Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: kodak, easyshare, c533 | Themes: Digital Cameras
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Camera Tour, Continued
1. Introduction
Priced at $109.95, Kodak’s C533 is a 5MP camera with a 3x optical zoom (5x digital zoom) that competes directly with the HP M437. It features 13 dedicated shooting modes, as compared to HP’s 9, and offers some degree of control beyond the pre-defined automatic modes. Like the HP, Kodak’s EasyShare C533 avoids any mention of f-stops and aperture, but it does provide manual control over ISO speeds, color balance and exposure values. At 1.8" in diameter, the screen is slightly smaller than HP’s 2" screen, and the lens, with a range of 37-111 mm (35mm equivalent) is slightly longer than HP’s.
The Specs Chart
| Kodak EasyShare C533 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Compact |
| Sensor | 1/2.5" 5 Mpixel CCD |
| Maximum resolution | 2576x1932 |
| Lens | f/2.7 - f/4.8 (wide) f/4.9 - f/8.5 (tele) 37 - 111 mm (35 mm equivalent) |
| Viewfinder display | 1.8" (dia) screen, optical viewfinder |
| Focusing | Auto Focus, Macro |
| Metering | TTL-AE, center-weighted AE |
| Shooting modes | 13 still + movie |
| Shutter | 4-1/1400 s |
| Sensitivities | Auto (ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, user configurable; 800 @ 1.1MP resolution) |
| White balance | Auto, daylight, tungsten, fluorescent |
| Flash | built-in |
| File formats | JPEG (EXIF 2.2), MPEG-4 |
| Video | 640x480 VGA, 11 fps; 320x240 QVGA, 20 fps |
| Memory media | 16 MB internal, SD |
| Interface | USB, Kodak EasyShare Series 3 camera and printer docks |
| Video out | Yes NTSC/PAL |
| Power supply | AA batteries (Li-ion or rechargeable recommended) |
| Dimensions | 3.7 x 2.6 x 1.4 in
(91 x 66 x 35 mm) |
| Weight | 150 g (without battery and memory) |
| Software | Kodak EasyShare |
Camera Tour
Front view of the Kodak EasyShare C533
Measuring 3.7" x 2.6" x 1.4", the C533 is somewhat "chunkier" than the M437. With a pair of AA alkaline batteries and an SD card, it weighs 6.8 oz (194 g), again, slightly more than the M437. The camera defaults to a resolution of 5 MP, but you can also select lower resolutions of 4.4, 3.1, 2.1 or 1.1 MP. Only after you select a resolution and return to the capture mode can you see how many remaining pictures you’ll have with your new setting. You don’t have any control over the compression level, and it appears that the C533 uses more compression than the M437. I compared two photos of the same subject; the file size on the Kodak image was 1.2 MB, whereas the image shot on "best" quality on the HP generated a 2.1 MB file.
Picture size settings on the Kodak C533. Not shown is the 1.1 MP setting.
Top view of the EasyShare C533
The top of the C533 has a dedicated button to enable the self-timer or burst mode. You can set the self timer for two seconds, ten seconds or to take two pictures, one after a ten second delay and another eight seconds later. Burst mode lets you take up to three pictures in rapid sequence. A second button lets you scroll through the four possible flash settings: auto, on, off and red-eye. Some of these options are disabled in some of the shooting modes, though; for example, the fireworks mode disables the flash.
- Next page Camera Tour, Continued
