Kodak EasyShare Z1275 12MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom

This is my 2nd Kodak Digital Camera. I liked the 1st, used it for 3 years, and was induced to move to the new camera for its superior MP rating (12MP vs. my old 6 MP camera), its better low light capabilities without using flash, and its higher magnification without resorting to computerized magnification.

Besides that, its sturdy, had good lens protection, and I expect will stand up well over several years of high usage.

I take several thousand photos a year and edit and crop photos a lot. You can make large prints of even a small portion of a picture, and be confident of its fidelity and resolution.

In researching the camera I was concerned about some negative comments by users, especially about battery life, but bought it anyway because of my excellent prior experience witht Kodak, and Consumer Reports Magazine's reviews of various Kodak models with similar battery usage characteristics. (They didn't review this model, but did do a similar lower MP model).

I just can't believe their experiences. The camera comes with excellent non-rechargeable AA batteries. They lasted well over 100 shots, most of which were energy hogging flash photos.

I'm now using rechargeable Kodak batteries, and their life seems at least as long, and they cost under $15 at Wal-mart for 4 Rechargeable batteries + a recharger.

ps. The model I bought was a real bargain - I bought a remanufactured one, that came from Kodak with the same support a new one would get. Furthermore, I found out from Kodak that this camera, no longer in production, is identical to the newer Kodak 1285 camera, except for the model number.

Good camera at a good price!

After having this camera for a year now, we've determined the following:

1. It eats regular AA batteries in an hour. Lithiums will last about a month.
2. Having no viewfinder is annoying, since you'll have to set the LCD screen at its brightest level in order to see it outside. Therefore, less battery life.
3. VERY OFTEN, the flash will completely white out a picture. For a while I thought it was because I was trying to take pictures when the last one I took was still processing but now it happens the first time I take a picture, right after turning it on.
4. You can't set the camera to take pictures in black and white. I liked that feature on my old Kodak.
5. It takes beautiful outdoor pictures. Being able to set it for "snow scene" and outdoor action shots for kids is really nice and they come out great.
6. I've tried lowering the picture quality to 6 or 8 MP in order to eliminate the annoying blue screen that comes up sometimes that says "processing" -- but then I can forget about taking pictures indoors. They always come out blurry or dark.
7. The large LCD screen is great!
8. Indoor shots are often either grainy and dark or overexposed, even if I set the camera to take photos in low light conditions.

I'm no camera geek and many of these issues may just be the nature of the point and shoot beast. I'm generally happy with the camera since we are outside taking pictures of the kids most of the time, but I do wish I could get better shots indoors.

This an amazing camera for someone who takes photos as a hobby. I find the quality to be awesome at 12 megs. The HD video is also amazing. I haven't really used the manual option, but it looks like a nice feature to have. Huge LCD screen. There is no view finder, but I don't find it to be a prob as I rarely use the view finder on my other cam.

A few cons: I don't think there's a way to adjust the intensity of the flash. Some photos look blowout but I used a semitransparent cloth to dim it a bit. Works like a charm.

It eats batteries quickly but this is remedied with rechargeables. Problem solved.

Wish it had a decent macro setting (I don't like the preset settings at all.) But I solve this but shooting at the largest setting and cropping in.

I've had mine for awhile now. I had seen the low quality exposures as others have reported. The source turned out to be the batteries I was using. I started using CRV3 batteries and the camera has performed very well since. If I could change my rating for this unit I'd bring it to 4 stars.

I have only had this camera for a few weeks and it seems to to great pictures with excellent color and flesh tone, even on the6 megapix setting. The video quality is very good as far as color and definition, however, the videos are jumpy. The anti shake id in my opinion useless, because itis digital and not optical. The 5x zoom is great and the camera is relatively small