Within its consumer-level
line-up of digital cameras, the EasyShare P880 is the most
advanced and full-feature camera that Kodak markets currently.
The P880 is equipped with all the shooting modes that photography
aficionados expect: it has a manually controlled optical zoom
that covers from a very wide 24mm equivalent to a short 140mm
telephoto; it is mated to an optional dedicated external flash;
it offers a high resolution EVF and a 2.5 inch monitor; it
is able to capture RAW and TIFF formats in addition to 3 levels
of JPEG compression; and last but not least, it has an 8-megapixel
image size.
Aperture: f3.2, shutter
speed: 1/40 sec, 50 ISO.
Clearly, the P880 is a departure
from other Kodak consumer cameras which are designed for the
mass market. Although it can be used as a point and shoot —
the Auto mode handles everything except picking the subject
to be photographed — the P880 is intended to fulfill the
needs of users that want something more than a point and shoot
compact, but who shy away from the dSLR. Indeed, the P880 is
part of a segment of the market that has been well-described
by the term "bridge cameras" as it and others fill
the gap between compacts and dSLRs.
Aperture: f4, shutter
speed: 1/80 sec, 50 ISO.
The P880 is able to produce
excellent high resolution images. Its Schneider-Kreuznach
zoom is sharp across its entire focal length range, and photos
reveal no chromatic aberration. At the equivalent of 24mm
some barrel distortion can be seen, but only when the subject
is nearby, and contains elements that highlight the almost
inevitable distortion such a wide angle lens engenders. A
small price to pay for such a wide field of view and the flexibility
it provides. And at the telephoto end, no pincushion distortion
can be seen in the images.
The sharp images that the lens captures
is retained when the P880's image quality — oddly called
"File type" in the menu — is set to Fine
with JPEG images, as the format compresses images with a ratio
of 5:1 on average.
Furthermore, a TIFF —
uncompressed — image format is available, allowing the
camera to process the images for white balance, sensitivity,
contrast, sharpness, etc, according to its settings, but avoiding
the loss of colour information that is at the heart of the
JPEG process.
For an even greater control over the image quality, Kodak's
RAW format can be used to record images that have not been
processed by the camera, but which contain all the necessary
information about camera settings so they can be processed
later with software.
Aperture: f2.8, shutter
speed: 1/6 sec, 100 ISO.
Regrettably however, the EasyShare
software included with the camera has limited functionality
until it is upgraded. Adobe Photoshop CS II users, however,
should have no difficulty in taking full advantage of the
RAW format as long as they have downloaded the free RAW camera
plug-in from Adobe. As always, the drawback to the use of
either format is, of course, a penalty in the time it takes
the camera to store the image, 15 seconds for TIFF and 10
seconds for RAW.
Aperture: f2.8; shutter
speed: 1/5 sec, 100 ISO.
With a starting sensitivity
of 50 ISO, the P880 is able to deliver noise-free images.
Likewise the 100 ISO setting is effectively noise-free, even
in shadow areas. At 200 and 400 ISO, noise can be seen in
the images, but is nevertheless quite low.
As for the higher settings, 800 and 1600, noise can be seen,
even with the 0.8 MP image size to which these settings are
restricted, but it is not overwhelming. Still, the image size
at which these sensitivities are limited — 1024 x 768
pixels — prevents it from being very useful, except
for e-mail or the web.
In general the Auto White Balance
setting of the P880 yields good colours, but can show subtle
variances from shot to shot of the same subject. On the other
hand, the default metering, an evaluative system called Multi-pattern,
is quite trustworthy but is at its best when the scene to be
photographed benefits from even lighting and does not contain
unusually reflective surfaces such as snow. And in cases when
the subject contains highly reflective elements, it is best
to compensate the exposure, setting +1 EV, to ensure that the
photo is as bright as it should be.
A flower shaped lens hood
is supplied with the P880. But, to our surprise, we noted
vignetting — a loss of brightness in the corners of
the frame caused by the lens hood — in images captured
at the widest angle of 24mm.
Flash photos, using the flip-up flash, are usually well-lit,
and at 100 ISO, the flash has little trouble lighting up to
4m (13 ft). Using the optional P20 however, the results are
even better, and with the P20's ability to adapt its lighting
field — from 24 to 80 mm — in accordance to the
camera's zoom, and its tilt-up head that allows bouncing the
light off the ceiling, interior shots turn out extremely well.
Aperture: f3.6; shutter
speed: 1/3 sec, 100 ISO.
Still, we noted some areas of the
P880 that could be better. The On/Off switch for instance is
a recurring source of problems but the way it functions is counter-intuitive.
Likewise, the built-in settings reset that occurs when the image
size is changed to 0.8 MP, or any of the Scene modes are used
can lead to errors. More importantly however, the P880's auto
focus system is only average in terms of speed, and both EVF
and monitor could have been more colour accurate.
So, while the
P880 may not be perfect, it does offer some undeniable advantage
to anyone looking to acquire a bridge-type camera. Equipped
with a good lens that starts at a wider than average wide
angle, and with image formats that yield crisp, sharp images
that contain an excellent level of detail, the P880 offers
an excellent image quality. Moreover, the camera is compatible
with a good range of reasonably priced accessories such as
conversion lenses, a printer dock and a powerful external
flash. All in all, many users should find the P880 to be a
perfect camera to grow into.
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