Programmed exposures--with multi-area, center-weighted, or spot metering--are de rigueur, but this shooter also has a limited aperture-priority mode that lets you choose either f/2.8 or f/7.5, with the camera providing the optimal shutter speed from 1 second to 1/2,000 second. Unfortunately, it lacks the logical alternative for an action-oriented camera: shutter priority. It's also possible to set light sensitivity manually, up to ISO 800, and to apply exposure compensation to plus or minus 2EV in 1/2EV increments.
Aside from the blazing burst mode, this Kyocera's performance figures weren't especially impressive: It took 3.2 seconds to wake up and report for duty, and shot-to-shot times averaged about 2 seconds with the flash turned off, or 5.2 seconds using flash. Shutter lag was relatively short but not outstanding at 0.65 second under contrasty lighting and 1.1 seconds in low-contrast lighting situations, where the autofocus had a few problems. The Finecam SL400R's lithium-ion battery pooped out after only 246 shots, half with flash.
Image quality, even with the upgraded 4-megapixel sensor, has not been Kyocera's strong suit. Our test shots had only average sharpness and lots of JPEG artifacts, although colors were vivid. If you shoot action with this camera, you'll want to try out the ISO 800 option first to make sure the high amount of noise at that setting is acceptable. For most situations, you'll want to stick to ISO 200 or less.
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Kyocera 4.0MP Digital Camera:
