Kodak EasyShare DX3500

CNET editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 5.6 (2.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Julie Polito
• Reviewed on: 06/25/2001
• Updated on: 10/30/2002

Most casual photographers don't know an f-stop from a stop sign. When snapping images of kids, pets, and vacations, the average shutterbug couldn't care less about setting the focus just right or adjusting the white balance until it's picture-perfect. Ordinary folks want two things out of a digital camera: great pictures and easy access to them. Thankfully, Kodak continues to satisfy these requirements in its DX3500 digital camera.Most casual photographers don't know an f-stop from a stop sign. When snapping images of kids, pets, and vacations, the average shutterbug couldn't care less about setting the focus just right or adjusting the white balance until it's picture-perfect. Ordinary folks want two things out of a digital camera: great pictures and easy access to them. Thankfully, Kodak continues to satisfy these requirements in its DX3500 digital camera.

Pure and simple
If the DX3500 were any easier to operate, you wouldn't even need to show up to take the picture. In Kodak's tradition of providing user-friendly features over style and charm, the DX3500 works with a USB camera dock, called the Kodak EasyShare System, which hooks up to your computer and lets you easily load images onto your computer. The dock also charges the camera's lithium-ion batteries. The 2.2-megapixel DX3500 offers attractive images and a 3X digital zoom, and it won't drain your wallet, either.

Even on its camera menus, Kodak keeps it simple. The instructions are easy to read and understand. You can manually adjust the exposure, but the camera has a fixed-focus lens and mostly automatic settings for other controls, such as white balance, flash, and focus. Accomplished photographers may find the DX3500's lack of controls unsophisticated, but novice picture takers will appreciate the camera's simplicity and simply good photos.

Parking spot
The biggest selling point of the DX3500 is its ease of use. With the EasyShare camera dock, you can upload photos to your computer with the press of a button. Unfortunately, the EasyShare dock doesn't come with the DX3500, and it costs extra. It would have been nice if Kodak had included this device with the camera, as Fujifilm does with its FinePix 6800 Zoom. Still, if you opt not to purchase the EasyShare dock, you can still transfer your photos directly from the DX3500 using the included USB cable. If you go that route, though, you'll miss out on the one-button-transfer feature and the easy recharging that the EasyShare dock provides.

Another advantage of the DX3500 is that you won't even need removeable storage memory for it, though you can use a CompactFlash card to store photos. This camera has 8MB of internal memory to house 12 or so high-quality images or dozens more low-quality ones. Continue reading

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Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 114 reviews
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• Showing 3 of 114 user reviews

• 1.0 stars

  "You might miss a great moment!"

  on October 3, 2004

• 3.5 stars

  "Good Point-and-Shoot Camera"

  on May 14, 2004

• 3.5 stars

  "not all that great"

  on March 18, 2003

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Reviews from around the WebPowered by alaTest

• alaTest.com

  Editors' rating: 81

  Summary: alaTest has collected and analyzed 570 reviews of Kodak DX3500 from international magazines and websites. Experts rate this product 68/100 and users 76/100. Comparing these reviews to 576709 other Digital Compact Cameras reviews gives this product an overall alaScore™ 81/100 = Very Good.

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• Computeract!ve

  Editors' rating: 80

  Summary: Kodak's latest attempt to convert the masses to digital photography.

  Read full review