Rating: 
Summary: Great Camera
Review: The camera is fantastic. The viewfinder is key. Few other manufacturers include this important feature, although the LCD screen has huge limitations. An LCD screen is useless in sunlight, and using an LCD screen drinks battery power like water. Kodak avoids that by giving the user the viewfinder option. I never use the LCD with this camera except to delete photos to make room for more on the memory card. Photo quality is excellent, the camera is easy to use, and it is sturdy. I only wish the zoom was better, but I don't think any other digital camera offers much of a zoom. Buy the multi-lens kit for this camera - the telephoto and wide angle lenses expand the camera's function. Great camera...I recommend it for anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Great camera but drivers which work ONLY on WIN 98
Review: Sharp pictures. Amazing low-light capability. BEWARE of the software drivers : DO NOT LOAD them on WIN95 - my machine got totally hosed. Avoid loading them on NT - service pack 6 kept 'blue screening' on me.AVOID the DC290 1.2 software they ship. Go to their web-site and download version 1.3 which is stabler. Technical Support is awesome - there is absolutely no wait period and reps are very helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Ready for Anything
Review: I bought my DC280 a year ago and have been happy every since. The camera has excellent color capabilities, I can create photo quality prints using even lower quality printers, and I can utilize my picture both on and offline. I have taken my camera from the Grand Canyon to New York and from family Christmas parties to 50th birthday celibrations. This camera rocks. One year and 1000 pictures later I can't wait to shoot the next 1000.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera with only one issue
Review: I've had this camera for a few months now, and I love it. The colors are great, the resolution is great, and it really doesn't seem to go through the batteries like I thought it would. The only reservation I have, is that the 16Mb compactflash that came with the camera, and the 64Mb (Kodak brand) compactflash card I purchased to go along with it have had some problems caused by the camera. When the camera is connected to my Win98 PC via USB, the camera properties would work fine, but the flash card would not appear as a drive letter. When using the other flash card, it would appear correctly. I called Kodak, and they told me that my flash card had become corrupted, and needed to be formatted. To make it worse, it could not be formatted in my camera, it had to be formatted in a card reader device. Well, I used the Digita File to transfer the images from the card I could not read from, to the one I could, and got all the pictures off the cards. After that, I used the camera's format command on the misbehaving card. After that I could read from both cards again. Since then, both cards started misbehaving and could not be read into my PC. Well, I was forced to purchase a card reader (I got the SanDisk SDDR-31 one). Well I got all the pictures off, and formatted the cards. I don't expect any more problems, but I would reccommend buyers of this camera (maybe it is all digital cameras, I've only owned this one) do one of the following: 1. Make sure you change the batteries as soon as they start getting low. If you have taken quite a few pictures in rapid succession and the batteries run low enough to cause the camera to shut off, you will corrupt your card. Also make sure you never remove a card while that light underneath the lever is blinking. 2. Purchase a card reader (Mine cost $30)
Rating: 
Summary: ehh...
Review: I use this camera at work for important documenation of historic cemeteries and I have grown to dislike it. To begin first with a compliment: the picture quality is very good. However, the buttons are difficult to press and are slow to react. Everytime I use the camera it requires new or completely recharged batteries (the time I use it is under an hour). The editing application seems good, but ultimately makes it difficult to share the photographs. Whenever I purchase a digital camera for my personal use, it definately will not be the Koday DC290.
Rating:
Summary: My second digital camera
Review: I owned a DC260 and upgraded to the DC290 for the extra resolution. In the year that I have had it, the DC290 has been a great camera. I am a Civil Engineer and use it to document construction projects. Being able to view the picture immediately after shooting allows you to retake the picture until it is acceptable. I transfer the photo files to my portable PC by just plugging in the card to an adapter in the PC card slot. The PC sees it as another hard drive. At the end of the project, I copy the pictures to a CD and give it to the client as a record of the project progress. The files are in standard JPG format, so you only need a web browser to view them. The DC290 also does uncompressed TIF for ultra high resolution.
Rating:
Summary: The Kodak DC290 Proves to be an Excellent Value & Product
Review: In some ways, the DC290 beats some of Kodaks more recent offerings. I read a lot of positive reviews earlier this year on the DC290, but what finally convinced me was this: I live near a Marine Base, and they evaluated a large variety of cameras from many manufacturers and selected the DC290. After several months of use, the Marines I spoke to rave about it! When I finally purchased one from Amazon, I wasn't disappointed. The image quality is very good & is easy to use. The infamous one second shutter delay reported by past reviewers are operating it improperly. Hold the shutter release halfway (yes, Kodak designed it so you can feel it), and wait until the viewfinder light comes on. Depress it the rest of the way when you really want the picture taken. Other cameras operate the same way, usually to charge the flash, and any photographer should spend the second to compose a snapshot before taking it anyway. There is no delay after the viewfinder light comes on.All the positive comments from other reviewers apply. Additionally, this camera uses standard "AA" NiMH cells which are common and inexpensive compared to proprietary battery packs that are expensive and difficult to find. Most people underate the importance of a common battery type until they travel & the battery fails! The only negative comment is that the DC290, as well as most digital cameras sold today, uses expensive flash memeory. I purchased additional Memory (96MB Sandisk from Amazon) because the included 16MB card is inadaquate, especially when taking uncompressed TIFF images- only 2! Mathmatically speaking, a 2.1 megapixal camera like the DC290 is capable of printing 35mm photo quality 4x6 prints at 300dpi, using 6MB of compact flash memory. Spending the extra money for a 3 megapixal camera doesn't make sense for me, as these cameras hog even more memory! I wish this camera was compatible with IBM's microdisk, which recently released a 1GB drive. A much more economical [solution] is Iomega's new external 250MB USB Zip drive, the FotoShow, which downloads images directly from flashmemory card to Zip disk without needing a bulky computer, a real boon for travelers! This drive will work with any camera using compact or smartdisc memory. This is so new, Amazon doesn't sell this yet! One last point: the software included with the DC290 works for WIN98, not WINME. You need to go to Kodak's website to download the latest software which is WINME compatible. I gave this camera a 5 star rating. With FotoShow, I would give it 6 stars, if it were possible!
Rating:
Summary: A Really Wonderful Camera
Review: I love my DC290. The photos are really fantastic - believe everything you've heard about the color quality this camera produces - rich, rich, rich. Also beleive everything you've heard about battery consumption. As others say - be smart and avoid the LCD. You'll still get a quick "preview" after each photo is taken without burning up the batteries by using the LCD as a viewfinder. If you're hemming and hawing about going digital - just do it. No regrets here. One other word of advice - save your photos in non-pdd or non-pds format for use with EZ Photo software. I wasted a few hours trying to get the slideshow and screensaver features to work - this is the trick. Check out the Adobe tech support archives and search under "EZ Photo" if you need more info - very helpful. Enjoy!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Buy
Review: I really like this camera! I am getting much better results (more natural and vivid colors) with my digital camera as compared to scanning 4x6 photographs--there is no need to worry about color adjustments! I researched many cameras before deciding to buy. This one seemed to be the best quality for the price. The two main enhancements in this camera v.s. the DC280 are the support for uncompressed pictures and the ability to record audio annotations to accompany the pictures. These two features swayed me to the DC290. In all honesty, I find that I am not even using these features. The uncompressed format takes up way too much memory (you would need to buy 128mb storage card to get around 16 uncompressed pictures at the highest resolution). I have found that the best quality jpeg compression produces fine quality (I can print great-looking 8x10s) and I can fit 10 times more pictures on the memory card. The DC290 also has slightly better max resolution (1,792 x 1,200 v.s. 1,760 x 1,168). The DC290 also supports a 2,240 x 1,500 resolution that is accomplished using interpolation, but this probably won't produce any different results then enlarging a 1,792 x 1,200 image using PhotoShop or some other software. I have found that battery life isn't a problem (as some suggest) if you use NI-MH rechargeable batteries. They seem to have a much better life than alkaline batteries (rechargeable or not). I also limit my use of the display, which is not difficult since I tend to prefer using the viewfinder. This *significantly* reduces battery usage. The only draw back is that you can't use the digital zoom without the display. This is also not a problem for me because the optical zoom has been sufficient for my usage. Also, digital zooming in general tends to produce poor quality pictures, although I can't personally attest to quality of Kodak's digital zooming. The one problem I have with this camera is the delay between the time when the button is pressed and the time when the picture is taken. It's a least a second or two, which makes taking action photos very difficult--it's hit or miss with the timing. I tried to use the burst feature, but I found that to have limited usefulness. I was use to using the completely manual, tried and true, Pentex K-1000 SLR. Without being overburdened by a lot of electronics, there was very little latency. I suppose going to any automatic camera, digital or not, could produce the same frustration. All-in-all, I love this camera. It takes great quality, high resolution pictures. However, I would also look at the DC280 as a less expensive alternative.
Rating:
Summary: This is indeed a good camera, and I like it a lot, but...
Review: The DC290 is great for photos in which you get to pose your subject, but for action shots it should be avoided. The amount of time that passes from when the shutter release is pushed, and the time that the camera actually takes the picture seems like an eternity. I'm sure its only 2-3 seconds, but I've missed out on a few moments because of that time lapse. Would I suggest my friends buy this camera? Yes, and I have. But if you are buying it to cover sporting events, you should look for something with a shorter "think-time." (my terminology for the shutter lag) ***Update 7/21/01 I've owned this now for over a year. I've really come to love it. When I bought this camera it was a couple hundred dollars more than what it is now, but I decided it was going to get treated like any other camera that I have owned. Which means I've done everything except try to pound nails into wood with it. I bought a 128mb CF card to go with it- a must in my opinion. I wanted to upgrade to the Kodak DC4800, but that was a mistake. The DC4800 is a mess compared to the DC290. (the only thing good about the DC4800 was the software upgrade. My computer used to take about 15 minutes to shutdown, now it takes seconds. If you buy the DC290 get the latest software and drivers from Kodak) If you already own the DC290 and are thinking about taking Kodak up on there trade-in towards a DC4800, don't do it. The DC4800 has so many dead pixels that color rendering is atrocious, it's also so cheaply put together that I would be scared to treat it the way I do my DC290 . The DC290 may be oddly shaped and heavy, but its a sturdy workhorse.
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