Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21343 in Camera & Photo
• Color: Black
• Brand: Kodak
• Model: 8451676
• Dimensions: 3.90 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• 5.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 13 x 17-inch prints
• 2.5-inch LCD display; wide-angle (23mm equivalent) to 5x optical zoom through two-lens construction
• VGA movie capture at 30 frames per second
• Panorama stitch mode, video print options, and on-camera picture-enhancing features
• KODAK Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Digital Camera Battery KLIC-7001; stores images on SD memory cards (includes 32 MB internal memory)

Amazon.com Review
We have to tell you, wide-angle capabilities in a point-and-shoot digital camera are a revelation. Does this camera have that and more? Sure does. Dual lenses, so that it goes from a wide 23mm equivalent to a 117mm equivalent (6x zoom) without a protruding lens? Check. A large, beautiful LCD? Sure thing. An in-camera panoramic stitch that makes the most of both those features? Oh, yes.

The V570's wide-angle lens creates interesting effects. (See larger image.)

The V570 is also incredibly compact. We carried it in a front pant pocket while traipsing around London, in a jacket pocket on the ski slopes, and in a cargo-pant pocket on mountain climbs. The V570 is very portable, and it's so inconspicuous in its small size that we felt secure with it in a front pant pocket while strap-hanging on Mexico City public transportation.

And then there are the pictures. We love that the wide-angle setting allows us to fit so much into the picture. It also creates some interesting stretching effects in close-ups, as with the photo of cakes at left. In addition, color reproduction is stunning: blue skies are faithfully rendered, bright colors remain bright even in low-light settings or flash photos, and contrast and tonal range are almost always as perfect as we could hope.

Panoramic mode is easy to use and works beautifully. (Click images for larger views.)

The in-camera panoramic stitch mode is also extremely easy, and it produces exquisite results. The only down side to this feature is that it severely limits your other photographic options--the two or three images that make up the panoramas are taken at 3.2-megapixel resolution, and the flash won't fire while you're in panoramic mode. However, we found the resolution to be sufficient in the end, and reserving panoramic use for well-lit scenarios did not prove such a hardship. (Make sure to check out other customers' photos, taken in a range of lighting situations, via the link above.)

Some of our favorite photos taken with the V570. (Click images for larger views.)

Finally, the camera's video function performs admirably. A friend used his V570 to film a football team taking the field, and both image and sound were top notch. And the large, bright 2.5-inch LCD does its duty well as a photo and video viewer. Separate buttons allow you to zoom in on sections of a photo and navigate within one picture or all the pictures on your card. (Photos can also be viewed in a multi-up mode, which displays nine at a time, or in a slideshow that can be shown on the screen or on your television.)

This is not to say that the camera doesn't have a few imperfections. It must be docked for charging the battery or downloading images. In photos, bright lights are occasionally surrounded by a purple fringe. The power and scene mode buttons are on the small side, and there's no way to prevent the camera from displaying just-taken images for five seconds after the shot (though you can take another photo immediately by pressing the shutter-release button twice).

These are small gripes about an otherwise stellar camera, though. We've found the V570 to be the best combination of unique features, impressive styling, and overall user-friendliness of any cameras currently available, and we cannot recommend it enough.--Sarah Sternau

Pros

• Wide-angle lens produces beautiful photos
• Color reproduction is amazing
• In-camera panoramic stitch works wonderfully

• 5-second post-capture review can't be turned off
• Occasional purple fringe
• Limited settings options in panoramic mode

From the Manufacturer
With the Kodak EasyShare V570 zoom digital camera, Kodak has introduced the world's first dual-lens digital still camera. Using proprietary Kodak RETINA Dual Lens technology, the elegant V570 camera wraps an ultrawide angle lens (23 mm) and an optical zoom lens (39-117 mm) into a small, sleek package less than an inch thin.

The innovative EasyShare V570 camera's ultrawide angle lens coupled with its optical zoom lens produces a total 5x optical zoom range, providing more options to help today's picture takers capture the perfect shot--group photos, scenic landscapes, dramatic portraits, and close-ups. No other consumer digital camera offers such a wide angle of view, nor the unique, sophisticated design of this model, whose all-glass, stacked Schneider-Kreuznach C-Variogon prism lenses never extend from the camera body.

Use the Z570's ultrawide view to take 180-degree vistas in just three shots.

Wide-Angle Panorama Stitching and Advanced Video Performance
In addition to its dual-lens design, the 5-megapixel V570 camera boasts a variety of notable features to enhance the photography experience, including in-camera panorama stitching, which automatically combines three pictures into a panorama photograph. Using the ultrawide view in panorama scene mode, people can take in a 180-degree vista with just three shots--an industry exclusive.

Packing advanced video performance, the camera makes it easier for users to shoot all types of action in the way that many filmmakers prefer--with an ultrawide angle to capture more of the scene. The EasyShare V570 camera records TV-quality video, up to 30 frames per second (fps) using advanced MPEG-4 compression. Built-in image-stabilization technology reduces on-screen shaking from unintentional hand and camera movement. The camera also offers an optical zoom feature for video including autofocus. It's simple to select any frame in a video, then save and print it as a "freeze frame" still picture in just seconds.

The multipurpose Photo Frame 2 dock also turns the camera into a stylish photo viewer.

Other notable features of the V570 camera include:

• A big, brilliant 2.5-inch, high-resolution LCD screen
• The exclusive Kodak Color Science image processing chip for phenomenal image quality with rich color, accurate skin tones, low noise, and precise exposure
• Automatic red-eye reduction, on-camera cropping, picture blur alert, and auto picture rotation;
• In-camera distortion correction to compensate for ultrawide angle fish-eye effects, which can be turned on or off
• Twenty-two scene modes plus three color modes, helping snap shooters capture the best possible shot with the least possible effort
• The Photo Frame Dock 2, which provides one-touch picture transfer to a connected computer while keeping the camera's high-capacity lithium-ion battery charged and ready to go, and which can play video and photo slideshows on the camera's high-resolution LCD screen
• 32 megabytes of internal memory, plus a SD card slot for additional storage

EasyShare Software
The Kodak EasyShare V570 camera includes Kodak EasyShare software for Windows and Macintosh systems, providing effortless digital picture organization, editing, sharing, and printing--and even CD and DVD burning. The exclusive One Touch to Better Pictures feature takes advantage of proprietary color technologies developed by Kodak to help users get vibrant, true-to-life prints from inkjet printers, while the enhanced favorites feature helps you always have your best shots at hand, whether on your camera, on your computer, or online via the Kodak EasyShare Gallery.

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Camera
I was feeling a bit lazy and wasn't going to post a review of this camera, however, after reading a few of the other reviews I felt I had to put in my two cents.

First off, a little history. I searched for weeks and weeks to find a nice compact camera to replace my aging Canon S30. I was looking for something very compact in the 5 to 6 megapixel range. I finally settled on the Casio S500. After using the camera for a few weeks I returned it (see my review for my thoughts on that camera). I started searching again and found the pre-release information on the Kodak V570. I was quite interested so I checked out the V570's predecessor the V550. I found this camera to be quite nice and liked it enough assume that the V570 would be a good camera. I've had the V570 now for about two weeks and I must say that I'm quite pleased. Is it the perfect camera? No, of course not, but it is a camera that will meet most of your needs and do it in style.

Following is a list of what I consider to be the camera's pros and cons. I'll address a few of the other reviewers' opinions also.

PROS:

-Large bright LCD screen. The LCD on the V570 is quite bright and very large. The viewing angle on it is quite wide meaning that you can view the LCD from above, below, left, right or straight on and it will not wash out or go substantially dark. This was something that caused me to pass on a few Panasonic models. The LCD is NOT grainy except in very low-light conditions and this is normal with ALL cameras of this genre. The LCD is, after all, only a viewfinder!

-Nice, well designed controls. The Zoom button is NOT hard to use for anyone with normal sized hands. If you have very large hands then possibly it could be a problem, however, most compact point and shoot cameras would have the same problem. Personally, I find the zoom button and all the other buttons to be well placed and easy to use. The menu system is simple to navigate and is NOT slow. It's quite responsive, in fact. I do wish the camera would automatically save your custom settings on power down but I understand why it doesn't. I think there's an easy way to save your settings but I haven't explored that aspect yet.

-23mm wide angle lens. This is the camera's single best feature. I love to use wide angle lenses. They make pictures more dynamic and allow a much greater range of creativity than normal lenses. I do have one word of caution regarding the zoom on the V570. Go into the setup menu and disable the digital zoom. By default the V570 uses digital zoom to bridge the gap between the 23mm lens and the normal zoom lens. Digital zooms are bad! Optical zooms are good! Digital zooms simply crop in on the digital image and enlarge it to fill the same space as the original. As you would expect this destroys image quality. This is not a problem unique to Kodak so don't berate them for it. All camera and camcorder makers use digital zoom as a marketing gimmick. With the digital zoom disabled the camera will indeed "skip" from ultra-wide to normal range. I didn't consider this "strange" in any way. There is an expected amount of pincushion distortion when using the 23mm lens but it's not excessive or distracting. One additional feature when using the 23mm lens that I really find amazing is the camera's ability to take multiple image panoramas and actually stitch them IN the camera. I've played with this a bit and after only three tries I started getting quite nice results with this. The panorama feature isn't one of the things that really figured into my purchase of this camera but it is one of the things that made me say to myself, "very cool", when playing with it.

-Image quality. One of the biggest problems I had with the Casio S500 was image quality. Specifically, the Casio simply couldn't focus reliably in low light and the images were very noisy. The Kodak V570, on the other hand, nails focus each time and the images are high quality. Obviously, when shooting at high ISO settings image quality does go down but is still quite nice.

-Video mode. Most digital point and shoot cameras have a video mode nowadays. This is an awesome feature that might allow you to leave your camcorder at home on occasion. The video quality is excellent and is actually higher resolution than your standard television. You can hear the zoom if you use it when recording, however, most cameras don't allow you to use the zoom at all when in video mode so just accept it. Remember, this isn't designed as a primary video device but as a still camera with the ability to take videos. When you need the best video you can get pull out the camcorder. When you want an occasional video and don't have the camcorder with you...hey!!!...pull out the V570 and record away.

-Internal zoom mechanism. Most point-and-shoot cameras on the market have an external zoom lens mechanism. What I mean by this is that the lens extends out of the camera an inch or more. The V570 has an internal mechanism. What this means to me is that I don't have to worry about mashing the extended lens into something and potentially breaking it. I recall that with the Casio S500 that I had for a bit the owner's manual actually mentions several times to be very careful not to bump the lens into anything. No worries with the Kodak.

-Appearance. I really like the V570's looks. The design is a bit Art Deco. This is, of course, a very subjective thing but I find it attractive.

-Battery life. While not the best camera in regards to battery life, the V570 does just fine. The reviews I read state a life of around 170 pictures and from personal experience this seems accurate. This is an improvement over the V550. While some cameras can do better let's all be realistic here, 170 pictures in a day of shooting for the average amateur is a lot. If this isn't enough simply have an extra battery on hand. After all, Kodak has some of the lowest prices for extra batteries of anyone.

CONS:

-The flash is a bit on the weak side. The Kodak is a bit wimpy here but when you're within range the exposure is very accurate even when using for extreme close-ups. I actually took some close-up photos from a distance of about 2 inches and the flash exposure was right on. I was actually so close that the flash only covered the left side of the picture.

-The SD card door is indeed very poorly designed. I can see that if you intend on removing the SD card a lot you might eventually damage this. I initially planned on transferring images to my computer by pulling the SD card and using a card-reader but I've found that using the camera's dock is just as easy. I'm surprised that Kodak's engineers left this design flaw intact. Do yourself a favor and buy a 1 gig SD card and just leave it in the camera. Use the dock to transfer images and you shouldn't have a problem.

A FEW CLOSING THOUGHTS: I just wanted to address a few things about some of the other reviews I've read here. First off, there is nothing gimmicky about this camera and just exactly how is this a "bait and switch"? Second, this camera doesn't do RAW because it's designed for amateurs and is a point-and-shoot camera. The average person doesn't even know what a RAW format is or what to do with it. Get real people. If I need to shoot in RAW format I'll grab my Canon 5D. When I want to take a small camera out for vacation or just day to day family pictures I'll take the V570 and leave the heavy hardware at home. Third, every single camera I've ever owned or looked at has at least one feature that I would think of as a "design flaw". Whether that feature is enough to keep me away from it is another matter. To say that this camera is a "typical poor American design" is simply rude and inaccurate. My goodness, I almost laughed when I read the comments about not knowing what side was up when pulling the camera out of your pocket. My God man, OPEN YOUR EYES. OK, now that I got that off my chest I can relax. This is a solid camera that I think most people would be happy with.

UPDATE: I just felt the need to update this review to address the comments made by "AJM". Now, I have no problem if people take issue with an item. If the product is poorly designed or doesn't function properly. My problem lies with people that simply make stuff up. When "AJM" says "when you eject the memory card, it will spring and fly across the room" I tend to get a bit angry. This is WRONG. I took my V570 and no matter what I did I couldn't get the card to "spring" more than half way out of the camera. To remove the card you simply depress it with your fingertip and it is spring loaded to pop up enough to remove it. It will not come flying out of the camera. It's obvious that AJM has never owned the camera and is probably just a plant for Canon. As for me, I'm a professional photographer in Wisconsin. I shoot on some pretty high-end equipment for work but when I'm out and about on personal trips I leave the big stuff at home and take a point and shoot. I have no allegiance to any specific brand of camera. In fact, I own both Canon and Kodak point and shoots and have done quite a bit of work on Nikon, Canon and Minolta Pro products too. There are a whole bunch of nice cameras out there. All I want to do is to present a fair review.

Great new dual-lens digital camera

Getting the fullest picture possible has sometimes been a problem with single-lens digital cameras, especially in close-ups. This new dual-lens concept, which combines a 23 mm ultra wide-angle lens with a 39-117 mm optical zoom lens, tackles that problem head on. Getting everybody in the picture on that group shot is a sure thing with the 5 megapixal V570.

Another great feature is the in-camera panorama stitching that allows you to create a wide-angle 180-degree picture with just three shots (and an easy to use zoom button on the back of the camera). This is a great feature when taking pictures of rooms in a house, for example, where very simply you can get half the room in a single image - very impressive.

The high resolution LCD screen produces clear, sharp images; the color quality is excellent. Also helpful is the picture blur alert and distortion correction feature inside the camera that reduces poor-quality pictures. The camera also has 32 MB of internal memory and can play video and photo sideshows on the LCD screen, though I haven't done any video yet. Of course, in terms of editing, organizing, and printing pictures, the V570 can do what any top-notch single lens can do. Also the sleek black camera body is very classy, and it's no heavier or wider than a single lens.

One fault is the need to use a dock (which is included) to hook up the camera to a computer with the USB cable. It's not that much of a big deal, but is another space-wasting piece of equipment and can get in the way in a cramped workspace (like mine).

It looks to me like this is only the beginning of what's to come regarding dual-lens camera technology, so some might want to wait for what's ahead. But anyone looking for a great camera purchase today, let me pull your coat to this superb new wide-angle/small size/great resolution dual lens creation, the EasyShare V570. It's a beauty.

Updated Review ... Kodak V570 and Canon SD800 IS / Still having fun with the camera
I have a Canon EOS 6.3MP camera that I think is great and that I use when I want to pretend to be a great photographer, but it's just too large to mess with for quick weekend or business trips. And my old Olympus D-490 2.1 Mp digital looks (and weighs) like a brick contrasted to the newer technologies. So when my Olympus flash finally broke ... it was time for the plunge to another pocket digital camera.

I learned of the Kodak V570 after I was trying to confirm my resolve to buy another Canon camera (Powershot D450) and stumbled across a review in Kiplinger magazine. Attracted to the Kodak's design (and it was a top choice in their review), I decided to check it out.

I was hesitating on buying the Canon only due to it's fit with my hands for the controls/buttons. The quality of the camera, the resolution and balance of the photographs and everything about it seemed great ... and I have a friend who loves his with the exception of its flash.

But this Kodak V570 turned out to be a wonderful shocker:
> it was from Kodak (I've been a Canon and Olympus guy for 20+ years from the AE into the digital age and thought Kodak was only for great film and for Brownie's);
> it's ergonomic design and ease of use is simply the best I've encountered. Small enough to fit in the pocket, but great ergonomics on the switches, buttons and menus;
> the use of ultra-wide and non-projecting telephoto make the camera fun, versatile, and can even pull off some shots I can't do on my Canon EOS (without buying yet another lens);
> intuitive exposure settings that are simple to use and effective;
> the panoramic view feature, in camera, pulls together a 3.1MP photo that beats what I've been able to do with Photoshop;
> and, it simply is cool-looking. Friends literally have had the same reaction to it as when I first showed around my iPod when it first came out a few years ago.

I've been shooting with it a little over a week now and am having great fun. The dock critiques I read on this camera have not been a nuisance to me, the camera integrated seamlessly without installing software on my Mac (2Ghz G5, OS 10.4.6 with iPhoto 6.03). The camera powers fast, shutter lag is minimal, the quality of the photography is very good (in low light to sunlight), and the video feature (including storyboarding) is very useful when I don't want to mess with my Sony Handycam.

The only nits I have with this camera is the memory card door does indeed seem flimsy (noted by others), I have no clue what my battery charge level is and I occasionally capture the carrying strap in a lot of shots due to a combination of the length of the strap and the ultrawide lens. But these are minor nuisances at most.

Form with function. Well done Kodak!

+++++++++++ UPDATE August 13, 2007+++++++++++++++

I continue to give the Kodak V570 a 5 star rating.

In the 1.5 years I've had the camera it has taken thousands of great photos, seen countless cities and airports, and unfortunately been dropped a few times ... until about 3 months ago I accidentally dropped and kicked into the middle of Lexington Avenue in NYC. Though there is now a glitch in the lens cover from that fiasco, it unbelievably still gives great photographs and video clips.

The other review on the cameras (except for a few that seem to be photographing/writing on a different planet) are accurate, and the additional minor nit some have mentioned in other reviews that I'll add is the dock, which is not as convenient as just plugging into a USB directly.

But the V570 camera has proven to be a versatile workhorse and I think best in class ... though at a slightly lower price point.

As mentioned above, my first V570 did have a glitch develop with the lens cover opening on the "drop kick" across Lex Ave ... and I did not have a protection plan and the cost to service was going to be $150+. So I did loads more research and at $290 decided I'd try the Canon SD800IS. This too is a great camera that I recommend ... great optics and wide angle, flash is much more powerful than the V570's, image stabilization and I like the preset features and ISO range of that camera. The Canon is much better on close-ups <6" and has a bit truer color in my opinion. It's obviously also a 7mp camera so the resolution is a bit better plus it has a viewfinder in addition to the LCD viewfinder which is a plus.

But the Canon SD800 is about 1/4" thicker and a bit heavier. So if you're a guy and slip the camera into your front pocket or sport coat, it's a bit much. Found myself carrying my old V570 with the glitched lens cover instead of my new SD800. And the V570 is so well designed, feature rich, versatile dual lenses (with digital zoom turned OFF), simple to use and I personally find more "optimistic" color palatte/richness that makes my shots really look great.

So when I happened across another new Kodak V570 camera on sale for $190, I bought it in a heartbeat.

So net-net, the SD800 is an awesome camera. But because of the size it suffers the same fate as my Canon Digital Rebel SLR and is used only when I'm trying to act like I know what I'm doing with serious photography. And I'm happily on my 2nd V570 that tours with me daily.