Kodak EasyShare Z885 review

Performance
In our lab tests, the Z855 performed rather sluggishly. After a 2.8-second wait from power-on to capturing its first shot, we could fire off a new shot only once every 2.2 seconds with the onboard flash disabled. Curiously, we waited 2.2 seconds with the flash enabled, as well. Often the flash increases the delay by at least half a second. 

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W55

1.4

1.3

0.5

Canon PowerShot A630

1.7

1.5

0.5

Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS

1.9

0.9

0.5

Samsung S850

2.1

2.1

0.5

Kodak EasyShare Z885

2.2

2.8

0.5

The shutter lagged just 0.5 seconds with our high-contrast target, and a full second with our low-contrast target, which mimic bright and dim shooting conditions, respectively. Burst mode proved surprisingly quick, taking five full resolution shots in 2 seconds for a rate of 2.5 frames per second.

Image quality
The Z885 can produce some decent images, especially at lower ISOs, but we did see some image artefacts which make some diagonal and/or curved lines look jaggy. Also, the lens in our test sample looked slightly out of alignment, making the bottom-left corner a little less sharp than the rest of the frame. While this may sound bad, it's not all that uncommon in lower-priced compact cameras and can be considered to be 'within acceptable manufacturing tolerances'.

The camera's auto white balance tends to create yellowish images under incandescent lights, so you should try the tungsten setting if you don't like that warm look. Otherwise, colours look fairly accurate, and there is a good amount of sharp detail for a camera in this price range.

On the surface, the Z885 produces some surprisingly low noise photos but at higher ISOs that comes at the expense of sharpness and shadow detail. At ISO 80 and ISO 100 we saw almost no ISO-related noise. At ISO 200, it began to creep in but didn't take away significantly from image quality. Noise steps up a tiny bit more at ISO 400, and we saw only a tiny rolloff in overall sharpness, with shadow detail remaining unaffected.

At ISO 800, images take on an obviously grainy look but are still very usable, though you do sacrifice a noticeable amount of sharpness and a very minor degree of shadow detail at this point. At ISO 1,600, Kodak engages a heavy blur filter to smooth away the noise, resulting in a large loss of sharpness and an overall decrease in dynamic range.

Once you hit ISO 3,200 noise takes over, adding a layer of grain atop the muddled results we saw on the previous level of the sensitivity scale. We recommend staying below ISO 1,600 altogether and below ISO 800 whenever possible.

Conclusion
With plenty of manual controls and a nice, 5x lens, the Kodak EasyShare Z885 offers a lot of bang for its relatively low price. Its high-ISO shots leave a lot to be desired but the flexibility and feature set make this shooter a pretty appealing camera, comparable to the satisfying Samsung S850.

Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday