New Kodak digital camera does it all

New Kodak digital camera does it all

George Eastman must have had a premonition when he coined the phrase “you press the button, we do the rest.”

Kodak has introduced an easy to use compact point-and-shoot that makes it much easier to take good pictures. The M1033 retails for $199.95, has a 3x zoom lens, sports a big 3-inch CCD display, uses SD memory cards and is available in red, pink, pewter, black, silver and dark grey.

Kodak’s digital history is an interesting one. After being one of the first to enter the digital market, Kodak faded away as fast as its film sales. And it missed the boat on being a leader in digital film card sales. Kodak has now been creeping back into the market with its Easy Share cameras which give anyone the ability to share their pictures with the world. This gives Kodak the potential element of surprise in the market.

Adding to this, Kodak has now figured out a way to make just about anyone able to take great pictures. Kodak’s new invention, Smart Capture, makes more than 50 calculations involving exposure, focus and image processing adjustments before it even writes a picture to disk.

Smart Capture figures out what type of scene you are shooting, automatically sets the appropriate exposure and even readjusts the exposure after the picture is taken.

Among the most impressive aspects of this 10-megapixel camera are its face-detection technology and its post-exposure processing.

The face-detection technology will wow you with its amazing ability to not only detect faces but to follow them in live action. If your subject bobs and weaves, the detector bobs and weaves right with them. This works really well with young children and fast-moving adults, too.

As far as the post-exposure processing goes, a magic act occurs after you push the shutter button. Details that were lost in a brilliant sky suddenly come back to life, snapping into detail.. The experience mimics having a well-trained lab team work up your picture.

Add to that an automatic macro function that detects when things are too close for normal focus and a 30-frame-per-second HD video capability and you’ve got one powerful little camera. The only thing that is hard to do with this camera is to use the zoom control. It is very low profile - maybe a little too low profile - which makes it especially hard to zoom while holding the camera one-handed.

For years, the Canon Elph has set the standard in the compact camera market. Kodak has just taken a leap over the leader with some amazing American innovations.

George Eastman would be proud.