Kodak EasyShare P850 5.1 Megapixel Bridge Camera

Haven't had it long but I'm already loving it..

Strengths: I love the 12X optical zoom - for the price, it's awesome. I love the large LCD screen. Great video focus most of the time and good sound as well.. Really good price for all that it offers!

Weakness: It takes longer than the Canon I was using before to upload the pictures.. Which gets annoying. Also, the zoom focus lag is a little long... The flash gets irritating when you can't turn it off.

I really do like this camera. I was using a Canon before, and the LCD screen was tiny... This is a great change. The price is excellent. I decided I wanted it when I saw it on display for $397, and when we went to get it a couple days later we saw it marked down to only $269. Plus we got the last one in the store. :) I'm loving the zoom. 12x is like heaven. I can be sitting here on the computer,...
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I really do like this camera. I was using a Canon before, and the LCD screen was tiny... This is a great change.
The price is excellent. I decided I wanted it when I saw it on display for $397, and when we went to get it a couple days later we saw it marked down to only $269. Plus we got the last one in the store. :)
I'm loving the zoom. 12x is like heaven. I can be sitting here on the computer, see my kitten do something cute and snap a picture of her on the other side of the room. It's awesome.
It's noisy, which annoys me. You can hear the zoom adjusting when you're taking videos... That really doesn't bother me enough to make me say it's not worth it, though...
Overall this camera is great for the quality and price. I like it a lot, compared to some other cameras I have used on my way up to this one. I want to get some addons for it and probably upgrade in the future, but this is going to be my main camera for quite a while.

By midnight_tragedy - Jul 29, 2006

Good value for the $

Strengths: feature set for the money, 12x zoom, image stabilization

Weakness: painfully slow to write, zoom focus also lags

I've been generally pleased with this camera. In daylight, it takes great pictures. It's too fast to think you have shadows to fill flash (often distant dark spots in the image will cause it to pop up its flash). Preset push to 400ISO works reasonably well - a bit grainy, even in fine JPG mode. Love the image stabilization. It lets me hand hold 1/4 second reliably. Super zoom has come in handy....
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I've been generally pleased with this camera. In daylight, it takes great pictures. It's too fast to think you have shadows to fill flash (often distant dark spots in the image will cause it to pop up its flash). Preset push to 400ISO works reasonably well - a bit grainy, even in fine JPG mode. Love the image stabilization. It lets me hand hold 1/4 second reliably. Super zoom has come in handy. Video (640x480, 30fps) is quite good, even the audio. In value terms, this one hits the mark. I can take the vast majority of the pictures I want and don't have to deal with a high-priced SLR when I'm traveling. Battery life was good for me, but I tend to use the EVF mostly, and LCD only for macro shots. It does well with contrast range, getting detail well in both bright and dark parts of the frame. Color reproduction is excellent, as with all better Kodak models.

By swede42 - Jul 5, 2006

Excellent Choice for the money!

Strengths: Magnificient IS, great lense, excellent zoom, Raw, Tiff format options, all manual settings, easy to navigate menu, vivid colours, Kodak's excellent customer's support!Good battery and fast charger.

Weakness: Hard to focus in low-light conditions, had 2 dead pixels on the CDD (already solved), slow transfer to PC even with a docking station. Made in China, :)) though the batteries are still made in Japan.

I have had this camera for almost 3 months and I am impressed by the pictures it takes. Regarding the macrofocus (mentioned in another review) I find it fine - if one is a bit more diligent in trying few shots on the subject, at least one would come out well... Another important issue in great favor of the company is that Kodak have excellent customer's support. Shortly after I bought it, I...
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I have had this camera for almost 3 months and I am impressed by the pictures it takes. Regarding the macrofocus (mentioned in another review) I find it fine - if one is a bit more diligent in trying few shots on the subject, at least one would come out well...

Another important issue in great favor of the company is that Kodak have excellent customer's support. Shortly after I bought it, I discovered that the camera had two bad pixels on the CCD. After I got in touch with their team, I got the camera repaired quickly and professionally without any questions! I got the camera back (within a week) with the new firmware installed, with image calibration option which solved the problem with the bad pixels forever. I give them A for that!
Overall I am very happy with what I got for 400$. With two batteries and 1 GB SD card, I never happened to run out of storage or power. The biggest shortcoming of the camera until now is that I have to buy a DVD writer for my desktop PC, since I am running out of space with so many cool pix to save..:)

By tzetz - Jun 19, 2006

Great camera with impressive zoom

Strengths: 12x Optical Zoom, good size LCD

Weakness: Slow focusing while zooming

This is a great camera to shoot outdoor shots. The 12x optical zoom brings you much closer to far away subjects. Coupled with 5MP, pictures come out great. Well worth the cost for the features available (as i got it for around 230). With manual controls, this allows a lot of flexibility. Slow focusing while zooming is a bit annoying. Battery life is fair. Imo, ae/af, focus and flash buttons...
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This is a great camera to shoot outdoor shots. The 12x optical zoom brings you much closer to far away subjects. Coupled with 5MP, pictures come out great. Well worth the cost for the features available (as i got it for around 230). With manual controls, this allows a lot of flexibility. Slow focusing while zooming is a bit annoying. Battery life is fair. Imo, ae/af, focus and flash buttons aren't in good locations, as they could be accidentally pressed at times. Overall, this is a great camera for an advanced amateur.

By mcheng - Dec 26, 2005

Kodaks Best Yet

Strengths: Great optics, best image quality from a Kodak consumer camera yet. Finally a RAW image

Weakness: Slow write in RAW mode, AE,AF button in poor location, I keep hitting it with my palm. Auto focus still not great

I am a pro shooter and have been using Kodak DCS cameras since 1999. This is the first prosumer camera from Kodak that meets my expectations of a quality camera. I have made 11 x 17 prints from fine jpg and am pleased with image quality.

By funzie50 - Sep 30, 2005