Kodak Easyshare P712 Review

Review Date: September 1st 2006

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Page 1
Introduction / Features
Page 2
Ease of Use
Page 3
Image Quality
Page 4
Sample Images
Page 5
Design
Page 6
Specifications
Page 7
Conclusion

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 7M Fine mode, which gives an average image size of around 3.5-4Mb.

Noise

There are 4 ISO settings available on the Kodak Easyshare P712 which you can select at any time if the camera is in the creative shooting modes. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 64 (100% crop)

ISO 100 (100% crop)

   

ISO 200 (100% crop)

ISO 400 (100% crop)

   

There is no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 64 and 100, but at ISO 200 noise is clearly visible, and ISO 400 is virtually unusable. Not a very good performance from the P712.

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are soft at the default sharpening setting of Normal and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can increase the in-camera sharpening level by choosing the High option.

Original 100% Crop

Sharpened 100% Crop

   
   

File Quality

The Kodak Easyshare P712 has 5 different file quality settings available, with 7M Fine being the highest quality JPEG option, and both RAW and TIFF modes on offer. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

7M RAW (11.6Mb)
7M TIFF(20.3Mb)
   
7M Fine (3.20Mb)
7M Standard (1.98Mb)
   
7M Basic (1.34Mb)
 
 
   

Chromatic Aberrations

The Kodak Easyshare P712 handled chromatic aberrations extremely well, with only very limited purple fringing in areas of high contrast, as shown in the example below.

Example 1
 
 
   

Macro

The Kodak Easyshare P712 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 10cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject in Macro mode (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot

100% Crop

   

Flash

The flash settings on the Kodak Easyshare P712 are Auto, Fill, Red-eye, Slow Sync (front, front-red-eye, rear) and Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (36mm)

Auto Flash - Wide Angle (36mm)

ISO 64
ISO 64
   

Flash Off - Telephoto (432mm)

Auto Flash - Telephoto (432mm)
ISO 64
ISO 64
   

And here are some self-portraits. As you can see, neither the Flash On or the Red-Eye Reduction option caused any red-eye.

Flash Off

Flash Off (100% Crop)
   

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
   

Night Shot

The Kodak Easyshare P712 maximum shutter speed is 16 seconds, which is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 16 seconds, aperture of f/8 at ISO 64. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot

100% Crop
   

Image Stablization

The Kodak Easyshare P712 has an optical image stabilization system, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took a handheld shot of the same subject with the ISO speed set to 64. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length

Image Stablization Off

Image Stablization On
1/6th / 133mm

As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the image is much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Overall Image Quality

The Kodak Easyshare P712 produced images of average quality during the review period. The 7 megapixel images are soft straight out of the camera and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can increase the in-camera sharpening level. The Kodak Easyshare P712 dealt very well with chromatic aberrations, with only very limited purple fringing effects appearing in high contrast situations. Macro performance is below average, allowing you to focus as close as 10cms away from the subject. The built-in flash worked well indoors with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was very good too, with the maximum shutter speed of 16 seconds offering lots of scope for creative night photography. Image stabilization is a feature that sets this camera apart from its competitors and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The Kodak Easyshare P712's worst feature in terms of image quality is the high noise levels at ISO 200 and above, limiting the camera to use outside or in good lighting conditions, although the effective image stabilisation system does compensate for this to some extent.

Page 1
Introduction / Features
Page 2
Ease of Use
Page 3
Image Quality
Page 4
Sample Images
Page 5
Design
Page 6
Specifications
Page 7
Conclusion

DIWAPhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Kodak Easyshare P712 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.