Kodak DX6490

DX 6590 - the next generation

With the recently released next generation of this camera, the DX6590 ( and the upcoming Z-version ), which is outfitted with a 5 MPx sensor, I wanted to add a review to this one and approached Kodak for a loaner camera - but the answer was, we have contracted such a review and therefore - Thank you but no Thank you!

Well, that's life, my humble conclusion is that Kodak is not interested in an additional review - probably because my website does not create enough interest in buying it? Or do they not want to hear it again, if something is not that perfect?

Anyway, if you read this and if you have got one of those cameras - and if you feel that you would like to help me - contact me by email please, if you would be willing to lend me the camera for a couple of weeks to update this review....!

Kodak DX6490 – A NEW BENCHMARK FOR 4MPx?

I must admit, I was very interested to get one of these newly released cameras as soon as they hit the market. Well, that meant, I went and bought one for me in late summer of this year. The sales person at the store, where I bought it, did not recommend it to me – she told me, its too new, she has got no feedbacks yet from customers, she also does not know how to operate it and that's why she cannot comment anything on that camera.

OK, I paid well over $ 500.00 for the camera plus a 256MB SD card and went home. As usual, I did not read the user manual but tried to make it work just by trial and error. And it was a successful attempt – the various buttons, knobs and dials are placed logically correct, work according to what you expect them to do and I got my first pictures taken within minutes.

Let me explain now what I do like and what I do not like so much on that camera:

THE ++ POINTS

Excellent image quality with outstanding colors – I do not care about sophisticated test patterns to judge the color rendition, the overall impression of everyday scenery taken with a camera is my benchmark for amateur cameras. No one in real life is going to walk around with a Gretag Color test chart to take a shot of the chart first to later adjust the color reproduction for all other taken images according to that first test shot. This Kodak color correction algorithms do wonder – all images I have taken sofar until today are close to perfect regarding color and color balance – even under difficult lighting circumstances you get very attractive images. The 4MP resolution of the camera was before I tried it out somehow a slight concern as I thought – biased by some advertising – that maybe 4MP is not enough for 8x10 enlargements, viewed at with very critical eyes. But I was wrong – the 4MP are fine and enough for even larger sizes of prints – all details are there, visible and clear.
Easy to operate, long lasting battery power – To operate this camera is very easy – it is a digital camera with the handling philosophy of a standard SLR. The viewfinder, which is a color display, is very good, its resolution good enough for framing and composing and the manifold of information displayed in it can be useful or switched off as soon as it becomes disturbing. What I also liked is the really very bright and large display on the rear side of the camera – even in the bright sunshine I was able to see the image clearly and without any problems. The battery is a Li-ion one, lasts very long and I was until now not able to take so many pictures that the battery went dead – not even after over hundred shots taken in the darkness of the Carlsbad caverns.
An Autofocus which focuses correctly – the AF systems works very well – in bright light, in dim light and even in darkness. As you can imagine, in the Carlsbad caverns, there is not much light which can be used to focus properly ( my wife had quite some problems to make her Nikon F80 focus at all ) but this little digital camera produced in-focus shots without fail. Nice, I can tell you.
It is foolproof – I do not rate myself as a fool regarding cameras as my usual equipment for photography consists of a Pentax 645 and a Linhof Master Technika – but if I want to take a picture in a hurry and without any thoughts about exposure settings, focusing etc, it must work. The Kodak DX 6490 did never let me down – snap it, grab it, power it up and shoot – the picture taken will be fine, you can rely on it.

Well, sofar the ++ points – there are many more positive point which would be worth mentioning but let me know come to those ones, which I did not like too much and the one, I did not like at all – here we go:

THE - POINTS

The camera needs several seconds to power up – not an awful long time, but for my liking a bit too long to be a snapshot camera. Maybe something inherent to most digital cameras, but I thought I need to mention it here.
I do not like the name of on the shooting modes – PASM – this reminds me too much to the abbreviation of a disease and not to the option to select either one of the modes – program, aperture, shutter and manual....yes, I know, it is subjective, but allow me the remark, I do not like that name, period.
The camera is very well capable to long term exposures, has got even a separate flash connector to use outside flashes, but what it lacks is a connector for a cable release or more modern – an electronic remote release to avoid vibrations at longer exposure times. This is not a major investment but a very useful feature which I would have liked to see in that camera.

For those who have been reading this review some time ago, here was originally my one major complaint listed - no adapters for wide angle and filter accessories. THANK YOU Kodak, they are available (I would like to thank Mark C.Rzadca for making me aware of these new items!) - the wide angle adapter comes (like the lens) from Schneider-Kreuznach, has a 0.7x factor, which gives a wide angle focal length of about 26mm and costs about $ 150 and requires the additional lens adapter for $ 20, which then also makes if possible to use 55mm standard filters - great addition!

IMAGE QUALITY

Instead of talking about image quality, I have attached a series of photographs, which I have taken in the past few months on various occasions, locations, lighting conditions and environments to show how well the camera works. Judge them yourself and let me know what your own experiences were if you decided to buy the Kodak DX 6490. Would I buy it again ? – well most likely yes, despite my frustration about the inability to use filters....

The photos in the attached screen-show had of course been made much smaller to load within a reasonable time from the web - the original files have been all around 1.5MB per image which is far too large for a web based slideshow which should be also viewable for those who have no broadband internet access. This reduction in file size reduces also significantly the image quality - but you get a pretty good impression of the performance of the camera.

The locations were the Roaring Fork River valley, Maroon Bells, South Platte river, White Sands NM, Carlsbad Caverns, Carlsbad Desert Park, Guadeloupe Mountains, Sitting Bull Falls and the Ysleta Mission on the El Paso Mission trail.

Here is the link to the Kodak pages featuring the DX6490: Kodak Easyshare Camera DX6490

THE IMAGES

(click on the thumbnail to see them larger...)