Image quality is somewhat lower than on a DSLR, which shouldn't surprise anyone. The size of the sensor is about 35 times smaller (in surface) than in my Canon 5D, and the pixel size is 2.2 microns (i.e. 11500 dpi). Such small pixels each receive very little light, therefore creating images that are somewhat noisy, and even the smallest of lens aberrations or misalignments will be visible in the final picture. That being said, the resulting images are certainly printable at 8x10, especially the ones shot at the wide end at the lowest sensitivity, and there's no doubt that using an optical zoom is a far better option than a digital one. The camera has an optical image stabilizer, an unusual option for a lens with such a zoom range at that price point; the stabilizer works, and I consistently got sharp results at the long end of the zoom at 1/125s while holding the camera with my arms extended and framing with the back LCD. I noticed while zooming that the lens is not a true zoom, i.e. it doesn't maintain its focus while changing the focal length. It's especially visible when zooming out from the telephoto end, especially since zooming is actually fairly slow. The camera uses a hybrid autofocus system, using both TTL contrast detection and a passive AF sensor.
While the long end of the zoom is really long (432mm in 35mm equivalent), the wide end is barely wide at 36mm. Personally, I'd have preferred a 28-300 or even 24-250 zoom. There is a dedicated (and expensive) wide angle adapter which allows to get to 25mm (in 35mm equivalent).
Auto-exposure seems to try to aggressively expose as much as possible in order to avoid noise, which unfortunately often results in overexposed highlights. Worse, the histogram sometimes suggests that this is not the case. There is a flashing warning for both underexposure and overexposure in one of the review modes, but it's several clicks away and takes a while to actually start displaying.
Finally, the two features that distinguish the camera from its competition are only moderately useful. Raw images are very large (8MB), which indicates that they're not compressed at all, and the camera freezes for several seconds while writing such a file. Instead of using standard DNG files, Kodak uses a proprietary KDC data format (download a KDC Kodak RAW picture here). The Kodak software that reads those files is quite poor. Recent versions of Adobe Camera Raw can read KDC files from the P850, while the command line utility DCRAW handles them well too (you can use CinePaint or UFRaw under Linux to manipulate these RAW images). The flash hot-shoe, which would have been very useful if it could be used with Canon and Nikon flashes (and possibly others), is limited to a single Kodak model, the P20. To redeem itself, the P20 is both affordable and powerful, and with its tilt head will allow to bounce off a white ceiling (or even a pocket bouncer) for more natural look indoors.
Like all Kodak cameras, the P850 comes with some internal storage, which is great to have when you leave home without a memory card. 32MB allow to store approximately 26 pictures in 3MP standard mode, 9 pictures at the highest JPEG size and quality, or 3 pictures in raw mode. Unfortunately, if you leave home without the dedicated battery (which has to be charged on a separate charger), you'll be out of luck as the camera can't be powered from standard AA batteries.
Overall, the DSLR owner will be able to take satisfactory pictures with the P850 and print them at 8x10, as long as there's no need to push the camera to its limits. The ability to use a powerful bounced hot-shoe flash means that the P850 will take excellent pictures indoors. The small and lightweight construction and the very long telephoto will make it perfect for photos of wildlife during mountain hikes.
- "Kodak P850, Page 1/2"
- "Kodak P850, Page 2/2"
