- 4.0-megapixel sensor captures enough detail to create photo-quality 11-by-15-inch prints
- 10x optical zoom, 3x digital zoom (30x total)
- Store images on 16MB internal memory, with MMC/SD card expansion slot
- Powered by lithium-ion rechargeable battery
Product Description
The Kodak EasyShare DX6490Zoom Digital Camera takes digital to a level. Get close with a 10X (38-380 mm) optical Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon Zoom Lens. Print up to 20″ x 30″ (50 x 75 cm) with 4.0 MP. Fine-tune with manual controls or use the programmed scene modes. Share your shots instantly with Kodak exclusive Share button for one-touch e-mailing, printing, and transferring.ng.Fully loaded with advanced features developed by the industry’s brightest and sharpest, the DX6490 satisfies your artistic passion for creative freedom, vivid color, and in-depth detail.
4.5
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Kodak EasyShare DX6490 4MP Digital Camera with 10X Optical Zoom
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The Kodak DX6490 is an amazing camera to use. For the price, far below other hi-end digital cameras such as Nikon and Canon, you get fine pictures, excellent control, features that allow you to treat the DX6490 like an old-fashioned SLR, and an effective lens whose clarity astonished me.
From the hugh LCD readout, the the pop-up flash, I found the DX6490 easy to use. Unlike older digital cameras, the DX6490 has little lag time between the shutter button and the exposure.
I found that when I set my ISO manually to 400, I could take pictures I only dreamed about with my older DC3400, capturing watersplashes, tightly focused portraits, and usable digital video.
I bought a Kodak SD 256 card to go with the camera, having learned my lesson with my old 8 card for my DC3400. Of course, the DX6490 has an interal drive so you could use the camera without a card if need be.
I was shocked pleasantly when I got home after a day of shooting and plugged my card into my computer and opened the pictures in Photoshop CS. I was thrilled by the detail, the range of lighting, the excellent contrast, and the work of the manual mode which froze motion like the best old Nikon.
Some weak points: I am now tied to the Li-On battery instead of easily availible and cheap AA batteries. Expect to use a tripod to get a sharp picture using the portrait mode and the 10X zoom together (but any serious photographer would expect the same from any camera). The Camera is consumer oriented, with built in album naming and email capability which I know people might use. I would have prefered more battery power for extended use.
On the whole, this is fine camera for a great price. I bought mine at Wal-Mart and I paid less for the DX6490 than any of the advertised prices on Amazon. Anyone interested in a controllable digital camera without taking out a second mortgage will find themselves more than pleased with the DX6490. How good is this camera? My wife forgave me for buying it when she saw the pictures.
Rating: 5 / 5
OK, I’ve had the camera for a week, but took it to an important family party last weekend and shot about 80 photos–different modes, light, etc. Then took it to WalMart Kodak Picture Maker machine and got 2 CDs made, some enlargements and lots of 4x6s. This camera is wonderful. I did a lot of research before buying. It’s true, you can use this camera “out of the box.” The clarity (resolution) is so good, it’s almost too good. With the 10x optical zoom, I’m seeing (in the prints) veins on flowers, imperfections on human skin, every last detail! I didn’t even realize it also gives you the option of “dialing down” to lower megapixels if you want to save space, and the lower resolution also produced beautiful pictures. I bought a 256 MB memory card so don’t have to worry about running out of room. The “burst” mode worked great for action shots. The video mode worked great. I haven’t had a chance yet to try the manual mode, but it’s nice to have that option. Check out the other features I’m not even mentioning here (slide show on TV, for example). Some reviews on other web sites voiced concerns about battery life. I shot pictures over several hours, with the LCD viewfinder on, plus shot a short video clip with the camera, and never ran out of battery power. I’ve shown the results to people who know a lot more about photography than I and they were impressed. I even enlarged one photo to 8×10 to be hung on the wall, it is so clear, light-balanced, artistic (I didn’t even try that hard!) etc. And remember, this was my first time out with this camera! I’ve already sold two other people on this camera, after seeing my pictures. I can’t think of any negatives (no pun intended), other than I am still trying to find the right camera case for this. I had used my daughter’s Easyshare on a previous vacation, and was impressed with the ease of use. I upgraded to this camera specifically for the 10x optical zoom, it was worth the extra money. Did I mention this is a great camera?? Buy, and enjoy!
Rating: 5 / 5
First let me say that I’m an experienced 35mm photographer. Having used everything from an Exakta VX to Nikon N90s, and using a Canon EOS Elan IIe for the last several years, I didn’t expect to find a digital that I could afford that I would be happy with. I saw this camera a while back at Wal-Mart, and looked at it because I thought it was an SLR. I was impressed by the price and the Schneider-Kreuznach lens, but a little disappointed that it wasn’t really an SLR.
Last week, I found it on clearance at Staples for $100US less than it usually sells for elsewhere and bought it. I’m not sorry at all. In everything from convenience features to quality, I’m still thrilled. Pictures are sharp, properly-exposed, and colorful, just like they should be. The preview screen is the largest available, and excellent. The electronic viewfinder works well and is nearly as sharp as the screen on back. It’s easy to use, takes great pictures, and is essentially silent if you turn off the ersatz “motor drive” sound.
Let me address the shortcomings mentioned by other reviewers.
1. Blur. Many people mention blurry pictures as a criticism of this camera. They probably don’t mention that they were trying to handhold shots at full zoom. The lens is 38-380 equiv. in 35mm terms. I always used 1/focal length as a shutter speed guide. It would be bright conditions indeed for the camera to select 1/380 sec. The camera can shoot from ISO 80 to 400 with acceptable results, but 80 is by far the best and the camera does default to 80 if it possibly can make the shot that way. This might sometimes mean that you have a vivid picture that’s motion-blurred. If you can keep a reign on trying to use more zoom than you have the hands for, you won’t encounter blur. Also remember that focus precision is more important at longer focal lengths. It takes longer to focus when it’s zoomed all the way out.
2. Bad night pictures. I’ve not encountered a camera that has a night mode that’s better than I am. If you take over control of this camera, you can get great night pictures. I shot pictures of the stars last night, and they came out perfect. Most of that was because I knew to shoot on manual, bracket exposures, and have realistic expectations. No camera’s automatic modes will let you shoot pictures like in National Geographic or the Neiman Marcus catalog.
3. Rechargable battery. Many people wish it used AA batteries so you won’t be tied to a charger. Don’t worry about it. It will shoot hundreds of pictures on one charge, so just remember to charge the battery after a long day of shooting. Big deal. I like that I won’t have to buy AA batteries for it. The cost would add up.
4. Lack of “raw” image format. I havn’t had a problem with this, and noone short of a real pro is likely to. It does store pictures only as JPG, but I havn’t seen any problems one would normally associate with that. YMMV.
5. Slow movie framerate/noisy movies/no zoom in movie mode, etc. This is not a camcorder. The movie mode is like a freebie for me, and I recognize the reasons for these weaknesses. If you really want to shoot movies, buy a MiniDV camcorder instead. You’ll be a lot happier with it.
6. Non-pocketable size. How could you possibly expect it to be much smaller?
7. Uncomfortable grip. I’ve got bear-paw hands, so it’s not as comfortable as the meaty contour grip of my EOS. It’s not the worst I’ve felt, but they could’ve gotten this a little better by adding a little more size to that end of the camera. I don’t think that it would hurt anyone’s feelings if that end were just a smidge larger. See #6
8. Controls. These are some of the best and most intuitive controls I’ve seen in a long time. However, it seems that way to me because they so closely mimic the controls on my EOS. I especially like the fact that the control dial is lighted. Expect to stumble through it a little if you aren’t generally used to using versatile cameras, but you’ll quickly find that it can do most of what you’d expect from a 35mm SLR and then some.
And now my own criticisms:
1. Software. Once I got it installed, it works flawlessly and easily. However, it required a service pack update to my Windows 2000 that gave me a BSOD and required a full reinstall. Ouch. That upset me a little, but I did fix it. That wasn’t really Kodak’s fault, but just be warned.
2. Power up takes a little longer than I would like, mostly because the lens folds itself into the body when the camera is powered down. It takes it about a second to reach shooting position. Once there, focusing and zooming do not change the length of the lens barrell.
3. Using “speeds” higher than ISO 140 gets grainy in a hurry. It looks remarkably like enlarging old high-speed film. Dark areas get a random blotchiness that averages to the right color, just like the Konica 3200 color print film used to. If you can stick to bright lights or the tiny flash. An external flash can be used for better range. Vivitar 283 fans, rejoice! It doesn’t require a dedicated flash.
Rating: 5 / 5
I purchased this camera as an upgrade to another digital Kodak I picked up about 2 years ago. I loved the idea of the zoom & sports setting, because I attend many professional wrestling events a year. It’s nice to be able to snap photos of my wrestling heroes in action & this camera allows it w/no blurring. Lighting @ the events is minimal, but every shot came out perfect when I used the flash setting. It is *so* simple to use it’s unreal.
I recommend picking up the largest SD capture card you can find. I use a 512mb SD card & it holds around 350 photos in the highest quality. I’m waiting for the SanDisk Ultra II 1GB card to come out, that’ll be my next “upgrade”. Ultra has one of the fastest write speeds available & my dad has a Ultra CF for his Canon camera, it makes the unbearable “pause” time between photos vanish, so I look forward to buying that when it comes out in a few months.
I picked up the EasyShare Printer along w/the camera & have already printed 50+ photos. The photos print crisp, clear, & look like they came from a professional lab. I highly recommend it along w/the camera, you’ll love it. The prints come out *beautiful* when printed @ any size.
My only worry was that the Printer refill packages would cost a lot more than taking the photos to the store for printing, but they cost around 30 cents a photo which is even better than most online printing sources.
Just as I thought I couldn’t live w/out my other Kodak, I have no idea how I’ll live w/out this one.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve had this camera for 7 months and, in that time frame, I’ve also tried out 2 other digital cameras. A Pentax Optio S4i and the Sony T-1. Here are my comparisons and observations.
I’ll start with the flaws. The first and most annoying (and the reason I didn’t give it 5 stars) is that this camera has difficulty focusing in low light (by “low light” I mean any time you might be required to use the flash). Many times, it just doesn’t achieve a proper focus. This results in either a blurry, unfocused photograph or missing the shot all together. The Sony T-1 takes care of this by shining a red light on the subject so it can achieve a proper focus. The Kodak DX6490, and a lot of other digital cameras, badly need this feature.
The second flaw might not be a flaw to many of you. I personally think that this camera is too big and bulky. Obviously, that is the trade off for the huge zooming capabilities. But still, the Sony T-1 is so compact and easy to carry! The Kodak DX6490 needs a big carrying case. You can’t just clip it to your jeans or put it in your shirt pocket. You have to have to carry it around like a purse. It’s like carrying and old 35mm camera. Definitely not very convenient. And since it’s not convenient to carry around at all times, you’re going to miss some shots `cause you didn’t have your camera with you!
Also, the start-up time takes too long. 4-5 seconds vs. the T-1′s 1.5 seconds.
As for the good stuff, I have to say that this camera takes great photos! It blows the Sony T-1 and the Pentax Optio S4i away. If you can achieve a proper focus when you’re in low light, the flash is definitely adequate (the T-1 and S4i have very inadequate flashes). In low light and daylight, the colors are vivid and the depth and quality of the shots are very good. Much better than the 5.1 mega-pixel T-1 and waaaayyy better than the S4i (the S4i is a crappy camera).
The 2.2″ screen is really nice (the T-1′s is better, though). The zoom is incredible. It feels secure in your hand. The features are a little limited compared to the T-1′s but they’re adequate, none the less.
Conclusions: If the Sony T-1 would take photos like the DX6490, I would have a T-1 in my hands right now. But I don’t. I’m holding the DX6490. It ultimately comes down to “how good are the photos” and the DX6490 takes some damn good ones!
Rating: 4 / 5