The Kodak V550's interface displays
camera information around the periphery of the large 2.5 inch
monitor. There are indicators for all basic camera settings,
and in addition, for those that have been changed from the
default setting. One bit of information is missing however,
the aperture and shutter speed selected by the camera when
the shutter release is pressed halfway. This is regrettable
as knowing the shutter speed and aperture that have been selected
by the camera is much more informative than a "camera
shake" symbol. With aperture and shutter speed data,
the user is able to judge not only the likelihood that the
image may be blurred by camera movement, but also whether
or not the image will turn out as expected.
Nevertheless, the definition of the monitor is sufficiently
high that details can be perceived, which is useful when composing
an image. Still, a slightly higher refresh rate would have
made the monitor even better and would have eliminated the
jerkiness of the image when the subject moves, or the camera
is panned.
Menus are presented on a blue background when the camera
is set to a capture mode, and superimposed on the image under
review when set to the Playback mode. In both cases options
are shown using text — the abbreviations used are clear
— and are presented on a contrasting colour that helps
legibility. Moreover, both menus provide an access to the
Setup menu as the last option:
Return: returns to the previous menu, either the
recording menu or the playback menu.
Camera Sounds provides settings for two items:
Themes: applies the same sound effect to all
functions (None, Default, Animals, Fantasy, Music or
Sci-fi).
Individual to choose a sound effect individually
for each function: Start-up, AF lock, Shutter, Self-timer
and Error.
Sound Volume: serves to adjust the volume of the
sound produced by the camera (low, medium, high or Off).
LCD Brightness: serves to select the time delay
until the monitor dims to conserve power (10, 20 or 30 seconds
or Continuous).
Auto Power Off: sets the delay before the camera
automatically powers down after a period of inactivity (1,
3, 5 or 10 minutes).
Date and Time: to set the internal clock and calendar
of the V550.
Video Out: selects the video out signal (NTSC or
PAL).
Photo Frame serves to select slide show setting
that will be used when the camera is docked on the EasyShare
Photo Frame Dock 2: Interval (between 3 and 60 seconds per
image), Loop (On or Off), Transition (sets the transition
effect between frames), Image Source (Auto, Internal Memory,
or Favorites), Run Time (from 1/2 hour to 12 hours in 1/2
hour increments).
Orientation Sensor: orients photos so that they
are displayed the correct way up. Three options are offered:
On, Off, or On Transfer which only orients the photo when
it is transferred to a computer.
Red-eye Pre-flash: On or Off. Worth noting, the
camera automatically corrects images for red-eye internally
whether or not the pre-flash red-eye reduction system is
used.
Date Stamp: On or Off. Decides whether or not the
date will be permanently superimposed on images.
Video Date Display: On or Off. Displays the recording
date and time of the video at the start of playback.
Blur Warning: On or Off. Decides whether or not
the camera shows an indication that the image might be blurred
when the shutter speed is below a certain threshold.
Language: selects the language for the interface
and the menus (English, German, Spanish, French, Italian,
Portuguese, Chinese, Korean or Japanese).
Format: to format either the internal memory or
the memory card.
About: displays information about the camera, including
the Firmware's version number.
The printed manual that accompanies the Kodak EasyShare V550
is not quite up to the quality of the camera. While it is printed
on recycled paper, an ecologically-minded choice, its contents
are poorly organized and often impractical when it comes to
finding information. Similarly, explanations are generally too
simplistic, limiting their usefulness.
Software
The Kodak EasyShare V550 we
tested had a single CD bundled with it. Entitled Kodak EasyShare
Software (version 4.0.4 for Windows and 4.0.5 for Mac OSX),
the software can be installed in a variety of languages.
EasyShare is primarily an image browser that serves
to download images from the camera when it is docked or connected
directly to a computer via USB.
Images can be organized into
albums and seen as adjustable-size thumbnails, or sorted using
keywords that have been assigned previously.
The task bar at the top of the program’s window provides
buttons that can be used to change image orientation, burn
photos to a CD, print images either on a printer at home or
through an online service — Ofoto is offered during
the installation — or even prepare them so they can
be attached to an e-mail.
Right-clicking an image reveals
more advanced functions. A pop-up window presents a number of
the image’s capture parameters (date of capture, image
size and file size, capture mode, shutter speed, aperture, focal
length, subject distance, ISO setting, flash mode and white
balance). And one option available in this pop-up window makes
it is possible to assign keywords to the photo which can be
used later for sorting.
Corrections and
modifications can also be made to a selected image: cropping,
red-eye correction, automatic correction for brightness and
contrast, adjustment to the exposure, or even conversion to
black and white.
As the program provides limited editing functions, a full
blown image editor can also be linked to directly into EasyShare,
allowing EasyShare to open the selected image in the image
editor with a single click of the mouse.
Interface & Software
