Kodak EasyShare Z740 review

Performance
Our main complaints about performance are aimed at the EVF and rear-panel displays, which were slightly coarse and especially grainy when the electronics gained up the brightness to compensate for low light levels. But at least the viewfinder was usable in dim light, which can't be said for the rear LCD in bright light. It completely washed out, making the EVF the viewfinder of choice outdoors. We found the vanishing viewfinder image particularly troublesome while using the otherwise commendable burst modes -- the screen image tended to vanish entirely for the whole burst.

If you don't mind shooting blind, burst shooting was rapid, capturing five frames in about 2.1 seconds at all resolutions. You can choose from First Burst mode, which captures five shots right off the bat, or Last Burst, which grabs up to 30 pictures in about 15 seconds and retains only the last four shots when you release the shutter button. Other cameras also have this feature, and it's great for shooting action when you don't know exactly when the peak moment will occur.

The time to first shot was a merely average 4 seconds, but the Z740 performed speedily thereafter, snapping off pictures every 1.6 seconds (2.2 seconds with flash) -- but always with that annoying blank screen between snaps. Shutter lag was moderate at 0.7 seconds under high-contrast lighting, but a languorous 1.8 seconds under more challenging low-contrast lighting, even with aid from the focus-assist lamp.

Shooting speed in seconds (Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Shutter lag (typical)

Time to first shot

Typical shot-to-shot time

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-H1

0.4

2.0

1.3

Canon PowerShot S2 IS

0.6

2.1

1.3

Kodak EasyShare Z740

0.7

3.9

1.6

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20

0.9

4.4

2.0

Continuous-shooting speed in frames per second (Longer bars indicate better performance)

Typical continuous-shooting speed

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20

2.9

Kodak EasyShare Z740

2.3

Canon PowerShot S2 IS

1.6

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-H1

1.2

Image quality
Images were crisp and sharp, even at the 380mm position, but only when using a high enough shutter speed to freeze camera shake -- the drawback of lacking image stabilisation. The Kodak EasyShare Z740 preserved lots of detail in the shadows but tended to blow out highlights. For example, under high-contrast light, clouds appeared more like large patches of white.

Purple fringing was the second most visible image defect, evident even in small prints of subjects with strong backlighting or contrast. Noise was not too bad until ISO 400, but became quite noticeable at ISO 800, which is available at only the lowest-quality 1.8-megapixel setting.

Edited by Lori Grunin
Additional editing by Nick Hide