Kodak EasyShare P880

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kodak EasyShare P880 front view

The EasyShare P880 is a high end bridge digital camera from Kodak. It was announced Aug. 2, 2005 within the Performance series. Its siblings are the P850 and the P712. Distinguishing features include a wide angle coverage of 24mm (35mm equivalent), onscreen histogram display, and focus-by-wire. In terms of the Kodak product line and price the Performance series are the most sophisticated Easyshare cameras, just below the considerably more expensive Kodak professional DCS pro SLR digital cameras that were discontinued in May 2005.

[edit] Specifications

f/2.8-f/4.1 24–140 mm (35mm equivalent) wide-angle to telephoto zoom lens
1/1.8" (7.18 x 5.32 mm) 8.3MP 4:3 CCD sensor
640x480, 320x240 30fps Quicktime Movie video capture.
Auto, Scene, Programmed Mode, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Manual exposure - allows (B)ulb, Custom modes (stores 3 profiles)
Manual zoom ring and optional use of manual focus ring (fly-by-wire). Autofocus uses hybrid phase detection system (sensors above the lens) for quick focus assist followed by contrast detection system (TTL) for fine focus. Phase detection system should be switched off in the menu when accessory lenses are mounted.
2.5" 480x240 (115k) pixel LCD Panel
EVF with 237k pixel
Dioptre adjustment for EVF
Built-in manual pop up Electronic Flash (GN 9 @ ISO 100) with external Hot shoe and classic flash connector. Special external Kodak flash P20 unit available works with TTL exposure metering. External flash units should not exceed 500v contact requirement.
Proprietary RAW file format - .KDC - Kodak Easyshare software supplied for adjustment and conversion to JPG, TIFF.
Histogram display with highlight and shadow clipping emphasis on Review
Hybrid focusing system uses TTL as well as AF LED for assisted auto focus (can be turned off)
52mm filter screw mount on the lens, 52-55mm adapter tube (Kodak #8480485) needed for mounting Kodak Xenar 1.4x tele converter (Kodak #8756488).
Uses KLIC-5001 Kodak Lithium Ion batteries (4 hour full charge with supplied external charger), also KLIC-5000 lower capacity ones.
Dedicated buttons for Focus mode, Digital Zoom, ISO, White Balance, Flash, Review mode. One custom button.
Command Wheel and Set button supplements Joystick pad for menu and settings.
Firmware Update adds Hot Pixel and Dead Pixel re-calibration, improves focusing speed.
Uses SD card for storage (Max 2Gb capacity)
Drive modes include 10 sec self timer, 2 sec delay, First Burst, Last Burst, 3 shot Exposure Bracketing, 5 shot Exposure Bracketing, Time Lapse.

[edit] User Notes

It is a matter of popular opinion that at discounted prices, the P880 scores highly in having a good 24mm (35mm equivalent) wide angle lens. An entry level DSLR with a third party lens capable of 24mm at the would be twice or three times the cost.
The expected SD card file system is FAT16. 4Gb capacity is not supported.
Macro / close focus mode is not exemplary. Super Macro mode is only available through one of the Scene pre-programmed auto modes which does not allow RAW as an image format. In that mode, other settings like White Balance, ISO sensitivity, exposure metering and autofocus zone are also unavailable. This leads to problems when taking pictures of small objects that fill only a fraction of the image. For example, a tiny yellow flower in bright sunlight will be overexposed because of the unsuitable exposure metering, which can't be changed. Exposure compensation and exposure bracketing are also unavailabe, so this can't be fixed.
Does not have remote control. However provides an additional 2 second delayed timed shutter release in addition to the 10 second self timer.
Appears to be compatible with Olympus TCON x1.7 tele converter. Due to 24mm wide angle natively, wide angle converter(s) are not compatible.
KDC is directly supported by
- Kodak Easyshare software - comes with the camera
- SilkyPix Developer Studio (Windows only)
- Adobe_Lightroom (Windows and Mac)
- Picasa (Windows)
- newer versions of Adobe_Photoshop and Photoshop Elements - there is an Adobe Camera Raw 3.6 plugin. (Windows and Mac)
- Adobe_DNG_Converter (available for Windows and Mac) which implies that once the .DNG file is created, any program that can process .DNG files can be used.
- Vuescan (Windows and Mac)
- dcraw command line tool (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- IrfanView 3.98t - the interim-version 3.98t. (Windows)
- graphic converter 5.9.3 (Mac - comes with the Mac)
- XnView 1.90 Beta [1] (Windows)
Manual focus feature is hampered by relatively coarse resolution EVF and LCD screen.
Visual estimation of contrasty outdoor scenes can be unreliable using the LCD screen. The LCD screen tends to show a pale, bright interpretation of the scene or the captured image. Either switch on the info for histogram and shadow/highlight clipping emphasis or use the EVF for better visual estimation.
Continuous Auto Focus mode is quite noisy. Use the Single AF option.