are good (slightly orange), blue flowers dark and purplish, reds a hint magenta. (About average though, given the tough light source.)

To view the entire exposure series from zero to +1.0 EV, see files Z740INTP0.HTM through Z740INTP2.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

ISO Series:
Some image noise is present even at the Z740's lower ISO settings, although it isn't very visible in prints. Noise stays fairly well under control up to ISO 200, but at ISO 400 it becomes quite prominent. ISO 400 shots look a little rough when printed at 8x10" (probably OK for viewing at a distance, as on a wall, etc), but should be entirely acceptable to most users when printed at sizes of 5x7" or smaller.

Auto White Balance

Daylight White Balance

Good color. High resolution and strong detail, with pretty good sharpness. Slight blurring in the corners though.

• Sharpness/Detail: Good detail and high resolution.
• Sharpness in Corners: Slight falloff, better than average.
• Color: Auto best overall, though a hint red. Daylight slightly warmer and yellow.
• Detail lost to anti-noise processing?: Slight to moderate, noticeable in the brick patterns and pine needles.

High resolution and strong detail, but high contrast limits the dynamic range somewhat.

This image is shot at infinity to test far-field lens performance, and to present a near-infinite range of detail to the camera. NOTE that this image cannot be directly compared to the other "house" shot, which is a poster, shot in the studio.

• Sharpness/Detail: A lot of fine detail, though details are slightly soft throughout.
• Sharpness in Corners: Some slight blurring in the corners, a lot less than average though.
• Color: Very good.
• Dynamic Range: Somewhat low, a moderate loss of detail in both highlights and shadows.
• Detail lost to anti-noise processing?: Very, mostly noticeable in the stronger textures such as the brick pattern and finer foliage, and then only if you're looking pretty hard for it.
  
  

Resolution Series:

ISO Series:

Sharpness Series:
The Z740's in-camera sharpening adjustment spans a good range, although its sharpening in general doesn't come close to revealing the full detail that the CCD and lens can capture. For maximum detail, set the sharpness setting to "low", and sharpen in Photoshop or other imaging application. (Unsharp masking of 250% at 0.3 pixel radius in Photoshop works very well.)

Color Effects Series:

Color Effects Series
Natural Color	High Color	Low Color	Sepia	Black & White

Lens Zoom Range

Excellent 10x zoom range.

The Z740's focal length range of 38-380mm equivalents covers a much larger zoom range than does that of most digital cameras I test. It corresponds to a moderate wide angle to very substantial telephoto.

	Wide Angle
	10x Telephoto
	5x Digital Telephoto

Auto White Balance

Daylight White Balance

Pretty good color, very slightly magenta. High resolution and strong detail.

• White Balance: Auto setting best overall, though slightly red and magenta. Daylight setting produced stronger warm cast.
• Color: Good flesh tones. Blue robe a little greenish in the highlights, with purple tints in the shadows, but overall color is pretty good.
• Sharpness/Detail: Very good. (Pushing the limits of the poster though.)

Standard Macro Shot

Macro with Flash

A small macro area with great detail. Flash isn't very useful up close though.

• Minimum Macro Area: 2.07 x 1.54 inches (53 x 39 millimeters). Very good.
• Softness in corners?: Slightly higher than average. (Most cameras get fairly soft corners in macro mode, the Z740 a bit more so than most.)
• Flash performance in macro mode?: Not very good, flash is blocked by the lens. Plan on using external lighting for your closest shots.

Auto White Balance

Daylight White Balance

Good overall exposure and color. High saturation, but shots of "natural" subjects looked very good.

• White balance: Auto setting produced excellent results, Daylight was a little reddish.
• Color Accuracy: Good hue accuracy (orange is shifted quite a bit toward yellow though), very high saturation. While not strictly accurate, the high saturation is likely to appeal to consumers, and fortunately, the camera doesn't seem to oversaturate skin tones.
• Shadow detail and noise: Limited detail in the briquettes, moderately-high noise.

ISO Series:

Color Effects Series:

Color Effects Series
Natural Color	High Color	Low Color	Black & White	Sepia

Low-Light Tests

Very good low-light performance. Noise is slightly high at ISO 400, white balance is slightly pinkish, but overall performance is very good. Very bright AF-assist light lets the camera focus on nearby subjects in total darkness.

• Exposure limit: 1/16 foot-candle at ISO 400. (About 1/16 as bright as typical city street lighting at night.) 1/4 foot-candle at ISO 200, and 1/2 foot-candle at ISOs 80 and 100.
• Autofocus Limit: Total darkness for nearby (~6-8 feet?) subjects, thanks to bright AF-assist light.
• White Balance: Slightly pink.
• Noise Levels: On the high side, particularly at lower light levels and higher sensitivities.
• Detail loss to anti-noise processing?: Fairly minimal at one foot-candle, slightly at 1/16 foot-candle.
• General Notes: The Kodak Z740 did very well in dim lighting. It's bright autofocus-assist light let it focus even in complete darkness (out to 8 feet or so), and it easily handled light levels ranging from 1/2 to 1/16 as bright as typical city night scenes, at ISO settings from 80 to 400, respectively.
  
  

(Note: If you'd like to use a light meter to check light levels for subjects you might be interested in shooting, a light level of one foot-candle corresponds to a normal exposure of two seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 100.)

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux
ISO 80	6 sec f2.8	6 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8
ISO 100	3 sec f2.8	6 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8
ISO 200	1.5 sec f2.8	3 sec f2.8	6 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8
ISO 400	1/2 sec f2.8	1.5 sec f2.8	3 sec f2.8	6 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8

Flash Range Test

A very bright flash with fairly consistent results all the way to 14 feet.

• Flash range at telephoto lens setting: 14 feet.

8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft	12 ft	13 ft	14 ft
1/90 sec f3.2 ISO 80	1/90 sec f3.2 ISO 80	1/90 sec f3.2 ISO 80	1/125 sec f3.2 ISO 80	1/125 sec f3.2 ISO 80	1/125 sec f3.2 ISO 80	1/125 sec f3.2 ISO 80

ISO-12233 (WG-18) Resolution Test

Good resolution, 1,250 lines of "strong detail." Low barrel distortion at wide angle, very low pincushion distortion at telephoto. Low chromatic aberration at wide angle, moderate to high at telephoto. Good sharpness in the corners.

• Resolution: 1,250 lines both vertically and horizontally
• Artifacts begin at: ~800 lines
• Extinction point: ~1500 lines
  
  
• Barrel/Pincushion distortion: 0.3 percent barrel at wide angle, 0.08 percent pincushion at telephoto. (Both are lower than average.)
• Chromatic Aberration: Good at wide angle, moderate to high at telephoto
• Corner Sharpness: Better than average.

Resolution Series, medium focal length

Wide Angle	"Fine" JPEG
2,576 x 1,932	Z740RES2576
2,304 x 1,728	Z740RES2304
2,048 x 1,536	Z740RES2048
1,552 x 1,164	Z740RES1552

 Resolution Test, Zoom Series

2,576 x 1,932 (Fine, Wide Angle)	Z740RESW
2,576 x 1,932 (Fine, Telephoto)	Z740REST

Sharpness Series: