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Kodak P880 review
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SPECIFICATIONS
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Fuji S9000 / S9500 review
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SLR-type (20.4 oz)
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Type
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SLR-type (27.3 oz)
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8Mp / 3264 x 2448
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Sensor
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9Mp / 3488 x 2616
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24-140mm, 1:2.8-4.1
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Lens
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28-300mm, 1:2.8-4.9
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50-400 (800-1600 at 0.8Mp)
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ISO
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80-1600
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1.5 fps (max. 7 images)
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Motor drive
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1 fps (max. 9 images)
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| 2.5 inch |
LCD
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1.8 inch (tilt) |
| Full specifications |
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Full specifications |
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7.5
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CONSTRUCTION
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8.5
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| The Kodak EasyShare P880 looks
like a small SLR camera, but is a compact without interchangeable lenses.
The camera is relatively small and has a square appearance. It has a small
grip for the right hand and there is little room for the fingers between
the grip and the lens. They also can cover the AF assist light. The P880
is no camera for people with large hands. The internal flash is not high
above the lens and this position can cause 'red eyes'. The body is made
of black plastic and together with the design it looks a bit cheap. |
Body
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At first sight the Fuji FinePix
S9000 (S9500 in Europe) isn't different from a digital mirror reflex camera. Design, material
and construction are about the same as an entry-level DSLR. This gives
the camera a professional look and fits the hand perfectly. The LCD on the
back can be tilted and this tells you you're dealing with a compact. The
mechanical zoom ring covers the full focus range with one single stroke.
The flash is high above the lens and this position reduces the chance of
red eyes. |
| The front and top of the P880
are scattered with little buttons. They are positioned quite well: the main
options are available and you don't press one accidentally. With a 4-way
joystick you can go through the menus and with a dial exposure settings
can be adjusted. |
Buttons
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Just like the P880 the S9000 has
a lot of buttons on the body, but again they are well positioned. There
is little chance you push a button by accident. It takes some time before
you can find the right button automatically. |
| The cover for USB and A/V is made
of rubber and looks solid, but the one covering the external flash connector
is very tiny and can break off easily. The cover of the battery compartment
is well constructed, but with the memory card it doesn't open wide enough
and it is hard to get out the SD card. |
Caps and covers
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The connection for USB and television
is covered with a plastic cap, which can break when used frequently. The
battery compartment (4x AA) and the memory slot both have large covers,
which open wide enough to change the batteries or memory card (CF and xD!)
easily. |
| Digital cameras with a larger
zoom range usually have an Electric View Finder. You always see what the
lens sees. Disadvantage of an EVF is the low resolution and high contrast.
You can only use it for framing a capture, but not for i.e. manual focusing.
The P880 has a large and bright LCD-screen, which can be used as a viewfinder
and gives access to the camera menus. In sunny conditions the LCD screen
suffers from reflections. |
Viewfinder and LCD
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The EVF of the S9000 has the same
resolution and contrast as its competitors, but due to the high refresh
rate the images look very smooth. The LCD is very crisp despite the small
diameter and again images look very smooth due to the high refresh rate.
The LCD can be tilted in a vertical way and helps the user in high or low
camera views and with reflecting sunlight. |
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8.0
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FEATURES
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8.5
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| The Kodak P880 differs from its
competitors by its 24 mm wide angle, which normally is 35 mm and sometimes
28mm. For landscape and interiors this gives beautiful results. From 24
mm the zoom range goes to 140 mm and with this 5.8 optical zoom you can
capture 90% of every day subjects. The mechanical ring on the lens makes
zooming very easy and accurate, although the fingers of the right hand are
sometimes in the way. |
Zoom
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When one looks at the specifications
of the S9000 one of the features the eyes falls on is the zoom range from
28 to 300 mm. With a short and smooth stroke of the mechanical zoom ring
the whole range can be used. To bad, there is no image stabilization, which
is a 'must' when shooting out of hand at 300 mm and low light. |
| Although the P880 has several
Scene modes for 'point-and-shoot', the more experienced user has the usual
creative modes P, S, A and M for more controlled results. On the LCD you
can see a live histogram and with the Exposure compensation every shot can
be exposed properly. ISO goes from 50 to 400. ISO 800 and 1600 are only
available in low-res 1024 x 768, and have no real practical use. |
Exposure and ISO
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Just like the P880 the S9000
has all the exposure modes and programs as a DSLR. So it can be used by
the 'point-and-shoot' user, but also by the serious amateur. The S9000 has
a wide ISO range from 80 to 1600 at all resolutions, but again ISO 800 and
1600 are not useable for prints, not even at than 4"x 6". |
| Digital compacts have great features to shoot
magnificent close ups and macros. The P880 has such a super macro mode.
Problem however is that the camera blocks the light to the subject and that
there is a severe distortion. |
Macro
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The S9000 can focus in the Super macro mode
up to zero inches! But there is hardly a subject that is suitable for this,
because all the light is taken away by the lens. At larger distances however
it possible to make stunning macros, without to much distortion. |
| The P880 looks like a DSLR, but certainly
lacks the speed of such a camera. The burst mode only captures 7 images
in 5 seconds and after this series, the camera is not available for some
time, because it's writing data onto the memory card. |
Motor drive
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Because one thinks one handles a DSLR when
holding a S9000, it is at least a bit disappointing, when shooting a burst
at such low speed: one frame per second for 5 frames. Just as with the P880
it gives the possibility to shoot 4 frames in a somewhat higher speed. |
| When you want to make a little movie, the
Kodak will not disappoint you (640x480, 30 fps, with sound). You can zoom
and the exposure and focusing are well controlled. The mov files grow with
1 MB/s. |
Movie
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The S9000 has a very able movie function.
It delivers nice avi-movies at 640 x 480 with sound. You can zoom during
filming while focus and exposure is controlled well. The files increase
with 1.3 MB/s. |
| No matter how hard manufactures
try, manual focus will always be a problem with digital compacts. Reason
is the low resolution of EVF or LCD. This can't match the viewfinder of
a d-SLR and therefore focusing by hand is very difficult and inaccurate.
You can choose three color saturation modes, but s-RGB is the only color
space. You can also change contrast and sharpening of the pictures. RAW
is available and can be converted with Kodak's EasyShare after an upgrade.
In this converter you can change white balance, exposure and colors. Besides
the Auto white balance you can choose for 6 presets a click WB or make your
own. The P880 has a hot shoe and an external flash connector. |
Miscellaneous
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Manual focus is, as with all
other compacts, hard to do in practice. Colors can be set in-camera when
choosing i.e. the Chroma-color mode. Again no AdobeRGB is available, only
sRGB. The RAW option is more a TIFF, because the software converts the RAW-file
without interference of the user (no WB or Ev adjustments) to a TIFF with
17 million pixels (!?). You can convert RAW with Photoshop, but this doesn't
deliver a quality much better than JPEG. White balance can be set on Auto
or 6 presets and the user can make two of his own. Apart from a hot shoe
the camera has an external flash connection at the front of the camera. |
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7.5
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OPERATION
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8.0
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| The main parameters such as WB,
ISO, Exposure program and compensation can be set by pushing a button
on the body or turning a dial. This way you quickly can change the settings
to adjust to changing circumstances. The other parameters are available
in the menu of the LCD. |
Parameter setting
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The most common options for exposure,
focusing and color are within reach of your fingers. The F-button (Photo
mode) contains resolution, ISO and color mode, but not i.e. white balance.
Exposure compensation is set by holding a button on top next to the shutter
release and turning the dial. We missed a button to delete a picture just
after taking and reviewing one. |
| The menu of the LCD is user friendly and when
you get the hang of the joystick, you can go through the menus quite easy.
When you close the menu, the next time you open it, it returns at the top
of the menu and not at the last set parameter. This forces the user to go
through the menu every time he wants to set the same parameter. |
Menu
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The menus of the S9000 are easy to use and
with the 4-way controller you can find the right option very fast. After
having closed the menu, the next time it opens in the last set parameter,
so you can make changes in one parameter very fast. |
| It is possible to save a personal
set of parameters for later use. |
Miscelleanous
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The S9000 doesn't give you the
opportunity to save a personal set of parameters. |
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8.0
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PERFORMANCE
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8.0
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| Start up time is short and the
AF is reasonably fast (sometimes needs the AF assist light). The shutter
delay is noticeable, but not annoying. The writing speed of the JPEG's is
good, but when you make a burst or work with RAW, data transfer to the memory
card is to slow. In all this you notice that it isn't a DSLR. |
Speed
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The FinePix is more alert than
the P880, but still cannot compete with a real DSLR. Focusing is fast,
there is hardly any shutter delay, but when writing large amounts of data
(burst or RAW) to the memory card it becomes very slow. |
Color and exposure:
The exposure on the P880 is more conservative than with most compacts to
prevent highlight blowouts. In default settings colors are natural and not
too saturated, but this can be personalized with in-camera settings.
Sharpness:
The sensor captures much detail with its 8 million pixels. The JPG-images
are a bit too sharpened, even in high quality mode. This can be reduced
in the camera settings.
Lens distortion:
The Schneider-Kreuznach does a good job. At 24 mm there is not too much
distortion or corner unsharpness. You see some chromatic aberration and
vignette, but becomes less when using smaller apertures of longer focal
lengths.
Noise:
The P880 is a compact with a small sensor and you notice this immediately
when ISO goes above 200. The noise level at ISO 400 is acceptable to make
small prints. ISO 800 and 1600 (only at 1024 x 768) are useless for print
and even for internet noise levels are very high. |
Image quality
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Color and exposure:
The exposure of the S9000 is 95% of the images well chosen and at low ISO
there are seldom blown highlights. Sometimes the images don't look that
bright, but in general the camera produces pictures with nice colors and
contrast.
Sharpness:
Sometime the pictures of the S9000 look a bit artificial, probably caused
by high default sharpening of the JPEGs. If you wish you can lower the amount
of in-camera sharpening.
Lens distortion:
The Fujinon lens does a good job despite its long zoom range. Distortion,
vignette and corner unsharpness is moderate at 28 and 300 mm. Only the chromatic
aberration at 28 mm and large apertures is more than average.
Noise:
A range from ISO 80 tot 1600 is unusual for a digital compact and gives
the impression the practical ISO 400 barrier has been taken. But again ISO
800 and 1600 deliver a picture quality below the level of small size printing
or even internet at 640 x 480. The pictures are like a water painting, lack
detail and colors are washed out. |
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7.8
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CONCLUSION
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8.3
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The Kodak P880 and the Fuji S9000 are in the same category compact SLR-like and have a similar price tag. But here the similarity stops. The P880 is a very capable digital camera, but it is still very much a
compact in build, speed and performance. However because of the many manual features it is a fine camera for the more demanding hobby photographer. The small size, light weight and 24 mm wide angle makes the P880 a pleasant travel
companion. The S9000 has more aspirations to be a DSLR, but cannot live up to those standards. Speed and image quality (at high ISO) is much less and the limited RAW capabilities and the absence of image stabilization and Adobe RGB make it no alternative for
the semi-professional. The many features, large zoom range, good image quality at low ISO, however make it a very good choice for the amateur photographer, who doesn't want to go out with a bag full of accessories and heavy lenses.
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