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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 30 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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15 out of 18 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Mixed feelings"
Pros: Great everything
Cons: Camera wouldnt turn off at first
Summary: That was really weird. I got the camera last night, charged the battery, inserted it in the slot, and the camera turned on, even though the switch was Off. no matter what i did it stayed on. and i couldnt take pics - it would stay in the review mode. so weird. after removing the battery and putting it back several times it finally started working. pictures are amazing. i upgraded from kodak dx6490, and it's a lot faster than 6490, focus is faster as well. however i liked the LCD screen on 6490 better when taking pictures in the dark. p850 doesnt seem as good. when review pictures though - looks great. my other complaint is - there are buttons everywhere - i always push something by accident when take pictures. hmmmm, what else..... image stabilization works great - i think i might have to sell my tripod now. overall, i'm pretty happy. except for the weird accident i described in the beginning - that is why i gave it a 9, not a 10Updated
so i've had this camera for a few months now. AND yesterday I read a professional review where the editor had the same problem with the camera as I did at first - it would crash and the only way to restart the camera would be to remove the battery. I took the first one back, and I havent had any problems with the replacement.
Anyway, so far I only have a couple of complaints - the battery lasts only for about 130-150 pics - i think that is half of what was advertised. And i am not making movies and am not using LCD. The second complaint is still about the LCD - i completely quit using it as its very unpleasant. the resolution is only 115000 pixels, and the EVF on this camera has twice that much. so i'm only using EVF. the quality of pictures is hmmmm, not the greatest. my older kodak 6490 took better pictures, in my opinion. overall, i like this camera, but i'm not totally happy. i will update in a few more months as i am still learning to use manual controlsUpdated
I am not going to comment on the quality of pictures or anything like that. Instead I want to say that this is my second P850 in 3 months. First one - I couldn't turn it off. At all. I had to remove the battery - then it would turn off. Likely, it happened within the few days after I purchased it, so I was able to exchange it at Best Buy where I got it. Now this second camera - I've had it for a couple of months already, and when I turn it on and start taking pictures - it just starts turning itself on and off every 10-15 seconds. Again - I have to remove the battery to stop that, because simple switching the camera Onn and Off manually doesnt do anything - it keeps doing that. Unfortunately, I didnt buy an extended warranty, so I have to deal with Kodak service department - but the thing is - I really dont want this camera anymore. I've had two, and they both had issues. I dont think I'm going to buy another Kodak againUpdated
I am not going to comment on the quality of pictures or anything like that. Instead I want to say that this is my second P850 in 3 months. First one - I couldn't turn it off. At all. I had to remove the battery - then it would turn off. Likely, it happened within the few days after I purchased it, so I was able to exchange it at Best Buy where I got it. Now this second camera - I've had it for a couple of months already, and when I turn it on and start taking pictures - it just starts turning itself on and off every 10-15 seconds. Again - I have to remove the battery to stop that, because simple switching the camera Onn and Off manually doesnt do anything - it keeps doing that. Unfortunately, I didnt buy an extended warranty, so I have to deal with Kodak service department - but the thing is - I really dont want this camera anymore. I've had two, and they both had issues. I dont think I'm going to buy another Kodak againUpdated
This is my second P850 in 3 months. First one - I couldn't turn it off - I had to remove the battery. This second camera - I've had it for a few months, and it?s acting weird again - when I turn it on and start taking pictures - it just starts turning itself on and off every 10-15 seconds. And again - I have to remove the battery to stop that, because simply switching the camera On and Off doesnt do anything - it keeps turning itself on and off after you turn it back on. Unfortunately, I didnt buy an extended warranty, so I have to deal with Kodak service department - but the thing is - I really dont want this camera anymore. I've had two P850s, and they both had issues. I bought P850 because my previous camera was DX6490, which was great - but after having p850 - I dont think I am going to buy another Kodak again.
A few good things - image stabilization works great. pictures in daylight look pretty good.
A few more bad things - battery life - i can only take about 80-90 pictures per charge - that is just not cool. automatic flash is always on - you have to turn it off every time you dont need it. Also, flash takes a long time to recharge, so when taking pictures at night - half of them turn out underexposed, becasue the camera takes pictures even while flash is still charging. And last but not least - if you want to use higher ISO settings - pictures look very noisy. I hear all the people complaining about Panasonic cameras being noisy. Well, this Kodak is a lot worse. So in my opinion - nobody should buy this camera until Kodak fixes the issues. And even then i wouldnt - i am done with kodak
- 6 replies to this review
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I have a p850 (actually 2); I have no trouble at all with either, although i did have to send the first one back and get it replaced. My pics are great, quality is great; color, etc. I don't have the problems the other guy had at all; my flash fires only when needed and only with the shutter; it doesn't take a pic without flash if it thinks it needs flash (at least in auto mode
) I wonder if perhaps the previous fellow got a lemon and/or perhaps doesn't fully understand some of the functions on this particular camera. You must like taking photos, not just a cam to have sitting around....it's for fun, and for me it is! -
if you are using raw or tiff you will take less pictures per charge.
as for the picture quality i have to wonder if you know how to use the camera. it has so many settings, it is do SLR like. it took me a while to figure it out and it took a lot of educating myself. i finally figured out all of the buttons and they are fast and easy ways to make changes. i still do not understand AE/AF lock. my lack of education not the fault of the camera. i love this camera and my pictures are outstanding. clear, crisp, beautiful colour.
i hope nothing goes wrong with it because i really love it and don't want to learn another camera. i find that there is no problem with the LCD either. there are settings to customize it.
digitalambitions -
The memory card is in many cases the cause of this problem, not the camera. Your camera's problem is well documented in many forums, Kodaks support website, and one of the first questions a Kodak rep will ask you is the type of memory card your using. Whether using internal memory or a card, they can become corrupt causing havic with your camera. Using the Format option in your camera usualy resolves this issue. Also many Kodak camera(as well as other Manuf.) do not use hi-speed memory cards and several of these cards, usualy low end, also cause problems.
For instance my 1G Sandisk ULTRA II card will not work in my P880, causing the screen to blink on and off and then shut down. But it works fine in my Kodak V603 and Canon S700. -
I just wanted to thank you for the very complete review you submitted here as well as the updates which completely changed my mind on making this purchase. I am going to keep looking thanks to you.
Tony aka retrodata -
i have only owned this camera for a week. the only problems i have had is me. there is soooooo much you can do....so many manual settings. i was frustrated with it and wasn't getting good pics but then i reformatted the SD card and put the camera back to all of the default settings. that worked. i took it out and took 64 pictures and every one of them was outstanding. i had the most amazing apeture pics, and i had the most amazing play of light and shadow and the most amazing colour. i am so excited to go out and shoot again. the raw files are great too and the fact that you can develope them on the canera is great. i hope that this camera keeps working for me because i love it and i would like to see the other companies have some big competion. after all competition is good for the consumer....right?
digitalambitions -
...for the initial comments and particularly the follow ups. Jeez, EVERYONE should love what they just bought. The key is how you feel down the road. I was about to buy one for $230 at Staples but I can see why it's been marked down so much and you saved me a return. Thanks again!
Where to buy
Kodak EasyShare P850:
$799.95
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$799.95 | Yes |
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