Rating: Summary: Quit screwin' around and take the picture! Review: Thirty years ago, when I was in the service, I bought a 35mm SLR with all the bells and whistles. I spent a ton of money (for an enlisted man) on lenses, filters and other accessories. I would spend several minutes before every shot setting the f-stop, shutter speed, zoom and focus. I thought that was how photography was supposed to be done. When I was a child, I thought as a child...now as an adult, I just want the picture. This camera has the option of setting film speed, f-stop, zoom, etc., or, as I prefer, point and click. It's the Macintosh of digital cameras. The quality of pictures is excellent. And really, isn't that what you want? I got the docking station, extra memory and an extra battery. It sets up great for vacation. We can recharge the batteries at night and the extra 256 MB flash card holds all our pictures from vacation. This is a great camera "for the masses."
Rating: Summary: Simply simple Review: My goals in selecting a camera were: 1. It had to be simple. Essentially goof proof. 2. It had to be small and light weight. 3. Most bang for the buck.Kodak scored perfect. Got the bundle. The Docking cradle is one-touch simple; uploading pictures and recharging the NiMH battery pack at the same time. Reminded me of my Palm Pilot. Had to be simple for my non-techy family. I use the dock at home and a SanDisk CF reader at work. The default settings fit most shots. Great for family members that don't want the hassle of fancy setups or dislike reading manuals. Great for building confidence as well! As one becomes more facile (familiar with the normal stuff) one can experiment (boldly go) with various options. The manual explains everything well. A word of caution and this is true for any digital camera, when you turn on the camera to take a picture make sure it is in picture taking mode (DUH!) and double check the LCD screen on top to make sure you haven't left it in some weird mode. Nothing like taking a Macro shot of a mountain or flash shot in a mirror or sliding glass door. Actually one should return the camera to neutral settings before turning the camera off. Everybody talks about batteries. This camera is no different! Get extras. Use the view screen sparingly. As the book says it will rapidly drain the battery. The select button on the back toggles the screen on and off. If I could just keep my kids from turning it on. Kodak makes a really nice optional kit with padded bag, charger, battery pack and international plug adapters. Useful when traveling. Speaking of the battery pack ... it is made so that it can NOT be inserted incorrectly in either the camera or the charger. Nice touch Kodak. Sometimes the speed with which the camera stores images to the CF card can be frustrating. Get over it and be patient. This issue is not unique to Kodak. If you know ahead of time that you need to take many shots in rapid succession Kodak has implemented a burst mode. The downside is you must go to a menu to activate it. Also the picture quality must be reduced for this function. You can take 8 pictures in rapid fire. Remember to return this to your normal setting. Going on a trip? Look for sales on large capacity CF cards. I added a pair of 128MB to my kit. Paid less than [price] apiece. It's like carrying 30 rolls of film without the bulk (2 shoe boxes) and hassle of loading the film. Of course everyone knows that with digital every picture is a keeper (hmmm) so how does 8 to 900 or more perfect pictures stored on a postage stamp sized device sound? Friend at work recently bought a 1Gigabyte CF card! WOW! Don't know if it works with this camera but can you imagine? I love technology. Word to the wise - download to your PC or MAC frequently. Don't and you will become hysterical the first time you screw up your CF card. The manual warns you and Murphy is everywhere. Personal experience - my daughter lost 220 shots on a SmartMedia card in her digicam. Imagine losing 900 pictures? Ouch. Recently took the camera for 2 weeks in Peru back to back with a week in the UK. Got great shots. Will soon share the non-personal ones on [another website] under user "vand21". Every seen Machu Picchu? Incredible! The camera comes with a video cable and get this. It can output to TVs in both NTSC (USA) and PAL (Europe and South America). Useful when traveling. Complaint? Maybe one. Took picture looking out at a clouded mountain top. The image part that was white had multiple bands of white rather than a smooth light to dark transition. This may be a common problem with digital cameras. I don't know. I plan to ask Kodak about this. If you have Internet access and provide your E-Mail to Kodak at registration they send you links to get the most out of your camera. Kinda online training. They also have links to many other neat sites to make using your camera fun. Nice followup Kodak. Their software can download, rotate, store, create albums, email friends or print your photos and it has a very non-techy user interface (simple to use). Behind the scenes the email function automagically reduces your humunguous 500K images to under 60K so your friends with slow access won't send you "hate mail." It does this without affecting the original. Yeah you can add lens but I would advise against it if your goals are similar to mine. If you do go for the lens you will need an adapter. Look for it. A word of caution - do not leave the lens attached when are not taking pictures that require it. Remember the body of the camera is plastic. Guess what will break if it gets bumped or bangs into something? Camera comes with a wrist strap. Use it. Saved me several times on my trip. If the camera is not strapped to your wrist make sure you keep it where it can't be stolen. Pickpockets are keen on digital cameras but more than that think how valuable and irreplaceable your photos (inside the camera) are! I am having a wonderful time with this camera. I hope you find these comments useful. Oh! Kodak has a 4.0 MEGAPIXEL version if you want more. Around [price] more.
Rating: Summary: Cheap Cheap Cheap Review: Stay away if you want quality and durability. The discontinued Kodak DC280 is a much much better camera than this sad piece ... I don't mean to be so harsh but I was really disappointed when this camera arrived in the mail. The covers and doors open by just brushing them accidently - it's slow, the LCD screen is no better than the earlier models and actually a little worse. I know now that for an upgrade from my older Kodak I will have to go with another company.
Rating: Summary: great camera, but... Review: this is truly a 5 star camera. I am picky; this camera satisfies. I write not to contribute to the flood of "it's great," but to suggest that you beware of the lens enhancements. the lens adapter (32mm to 37mm) intrudes in to the view finder space--not a show stopper, but disconcerting, nonetheless. adding either the telephoto or wide angle and you lose close to half of the view finder space and MOST troubling of all, the telephoto lens, actually referred to as kodak 2.0x telephoto converter 37mm, crops the corners. noway!? unacceptable and still waiting for kodak's thought. this is the only lens I have witnessed squeezing the image, but I have not seem them all--the .05 super wide angle converter 37mm as well as the +7 and +10 do not choke the image. note: all items purchased were recommended by kodak and have a kodak label. otherwise, the lens kit with the aforementioned items comes with a great bag (actually labled as tiffen) and nice lens pen. in short, the noted telephoto lens does not satisfy when used on the dx3900. beware.
Rating: Summary: Not even worth one star Review: This is the worst example of poor construction, quality and materials I have ever seen in a product that was priced this high. I am ashamed for Kodak - and I will never buy a digital camera from them again. I love my Kodak DC280 and I'm going to keep it now instead of trading it in. This camera shouldn't be priced [that high]- It felt like it was going to break as soon as I put it to use. It was returned the same day I received it.
Rating: Summary: It's all about the PRICE!! Review: I just received my DX3900 four days ago and so far I'm pleased. It is my second digital camera. My first, a Canon Power Shot A50 is still very good and is only 1.3MP. The Kodak is very easy to use and has a few more features than the older Canon. The price [I paid was] less than [what] I paid for the 1.3MP Canon two years ago and better than most new 2MP cameras. I compared lots of cameras before I bought this one. I really wanted an Olympus, Canon, Nikon or Fuji but kept coming back to this one. I bought it mainly for the higher pixel count and especially the price. It doesn't have the features of the others but again, the price was just too good to pass. I really like the optional lenses that can be purchased and I plan to get them ASAP. I'm going to try it on one of my telescopes and hope to capture some good astro-images. I purchased the 128MB card which is a must for this camera because the 8MB card that comes with it holds a miniscule 8 pictures. I will say that it doesn't feel quite as good as the Canon which has a heavier metallic body. The Kodak is plastic but again most of the others I have held lately are also plastic. Also, the display at 1.5" is a bit smaller than the Canon's 2" display. I also find my Canon's card slot and ejection mechanism to be higher quality and I do fear that I'll break the door on the Kodak...but again the price.
Rating: Summary: Great Value, Great Camera Review: This is my first digital camera, and I am extremly happy with my purchase. This is a great value when it comes to cameras. I have used this camera for about a month now and it is great. Easy to use, and gives excellent performance. I got the docking station as well, which makes transferring photos very easy and there is no issue with batteries. With the docking station, you also get rechargable batteries. But a warning on these batteries - you must charge them for the total time recommended, DO NOT USE THE LIGHT AS A GUIDE. When the light goes green, remove the camera and replace it - repeat for the total charge time recommended. If you are not getting the docking station, my camera came with kodak lithium batteries, which has a long life. In addition, this camera uses only 2 batteries. Most other cameras I was looking at used 4! I also got the HP Deskjet 940C, and with photo quality paper, you cannot tell the difference from regular photos. The kodak software that comes with the camera is quite adequate. All in all this is a great camera.
Rating: Summary: Buy this camera from Amazon... Review: and you will feel like you got a great deal. The price here is the best I've seen. As for the camera's functionality, I'd rate it a 9 out of 10. The pictures are really, really nice. I cant imagine why anyone aside from a very serious professional would want more out of a camera. The photos dont have a very wide angle, and the software is a bit "to simple" (I think they designed it to be totally user friendly, but for anyone with a good handle on using the computer might desire more features),but dont let that stop you. You'll use Image Expert or something similiar to spice up your pics anyway. It was my second digital camera. My first was an Olympus in the same price group. This beats my old one hands down.
Rating: Summary: Great Deal Review: I did alot of research before purchasing this camera. I read all the reviews and checked out all the specifications. For the money, this is a great camera. I used this camera for the first time on a trip to Las Vegas. It worked great. It's easy to use, the ability to see your pictures after you take them is so much nicer than waiting to get your film developed. The quality of the pictures is outstanding. I highly recommend getting at least a 128mb flashcard. We took at least 200 pictures and saved 159 on one 128mb flashcard, and never had to change the batteries. I opted not to get the docking station and don't regret it at all. Its just as easy using to USB cable to load your pictures. So far this camera has yet to disappoint me. Its been money well spent.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Choice Review: We bought this camera about 6 months ago when our daughter was born and are thrilled with the pictures. We use Shutterfly.com to get prints and people can not believe that they were taken with digital. The dock is a great accessory and one of the reason I bought the camera. We do not have to worry about hooking up cables and charging batteries. Just drop it in the dock and you never have to worry about it. The one knock I do have against this camera is the battery life. I have a 64 MB CompactFlash card, which give me a total of about 64 pictures. At around 25 - 30 pictures that battery is nearly dead. So, just cary some extra batteries. Highly recommend for picture quality and easy of use.
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