Digital Camera Ratings: Kodak EasyShare V803

When doing a digital camera rating it is becoming more and more common to have to rate the camera as a fashion accessory as well as a photographic device. Such is the case with the Kodak EasyShare V803 which comes in eight bright colors including Pink Bliss, Red Shimmer, Cosmic Blue, Mystic Purple, Golden Dream, White Glaze, Silver Essence and Midnight Black and provides you with standard features for point and shoot at a price tag in the $200 range. Beyond the basic features, the V803 has an amazing sensitivity range rising to 1600 ISO and will track and store frequently used settings. The camera is petite so it's transported easily, although it isn't the slimmest camera around. One other problem is the uncovered port which renders the camera vulnerable to lint and debris.


When defining the digital camera ratings for color performance, the EasyShare V803 falls well below the rest of the 2007 models. Faces will tend to appear greenish and skies will be an unnatural shade of blue. Only in the reds and purples are the colors fairly accurate. The EasyShareV803 performed within acceptable range for resolution, but was poor in the test for noise level, both at manual setting and auto settings. The V803 performed very poorly on the white balance settings, both on the auto setting and even more dismally on the presets. This results in a bluish cast to most pictures which is fine if you want to look like you take all pictures underwater. Color accuracy improves slightly as lights are dimmed.

The Kodak EasyShare V803 Digital Camera ratings for low light video conditions are dismal. At 30 lux, which is approximately the level of a low illumination night club, or a bowling alley, you would not be able to get recognizable pictures.

The components of the EasyShare don't measure up very well in digital camera ratings either. There is no viewfinder which is a growing trend amongst this type of camera. The display screen is used as a preview option. The flash attachment is totally ineffective both in range and in brightness. The zoom lens has some nice features, such as the ability to capture group shots, but the mechanical part of the zoom is so loud it is audible in video shots. The V803 does not feature image stabilization which is a nice touch in the 3x zooms.