Kodak Easyshare M1093 IS Digital Camera Review

The Kodak Easyshare M1093 IS is a 10 megapixel compact camera with a full feature set including two different types of red eye reduction, a Smart Capture mode that does all the heavy lifting for you and high definition still pictures and video. This is really two cameras:  A simple point and shoot or a compact that offers complete customization. The choice is yours

Out of the box the camera comes with: 

The camera itself

a little plastic dock

(here’s a photo of the camera in the dock)

Wrist Strap

USB Cable

Power Adapter

Battery

Kodak Easyshare Software. (Version 7.0 for Windows/Version 6.1 for Mac) 

Owners Manual (I’m in Canada, so both English and French Versions) 

An ‘exclusive offer’ that reminds you to install and register with your easyshare software. (Not sure yet what is offered - but I haven’t installed the software yet, so we’ll see)  - update -I still have no idea what the offer is when registering. 

Out of the box this little compact is ready to run. It comes with enough battery  juice to play with and internal memory for 5 photos. enough for you to play with the camera’s features and take a few test snaps before you have to plug it in to charge. I didn’t time it, but a full charge took me less than 2 hours. 

Startup time on this camera is quick and fast. You’re ready to shoot almost instantly and the camera defaults to ‘Smart’ mode. 

The Smart mode is one of four modes available: 

1. Smart Capture Mode: This mode does it all for you adjusts exposure, iso speed, focus. point and shoot.

2. Movie. Self explanatory, really. this little kodak allows you to make High Definition movies. (720p) 

3. Program. You’d use this setting if you want to tweak the settings below. Want to always shoot at a high ISO, for example? This would be the settings you would use. 

4. Scene. You can select different scenes to use. For example if shooting a close up you could use the close-up scene. or the panarama modes to shoot neat panoramas which ’stitch’ multiple photos to create a panoramic view. 

Let’s start with the Smart Capture Mode: 

In this mode, the camera does most, if not all of the settings adjustments for you but there are a few modifications you can make: 

You can change the picture/file size. The default is 10MP. (You paid for a 10MP camera - might as well use it as such). But, if you want you can change the file sizes to smaller: 

• 10 Megapixels
• 8.9 Megapixels
• 7.5 Megapixels
• 5.0 Megapixels
• 4.5 Megapixels
• 3.8 Megapixels
• 3.1 Megapixels
• 2.8 Megapixels 
• 2.4 Megapixels

Other setting you can change are: 

LCD Brightness 

• High Power
• Power Save

LCD Dimmer 

• OFF
• 10 Seconds
• 20 Seconds
• 30 Seconds

Image Storage

• Auto
• Internal Memory

Set Tag

This option allows you to tag your photos

• Add Tag
• Delete Tag
• Clear ALL

Date Stamp

• ON
• OFF

Red Eye Reduction

• Pre Flash
• Digital Correction

Image Stabilizer 

• ON 
• OFF

Orientation Sensor

• Still - On/Off
• Video - On/Off

Camera Sounds

• Sound Themes - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Power On- Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Focus Lock - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Shutter - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Self Timer - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None
• Error - Default/Secret Agent/Jazz Lounge/None

Sound Volume

• Low 
• Medium 
• High
• Off

Date and Time - allows you to set/modify date/time

Digital Zoom

• ON
• OFF
• Auto Power OFF
• 1 minute
• 3 minute
• 5 minute
• 10 minute

Video Out. 

• NTSC
• PAL Read more
  
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Kiss JPG Magazine Goodbye

An Update: savejpg.com has been created in an effort to save JPG Magazine. 

JPG Magazine is closing its doors, effective Monday January 5 according to a blog post on their site by the magazine’s editor in chief Laura Bruno Miner: 

We’ve spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we’ve reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but just weren’t able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009.

The post goes on to mention a few things you might want to do before then if you will be affected by this decision: 

- Download the PDFs of back issues, outtakes, and photo challenge selections. We’ll always have the memories! 
- Make note of your favorite photographers. You may want to flip through your favorites list and jot down names and URLs of some of the people you’d like to stay in touch with. You may even want to cut and paste your contacts page into a personal record.
- Catch up with your fellow members. Our roots are in this humbleflickr forum and we recommend going back to find fellow members, discuss the situation, or participate in another great photo community. 
- Keep in touch. This has always been much more than just a job to each of us, and we’ll miss you guys! We’ll be checking the accountjpgletters@gmail.com in our free time going forward. We can’t promise to reply to every email (since we’ll be busy tuning up our resumes) but we’d love to hear from you.
- Stay posted. Although the magazine is ceasing publication, we’ll be updating you on what’s happening with your subscription early next week.

It’s sad to watch all the print publications die one by one this year, and it’s a real shame to lose a good publication such as this.

Save 10% at Ritz Camera. Today Only.

Ritz Camera offers 10% off your purchase of in-stock products when you pay with paypal. Today only. 

Of course, there’s exceptions: This doesn’t apply to the Canon 5D (all configurations), the Nikon D3x (all configurations), the Nikon D3 (all configurations), the Nikon D300 (all configurations), and the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III (all configurations).

But it doesn’t say anything about the Nikon D700 which would be a a great Digital SLR to grab for 10% less than anybody else has it listed at. 

The Nikon D700 is $2399, subtract 10% and you’ve got a Nikon D700 for $2159, which is definitely the lowest price I’ve seen on this Digital SLR. Amazon lists this camera at $2319

If you’re interested in a Nikon D700, or any other in stock item, this is the last day for your expenditure to show up for the 2008 tax year. April comes soon, too soon.

Just a few days left on Amazon’s Free Memory Offer

Just a reminder that the Amazon  offer of a free 4gb Memory Card with the purchase of a top selling digital camera ends soon. Jan 3 is the last day you can take advantage of this offer. 

You’ll get a FREE Kingston 4 GB Memory Card with the purchase of top selling cameras such as the Canon Powershot G10, Nikon Coolpix S60, Canon Powershot SD790IS, and many more popular models. If you’ve been on the fence for a new digital camera, then this is the time. Get some free memory while you can.

Deal. Apple MacBook 17inch for just $1999.00

B+H offers the Apple Apple 17″ MacBook Pro Notebook Computer for just $1999.00. If you’re a shooter looking for a desktop replacement, or just a new notebook - this may be it for you. 17 inches gives you lots of screen real estate for menus and still giving you lots of room for your workflow. 

Features include: 

• 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
• 2GB (2×1GB) RAM
• 250GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
• 8x SuperDrive
• nVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 512MB Graphics
• 17″ Widescreen Display
• iSight Webcam, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• 802.11n AirPort Extreme
• Mac OS X Leopard
• 6.8 lb 

Rounding out this deal is Parallels Desktop 4.0 Software for Mac OS X (OEM) for free. A $70 value. 

Deal. Canon G10 for $409. Save $90 off regular price

Amazon.com offers the Canon G10 for $409.99, a savings of over $90 off the list price of $499.99. This is the lowest price I have seen on Canon’s G10. Some of the features include 14.7 megapixels, a wider zoom (28mm) and a 5x optical zoom lens.

Kodak EasyShare M1093 High ISO Examples.

One of the features o f the KODAK EasyShare M1093IS is the HIGH ISO capabilities. So I thought I’d test some real world examples. This is mixed light too. Low daylight on the foreground and flourescant filling in from above. I’ve got the exposure mode set to PROGRAM and then took the exact same photo, except for different ISO settings all else is the same.

ISO 100-400 are pretty much the same. A bit of grain shows up at ISO 800 but again produces very usable pictures. ISO 1600, the quality is little less but still useable. AT ISO 3200 things get pretty grainy and noisy. If ANY photo was better than no photo, then ISO 3200 would do the trick but I doubt I’d be hanging the photo in a gallery. The camera offers a ISO 6400 option as well, but requires you to change the image size to less than 3.1MB, so I didn’t test it. ISO 3200 is as high as you can go with the settings at 10MP which is the resolution I’m testing at. It’s advertised as a 10MP camera so that’s how it gets tested.

ISO I00

ISO 200

ISO400

ISO800

ISO 1600

ISO3200

Kodak EasyShare M1093IS Sample Images

I’m still working on the review of the Kodak Easyshare M1093 IS full review, but I thought I’d post some sample images I managed to get with this little compact camera. Clicking on these images will take you to larger versions if you wish. Also, no enhancement on these whatsoever. These photos are straight out of the camera. 

Worth noting is the  images of the street intersection at night. The camera chose ISO 3200 for this shot. It’s a pretty clean considering this it’s dark as it is out. Not as clean as ISO 100 but definitely a usable photo at this high an ISO.

I hope to have the review for this posted later this week, but so far I like it. The Auto White Balnace works very well. See the photo of the store. See all those flourescant lights? That’s a hard thing to balance for  with some cameras.

Canon 5D Mark II Black Dots. A Statement from Canon.

Canon is, at very least aware of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the ‘black dots’ issue. 

We are currently investigating and analysing the causes, and examining measures to reduce or eliminate these phenomena by providing correction firmware.  An announcement will be made on the Canon Web site when such measures have been determined.

 

Exploring Framing Options with Wildlife

This is a guest post by wildlife shooter Mike Cavaroc. You can see more of Mike’s photos at www.cavaroc.com

Many photographers take their shot, perhaps crop in a bit, and after tweaking the Curves/Levels/Saturation/etc, are done with it. But what if the composition begs to be something different? How do you know which to choose? The simple answer is that if you want to tell a story, you shoot horizontal. If shooting wildlife, this gives your subject a space to sort of walk in to, and is especially useful if there is motion, as shown in the example with the pronghorn. If you have a lot of elevation change in your image, you’ll want to shoot vertically to ensure that all the splendor of the original scene is still there just as you saw you it.

With wildlife, many people tend to shoot horizontally, and can quite often come away with successful shots. Before jumping straight into a horizontal format though, ensure that it’s what the scene requires. Are there impressively lit mountain peaks in the background? Are fall colors above? Ask yourself questions like these when out in the field and if you can answer yes, definitely shoot vertical. Clearly, in the example of the bull moose with Grand Teton lit up from the first light of day, this shot would not have been nearly as successful in a horizontal format. With this shot you really get an idea of the landscape that this particular bull moose calls home. Thus it is very important when composing your scene to look around and see where the important details truly are and how you can capture as much of their environment as possible.

On the other hand, maybe there is just not that much detail in a shot. Sometimes it’s hard for a photographer to do, but in this instance, getting rid of half, or two-thirds of the shot is necessary to get rid of any empty space that may have been captured. This can be seen in the example of the panorama of the two bull moose with the Grand Teton Mountains in the background. In this shot, all of the focus was running right through the middle of the photo. There was extra sagebrush distracting from the moose at the bottom of the photo and there were clouds above with very little detail that were leaving the shot feeling unbalanced. In this case, I simply eliminated them and created a panoramic format. Since I’m shooting with 12.8 megapixels, this still leaves plenty of photo to be blown up larger, if desired.

These are just a few examples and there are plenty more options depending on the scene, the animal(s), the weather, etc. Of course, these are only rules and doing something completely opposite of what I said could result in something spectacular! The only way to find out is to just get out there and keep shooting.