kodakpixpro az421 digital camera review

The Kodak Pixpro AZ401 will be preferred by photographers on a budget thanks to its $174.97 40x zoom lens. In addition to the zoom function, a good smartphone camera produces sharper images; however, the camera's shaky image stabilization makes it difficult to compose shots at full zoom. Spend a little more money for a better camera if you're in the market for one of these models. The Canon SX530 HS ($379.99) is more expensive, but has in-camera Wi-Fi and produces much better video and image quality. At around $160, the 10x Canon Elph 190 IS is a more reasonable ultrazoom alternative if you're on a budget.

Design

Available in red or dark, the AZ401 ($169.99 at Amazon) (opens in a new window) is, as you'd expect for the price, generally plastic. However, there is a metal ring that covers the lens. The body is 15.4 ounces and measures 3.2 x 4.5 x 3.3 inches (HWD). It cannot be carried in a pocket, but it fits into a small bag without any problems. There is a built-in flash, but no hot shoe for it.

The 40x zoom lens is the main feature. It has a width of 24mm (full frame equivalent), making it more adaptable than models with a starting width of 28mm. With a maximum zoom of 960 mm, you can focus on distant objects. However, since the AZ401's stabilization isn't as good as some other ultrazoom models, you won't be able to hold a shot when working at the highest zoom level. Check out the wide shot above and the zoom shot below, both taken from the same position, to get an idea of the range of coverage. Despite its entry-level price, the AZ401 has a good amount of manual control. ability. You can of course leave it in full auto mode and let the camera decide what settings to use. But if you want to delve into more advanced waters, there's a mode dial at the top along with Drive and EV buttons, a shutter button, a zoom rocker and a power button.

Display Info, Menu, Play, Record and Set are the buttons on the back. Additionally, there's a four-way control panel to set the self-timer, activate macro photography, adjust flash settings, and adjust focus mode. An on-screen menu gives you access to more advanced settings such as continuous focus mode and metering pattern. Despite not supporting touch input, the 3-inch 460,000-dot LCD display is reasonably sharp. I was able to use it outdoors on a clear day with no problem as it is clearly visible from an awkward angle.

There's no easy way to transfer photos and videos to your smartphone because the camera doesn't support Wi-Fi. It has one slot for SD and SDHC cards with a capacity of up to 32 GB. There are two connection ports — micro HDMI for direct connection to HDTV and micro USB for data transfer.

The AZ401 is powered by four AA batteries. Although the battery life is uncomfortably short, casual users who don't want to worry about charging the battery will appreciate it. Although Kodak claims you'll get 280 CIPA-compliant shots, I only managed 60 shots and a few short video clips before running out of alkaline cells.

Performance and image quality

AZ401 is not fast. In about three seconds you can turn it on and shoot, but your shot won't be sharp. On average, the camera takes 4.9 seconds longer to start up if you wait for it to acquire the initial focus lock. When the continuous shooting mode is enabled, the camera will shoot at 3 frames per second, but the image resolution will be reduced to 4 MP. In single drive mode, you should expect to wait about 1.9 seconds between full resolution frames.

The automatic focus system is simple. It can be set to look through the frame when focusing or to identify and track moving objects. By default, it will only lock onto the center target. The camera takes about 0.3 seconds to focus on a subject and take a picture during lab testing. The focus system was frustratingly inconsistent in the field. The focus system missed its target, causing me to miss several shots. I just couldn't get him to latch on to a very patient sandpiper sitting perfectly still on the railing in one sequence. The camera consistently focused on the green foliage, well beyond the intended subject, even though I only used the center point setting and placed the target directly on the bird.

I used Imatest (opens in a new window) to evaluate the sharpness of the AZ401 lens. In the standard center-weighted rating, it achieved 1,805 lines per picture height. That's a little over the 1,800 line mark for an acceptable image. In the same test, the Canon SX530 HS scores 2,071 lines better.

I didn't have enough space to test the camera lens at full zoom, but I tested it at about 5.5x (130mm) where it has 1,774 lines of notches and at about 10x (240mm) where it has 1,954 lines of notches.

The 16MP CCD image sensor suffers in moderate to low light, despite a fairly good lens performance. At its widest setting, f/3, the lens produces a decent amount of light, but at full zoom, the aperture drops to f/6.8. This means that if you're not shooting in bright sunlight, you'll need to use a higher ISO setting, which indicates how sensitive the sensor is to light.

The AZ401 reduces noise to less than 1.5% at ISO 1600, but does so at the expense of image detail. In fact, sharp results are achieved from the lowest ISO setting of 80 to around 200. Fine detail is lost when ISO 400 causes significant blurring. It goes up between ISO 800 and 1600. The camera can shoot even at ISO 3200, but the image resolution drops to 4 megapixels and there is no detail.

This is where the CCD sensor definitely comes into play. CMOS sensor technology is used in modern smartphones and more expensive point-and-shoot cameras that perform better in low light. With ISO 800, the SX530, a CMOS camera, gives more usable results.

Video quality is also limited to 720p when using CCD technology. A short test clip shows that the overall quality is below average. The quality is generally poor, with the camera struggling to maintain focus (although this won't be the case with every scene) and the occasional pop of color. With the exception of the zoom setting, where the sound of the lens moving in and out drowns out the soundtrack, sound quality is good.

Conclusions

With a low price and a wide zoom range, the Kodak Pixpro AZ401 is an alluring siren. But don't let his song fool you. Although the AZ401 has great zoom performance, the AZ401's image stabilization system is only average quality, so it won't be easy to compose images at 40x. The Canon SX530 HS is a good choice, albeit with a higher price tag, if you're looking for a compact camera with a long lens. Check out the Canon Elph 190 IS, which has a 10x zoom and costs a bit less than the A