Kodak P880

Reviewed December 2005

Introduction

Featuring an 8-megapixel resolution, a super wide — 24 to 140 mm — 5.8 X manual zoom manufactured by Schneider-Kreuznach; a 2.5-inch, 115,000 pixel LCD monitor; and a 237,000 pixel electronic viewfinder, the P880 is aimed at users looking for more flexibility than is available with a point and shoot, short of moving to a dSLR.

Narrow, tall, and ornamented in front with a rubberized strip, the grip of the P880 is highlighted by a dull steel strip that starts at the shutter release, encompassing the green LED that indicates the camera is On, and ends just short of the base.

The grip is topped by the shutter release, a chromed button. Around it is the power switch which is, regrettably, a bit impractical.

The power switch is designed to be controlled with the thumb, from the back of the camera, instead of the index and from the front as is traditional and much more functional. The switch has three positions instead of simply ON or OFF. A "Favorites" setting, identified by a heart icon, is positioned on the opposite side of the OFF setting, and in combination with the reversed control for the switch, is constantly confused with the ON when the camera is powered up.

Prog. is labelled as such as it is a "programmable button". Its default setting is as an access to the image size selection, but it can be assigned, using the Setup menu (see the Interface and Software section of the review) to any 1 of 12 functions, by-passing the need to navigate the menus:

• Self-timer: starts the 10-second self-timer.
• Shutter Delay: inserts a 2-second delay after the shutter release is pressed and the camera takes the picture.
• First Burst: captures up to 7 pictures at the highest JPEG resolution.

• Last Burst: captures a series of pictures while the shutter release button is pressed, but saves only the last 6 when the button is released.
• Exposure Bracketing 3: captures 3 images, bracketing the exposure over ±1 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
• Exposure Bracketing 5: captures 5 images, bracketing the exposure over ±1 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
• Time Lapse Burst: captures a specified number of photos (2 – 99) at a specified interval (10 seconds – 24 hours in JPEG) and (1 minute – 24 hours in TIFF and RAW).

The way these buttons function, by superimposing a menu of options on the screen or the EVF is typical of the way most of the P880's external controls work.

is intended for general picture-taking. With this mode the camera takes care of all settings, leaving the user in charge of the image size and compression, the colour mode (colour, black and white, or sepia), and the possibility of date stamping images. Worth noting, by default the image compression (image quality) is set to Standard, an relatively strong compression, and any change to this setting is lost when the camera is turned off as it restarts using the default settings.

Program leaves the camera in charge of selecting the aperture and shutter speed, but leaves all other photographic settings up to the user.

	Manual mode provides complete freedom over all the photographic parameters, offering access to the full aperture and shutter speed range available with the A and S modes, and adding a Bulb mode that can go as long as 60 seconds.
	Custom offers 3 custom modes that can be used to store preferred camera settings that include the shooting mode (P, A, S, M) and all other settings available in the P880's menus. These settings can then be recalled by turning the Mode Dial to C and selecting one of the three custom modes.
	Starts the Video mode which captures video clips with sound at 30 frames per second and with an image size of either 640 x 480 pixels (VGA), or 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA). The recording time is limited to the available space on the memory card, or can be preset to 5, 15 or 30 seconds. During the recording, the manually adjusted optical zoom can be used and the white balance and exposure are adjusted automatically as needed.
	Is the access to the P880's 8 scene modes, all of which place most settings including sensitivity, under the control of the camera: Sport Text Sunset Manner/Museum Backlight Snow Candlelight Beach
	is a close-up mode, and offers 2 settings: Flower: (default) has a focus distance of 10 to 50 cm (3.9 to 19.7 in.) from the front of the lens when the zoom is set to the wide angle end, and 25 to 50 cm (10 to 19.7 in.) at the telephoto end. Super Close-up: requires that the zoom be manually set to the widest angle, but allows the camera to focus on a subject that is 5 to 35 cm (2 to 13.8 in.) from the front element of the lens.
	also offers 2 settings: Landscape: the default, is intended to capture distant scenery. Night Landscape: is designed to capture distant scenery at night, and has a maximum exposure time of 2 seconds. For both settings, the flash does not fire and the auto-focus framing marks are not shown.
	offers 3 possible settings: Portrait: is the default and serves to capture full portraits of people, using a large aperture to capture a sharp image of the subject while the background is slightly blurred. Night Portrait: uses the flash — it must be manually opened — and the Red-eye Reduction mode to capture images of people against a night time background. The camera should be stabilized to avoid camera shake. Anti-shake Night Portrait: uses a higher sensitivity to capture the same type of image as above, but without the need for a tripod or some other means to stabilize the camera.

Looking to the back of the camera, below the Mode Dial, three controls are grouped for quick access. At the top right is the Command Dial with immediately below, the SET button. The Command dial serves to adjust settings while the function's button (one of a group of other buttons on the body that controls a variety of camera settings) is held pressed.

In addition, the Command Dial is also used to modify parameters that are directly accessible on the monitor or the EVF, such as exposure compensation, and aperture and shutter speed when modes that allow this type of control are in use, while the SET button acts as a means to switch from one on-screen parameter to another.

In Playback the Command dial serves to zoom in — up to 10X — to a picture to inspect it in detail, or zoom back out.

Pressing the button once adds a real time histogram that shows the distribution of brightness in the frame. A second press of the Info button removes all superimposed information, leaving only the AF brackets and the battery indicator, but highlighting shadows in blue and highlights in yellow. A third press removes the battery indicator, leaving only the AF brackets. And a fourth press of the button returns the display to the default.

In the Playback mode, the default display simply indicates the Playback mode, the frame number and the battery state. Pressing the button superimposes the left side of the image the file name, the date and time at which it was captured, the resolution and image quality, the colour mode, the focal length used (in 35mm equivalent), and the ISO, contrast and sharpness settings.

Two other buttons are positioned below the SET button:

The next control on the right side of the P880's back is the joystick. It serves to navigate the menus of the P880, and confirm selections when pressed straight in.

In Playback, pressing the joystick downwards displays thumbnails of the images in memory, 9 per screen, while when the thumbnails are on the screen, the up and down arrows can be used to jump from one index display of 9 images to another. Alternatively the right and left arrows move from one image to the next.

Below are the DELETE button, which serves to erase the image under review or all images; the MENU button, which displays the P880's menu (see the Characteristics section for more information) and the SHARE button, which also presents its own menu.

The SHARE menu makes it possible to select how captured images will be used:.

• Print tags images for printing, either using a DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) service or printer, or a PictBridge printer, specifying the number of prints to make of each picture.
• Email tags the image for email use, if an address book of e-mails is imported into the camera.
• Favorites tags the image as a favourite, placing it in a special area of the camera's memory so it can be accessed independently by turning the Main switch to the position.

Four more buttons are stacked on the left side of the 2.5 inch monitor. Each button accesses a particular camera setting, displaying a menu on the monitor, or the EVF, from a setting that can be chosen using either the Command Dial if the particular button is held pressed, or simply using the joystick.

The Function menus are designed to loop, making it quite simple to select the desired setting.

The Flash modes are selected with the first button, but to appear the flash must be manually raised. The selection of flash modes is available in most modes with the exception of some scene modes:

Auto Forced On Red-eye Reduction with pre-flashes Slow Sync (can be front or rear curtain, or front curtain with red-eye reduction) Forced Off.

The next button down controls the metering modes. The selection of alternative metering modes is only possible when the P880 is used in P, A, S, or M modes:

Next is the ISO speed button, used to select the CCD sensitivity. Here again, the button only displays the available option if the camera is set to a mode that allows it (P, A, S, or M):

And the last button on the left side of the 2.5-inch monitor is to select the white balance setting. The button only functions when the camera is set to P, A, S, or M:

Two final buttons round up the external controls of the P880, and these too superimpose the available options on the display. The first, at the top, controls the digital zoom:

None 1.4 X 2.0 X

When active, the digital zoom captures the central portion of the frame and interpolates it to the currently selected image size. While the resulting image is coarser that a non-interpolated image, it is, nevertheless, surprisingly useable.

The P880 is equipped with built-in flash that has to be raised manually. The flash is able to light up to a 4m (13 ft) when the zoom is the wide angle end, and just over 3m (10 ft) when the lens is at the maximum telephoto setting when the sensitivity is set to 100 ISO.

Furthermore, the P880 is equipped with a hotshoe designed to operate with Kodak's P20 Flash. The P20 features a bounce and auto zoom head covering from 24 to 80mm, and is able to light a large area easily, covering from 12m (39 ft) to a minimum distance of 5m (16 ft) at f8 when the zoom head of the flash is set to 80mm.

While it can be used as a point and shoot, the P880 is a fairly complex camera that offers a great deal of flexibility as exemplified by its many features.