"Ultra-ultrazoom": Kodak Z980 officially official

[David Rasnake]

Kodak made an exciting if unsurprising announcement yesterday in officially confirming the existence of its new Z980 24x ultrazoom.

Although much of the information contained in Kodak's official announcement was leaked over the weekend, the latest model from Kodak (which, notably, drops the "EasyShare" branding) should still get its fair share of attention and interest at CES this week.

Kodak hasn't produced a top-spec ultrazoom in a while, but the Z980's 24x zoom lens that sports wide-angle coverage out to an impressive 26mm focal length changes the game. The Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon lens is optically stabilized as well, making it easier to successfully take advantage of its telephoto length.

Behind the lens, the Z980 utilizes a 12 megapixel sensor, and a 3.0 inch display for shot composition. Based on the product images, it looks like there's also an electronic viewfinder on-board, though the press release doesn't provide confirmation or specs.

Taking its styling cues from a DSLR, the Z980 incorporates a unique-for-an-ultrazoom detachable vertical grip, and a hot shoe that supports Kodak's P20 flash unit. In terms of imaging processing, the Z980 takes advantage of Kodak's Smart Capture auto scene recognition feature. SD/SDHC is, as expected, the camera's supported memory format.

Kodak adds to EasyShare M series
In addition to the Z980, Kodak has launched a new series of EasyShare M models. The Kodak EasyShare M380, a 10 megapixel, 5x zoom compact model, leads off the lineup of new M cameras. Featuring a 2.7 inch LCD, the M380 will be available in three colors, including red and teal.

Kodak rounds out updates to the M line with the 10 megapixel M340 and 9 megapixel M320. These EasyShares appear to share basic hardware, including 2.7 inch displays and 3x zoom lenses. The more advanced M340 features Kodak's Smart Capture system, while the budget-minded M320 has basic features like red-eye reduction and Kodak's Perfect Touch image correction tool.

Pricing and availability
According to Kodak's press release, the Z980 will be available sometime this spring for a suggested retail price of $399.95. The new M models will be coming to market in February (M320) and March (M340/380), with prices ranging from $129 to $179.

We don't have complete technical specs on any of the new launches at this time.

[Andy Stanton]

The Z980 looks exciting, but I have questions.
1. How much distortion will be present in that huge lens - barrel, pincushion, chromatic aberration?
2. How sharp will the picture appear at the extreme long end?
3. Will the camera have long buffer-clearing periods after a few shots like Kodak's other ultrazooms?
4. Will the camera operate quickly?
5. Will the pictures be extremely noisy at high ISO's?
6. Will the camera have autofocus problems?

We'll see.

[David Rasnake]

I'm betting distortion and extreme softness at telephoto are almost inevitable here, but as you said, we'll see.

dr

[Atindra]

Its image quality is quite good even at long tele. One can just give keyword search in Flickr (Kodak z980) and see themselves. So far I am finding its image quality is little better than the competition viz., Canon SX1IS, Nikon P90, Sony HX1 and Olympus S560 UZ. Only image quality from Pentax X70 is yet to be seen thoroughly. Panasonic FZ28 has bit better sharpness than Kodak's result but its colors look unreal and flat.

Atindra

[fast1]

thanks for the review atindra