Kodak Easyshare M580 Review
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 14 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 3Mb.
Pictures from the Kodak Easyshare M580 leave something to be desired for anyone looking for something better than simply keepsake snaps. Colours can look a little unnatural on occasion and we had frequent cases of burned-out highlights when shooting outdoors under seemingly ideal conditions.
Although night shooting modes are included within the scene modes, the camera struggled to pick out anything to focus on in moderately lit scenes that were no problem for the other cameras we were testing at the same time - Panasonic's directly competing FS30 among them. As that camera is the same price as the Kodak, we were less than impressed with the M580's shortcomings.
On a more positive note, the M580 proved more adept at delivering sharp portraits with flash at close range without either causing red eye or bleaching the skin, suggesting that this could be an adequate party camera. However its white balance was completely off, metering off our subject's green/blue top and rendering the cream wall behind a shade of turquoise as a result.
White balance also proved inconsistent when shooting our sample ISO images, wandering from warm to blu-ish as it picked up a daylight colour cast in the space of two frames. As regards low light sensitivity, it's not great news either, noise visibly intruding from ISO 400 upwards, and at ISO 1600 pictures having that fuzzy, washed out look that while not unpleasant to the eye if you're shooting abstracts, again could be better.
In all, while it's not a complete disaster we'd struggle to give the M580 a 3/5 for image quality.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Kodak Easyshare M580. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
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ISO 80 (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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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 a little soft at the default sharpening setting.
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Original (100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Kodak Easyshare M580 handled chromatic aberrations quite well during the review. There's slight purple fringing between areas of high contrast, but it's only noticeable on close inspection, as shown in the examples below.
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Example 1 (100% Crop) |
Example 2 (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Kodak Easyshare M580 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 1cm away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
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Macro Shot |
100% Crop |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Kodak Easyshare M580 are auto, fill, red-eye reduction, and off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm) |
Flash On - Wide Angle (28mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (224mm) |
Flash On - Telephoto (224mm) |
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And here are a couple of portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Auto setting or the Red-eye Reduction option caused any red-eye.
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Auto |
Auto (100% Crop) |
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Red-eye Reduction |
Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night
The Kodak Easyshare M580's maximum shutter speed is 8, which is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 1 second at ISO 80. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Sample Images
This is a selection of sample images from the Kodak Easyshare M580 camera, which were all taken using the 14 megapixel JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.
Sample Movie & Video
This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1280 x 720 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 33 second movie is 31.3Mb in size.
Product Images
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Front of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera / Turned On |
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Isometric View |
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Isometric View |
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Rear of the Camera |
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Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed |
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Top of the Camera |
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Bottom of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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| Battery Compartment |
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| Memory Card Slot |
Conclusion
The Kodak Easyshare M580 may be a good looking pocket snapper but there are plenty more models on the shelves for anyone hoping to reel in a good deal, with just about every other manufacturer fielding nigh identical 12MP or 14MP 'high zoom' models and Panasonic probably being the first name you think of offering just such for the sub-£200 price point.
The other stumbling point here is the Kodak's design; leaving the otherwise impressive 14MP/8x zoom headline spec aside, it's the first thing that attracts the eye (and potential purchase interest) but in use proves to be a case of style over substance, with fiddly top plate controls and sluggish response times quickly grating.
We don't want to be negative as the M580 is a step in the right direction for Kodak. Unfortunately it seems there is still some distance to go before EasyShare is decisively competing with the Lumix, IXUS and Cyber-shot brands of digital compact for the deliverance of style and substance in equal measure.
Ultimately, and given the above points, giving the M580 an average score feels generous. But for those who do actually care more about looks than performance, the Kodak M580 is available in silver and purple alongside our sample's debonair brown.
| Ratings (out of 5) | |
|---|---|
| Design | 3 |
| Features | 4 |
| Ease-of-use | 3 |
| Image quality | 3 |
| Value for money | 3 |
Review Roundup
Reviews of the Kodak Easyshare M580 from around the web.
reviews.cnet.co.uk »
Kodak might not be the force it once was in photography, but it's still plugging away with its own range of digital cameras. The EasyShare M580 is one of its newest models. If you're expecting a cheap, plastic throwback, you might be surprised. This is a compact camera with one of the latest 14-megapixel sensors and an 8x optical zoom, and it sells for around £160.
Read the full review »
steves-digicams.com »
The 14-Megapixel Kodak EasyShare M580 is a stylish and compact digicam that has made it even easier to share your images. This camera allows you to tag your images inside the camera, allowing you to connect the camera to your computer and automatically upload your images with the tags intact, to Facebook, Youtube, FLICKR and Kodak galleries (with the included USB cable). The camera also features a wide, 8x optical zoom lens, image stabilization, 720p HD video, Smart Capture and Face Recognition.
Read the full review »
Specifications
| Standard features | |
|---|---|
| Sensor type | 1 / 2.3 in. CCD |
| CCD total pixels | 14.5 MP (4440 × 3274) |
| Effective pixels | 14 MP (4352 × 3240) |
| Zoom | 8X SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON optical zoom lens, 5X advanced digital zoom |
| Image stabilization | yes |
| Lens | 28–224 mm (35 mm equiv.), wide-angle |
| Lens protection | built-in mechanical lens cover |
| Shutter speed | 8–1/1400 sec. (auto) |
| Viewfinder | no |
| LCD | 7.6 cm (3.0 in.) indoor/outdoor color display, 230K |
| Storage | 64 MB internal memory[1] available, SD/SDHC card expansion slot |
| Auto focus | |
| Focus Type | TTL-AF, selectable |
| Focus range |
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| Focus modes | auto, macro, infinity |
| Focus control | continuous, single AF |
| Auto focus zones | face priority, multizone, center zone, |
| AF (Auto Focus) assist light | yes |
| Exposure control | |
| ISO sensitivity |
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| Compensation | ±2.0 EV with 1/3 EV steps |
| AE (Auto Exposure) lock | when S1 locked |
| White balance | auto, daylight, tungsten, fluorescent, open shade |
| Flash | |
| Range |
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| Modes | auto, fill, red-eye reduction, off |
| Shooting specifications | |
| Burst modes | self-timer (2 sec./10 sec., 2-shots), burst 3 shots, single shot |
| Face Recognition | yes |
| Face Detection | yes |
| Shooting modes | Smart Capture, program (P), scene, video |
| Scene modes | portrait, landscape, close-up, night portrait, night landscape, snow, beach, text, fireworks, flower, museum/ manner, self-portrait, high-ISO, children, backlight, panning shots, candlelight, sunset, sport, panorama |
| Still capture | |
| Still format | JPEG/EXIF v2.21 |
| Picture size | All modes:
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| Color modes | high, natural, low, sepia, black and white |
| Sharpness | sharp, normal (default), soft |
| Long time exposure | 0.5–8 sec. |
| Review options | select all, tag people, keyword tag, print, favorite, protect, multimedia slideshow, properties, view thumbnails |
| Smart Capture | yes (integration of face detection, scene detection, optimized auto ISO, broader dynamic range, auto KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology, optimized output) |
| Framing grid | no |
| Orientation sensor | yes |
| Internal Memory | yes |
| Date/time stamp | yes |
| Editing | KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology, crop, copy, add date stamp |
| Video capture | |
| Format | QUICKTIME MOV h.264 (video) & AAC LC (audio) |
| Quality | HD (1280 × 720) @ 30 fps, VGA (640 × 480) at 30 fps |
| Auto focus | single AF during video capture |
| Zoom during video | digital zoom during video capture |
| Length | continuous based on memory capacity, up to 4 GB |
| Review options | select all, tag people, keyword tag, protect, multimedia slideshow, properties, view thumbnails, print |
| Editing | make picture, trim, action print, copy |
| Share | |
| Share menu | YouTube, FACEBOOK, FLICKR and KODAK Gallery sites, e-mail, picture frame |
| Customization | |
| Custom settings | Share button settings, LCD brightness, image storage, set tag, red-eye reduction, orientation sensor, camera sound, sound volume, date & time, video out, language, reset camera, format, KODAK Camera Software, about |
| Physical specifications | |
| I/O interface | A/V output (NTSC or PAL selectable), digital USB 2.0 high speed |
| Power | KODAK Rechargeable Li-ion Battery KLIC-7006, 5V AC adapter inlet on camera, USB/AC adapter for in-camera battery charging |
| Dedicated buttons |
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| Microphone | yes |
| Speaker | yes |
| Tripod mount | ¼ in. standard |
| Dimensions | W × H × D: 100.8 × 59.5 × 25.7 mm (4.0 × 2.3 × 1.0 in.) |
| Weight | 150 g without battery and memory card |
| Compatibility | |
| Direct printing | PictBridge-enabled |
| Software | works with KODAK EASYSHARE Software |
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