Kodak Z990 12.0 Megapixel Extended Zoom Reviews Roundup

Z990 Camera, LarryA1946
I purchased this camera for my wife's recent trip to New York. It is an outstanding camera, operated very easy and and takes wonderful pictures. I would recommend this camera to everyone.

SATISFIED SO FAR..., V. PRELETZ "ivanhoe"
The camera has all the features I would need and seems to be user friendly in accessing the features. Although I have not had the chance to use the camera extensively yet, I do like it and the battery life seems satisfactory for the number of shots I took so far. Rechargeable AA batteries are something I have to get used to - I never had to deal with these in a camera. So far so good...
The deal I got through Amazon.com was the decisive factor in purchasing this camera when so many others were available everywhere! So far, I'm happy with the deal and with the camera.

I will never purchase a kodak camera again!, AJS
Absolutely awful camera! At first I thought it was just me getting used to the camera and all of the "wonderful" features and lenses (even though this was not my first camera) By the time I figured out that it wasn't user error, I had had it to long to return, so looks like I'm stuck with an expensive paperweight! All of the "Creative mode" and "artistic mode" features cannot be used as no matter what you do to steady the camera, you get the "cannot be processed, hold camera steady" blah blah blah!! I gave up on even trying to use them. The smart capture does ok, provided your not worried about missing the shot due to the wait time between shots, and the zoom that is oh so slow, and sometimes just stops mid zoom. Battery life?? I thought maybe the 4 rechargeable batteries were old, so I bought brand new ones, then I though the charger was bad, so I threw it out and bought a new one....long story short, you could hook this thing up to a nuclear reactor and maybe get a couple dozen shots! As it is, fully charged batteries will get you 15-20 shots before you have to switch batteries for the next 15-20 shots, and regular AA batteries...forget it....two shots and the camera has eaten them for lunch!
I was so excited to get this product, but I am very disappointed. Yes, its a good price, but you would be better off saving the money and paying more for a Nikon or Cannon. That is what I will be doing from now on!

Kodak Z990 camera purchased, Bob
I bought the Kodak z990 camera last year and had nothing but trouble sence. There is no printed manual, only the online maunal which isn't much help. For example: What is the RED led on the front of the camera. Sometimes it goes on! Don't look in the online maunal because there is nothing there about ANY RED led on the front of the camera. Also I can no longer transfer the pictures taked to my computer. It used to work automatic when the camera was connected.
The camera has some very good features like the 30X zoom but after all the trouble
I have had I would have purchased a better camera. (One with a printed manual)

Useless indoors - grain, grain and more grain, LMB
I've owned this camera for about 5 months and find it extremely frustrating that my inexpensive old Kodak EasyShare C653, takes indoor photographs that far exceed this pricey Z990. I am not a novice at photography, yet no matter what settings are used, day or night, indoor photos are horrible and consistently grainy with the Z990, whereas the C653 takes perfect, high resolution indoor photos every single time.
In my estimation, the Z990 is fine for outdoor in bright light or movies, but for indoor stills, it's absolutely useless and a complete waste of money.
Buyer beware!

No software included, no drivers, no Kodak support., LMB
The camera may be great, but without the Easy Share software disk, cannot upload photos to computer, rendering the camera absolutely useless.
Can no longer download drivers or software from Kodak as of September 5, 2012.
Selling a camera at a discounted price to unload a useless item is about as close to fraud as you can get.
I need the software and drivers in order to use the camera.

great buy, gonzo10
I have only used this camera for my son's football games and pictures come out great from about 200 yards away. Also took several pictures of things about half a mile away and it works awesome. Highly would recommend to anyone. And I really haven't mess with it yet.

Kodak easyshare Z990, daycare
Not I am very disapointed with this camera it freezes all the time so i can not take the picture Bought this one because the old one i had was doing this noow this 1 just being months old is doing the same too late to return

Great camera and best price, Xiong
I bought it about 3 weeks and the camera look like a DSLR. The night shot are very well with its backlit CMOS and i love this camera. It is enough for family.

Discover the snapper in you!!!, Kishore
This is one GREAT Camera!! Got my Z990 couple of weeks back and have been totally in awe of its performance. I had a few Canon point/shoots before and wanted to take this one before i 'graduated' to a DSLR. But after spending over 1000 snaps with this Z990 i dont think i want to go for a DSLR for the next 3-4 years. Will wait for the mirrorless revolution in DSLRs to go evolve further. This is a wonderful camera and dont think you need to go for a DSLR unless you are serious professional photographer (meaning someone who makes real $ from his pics).
You can do pretty much everything with this camera that you want to do with a DSLR without the hassle of lugging a large bag and the array of lenses. My friends have DSLRs (T1 and T4i) but they are amazed at the versatility of this compact package!! Just sharing a few highlights of my experience with this camera:
- Great zoom. Yes the zoom was always its plus. however, the optics used make it even more wonderful to capture pictures in its full clarity and use the effects. Good IS but a tripod would make it easier to snap, as with any super zooms.
- Color look amazingly natural. I never got this kind of natural colors from my earlier digicams
- Lots of options to practice your creative photography. The modes are easy to use and easy to access and they actually WORK!
- One of the reviews mentioned that the custom settings are not saved if you change the mode. e.g. exposure settings in program mode. However, it was not true in my case. The custom settings were the same even when i toggled between modes.
- The zoom in macro mode is absolutely amazing and you can take really crisp close up shots for objects around 10 feet away and get perfect background fading effect. This is a really versatile feature and you can also use it for some realy close up portrait snaps without actually shoving the camera in subjects face!
- Greats presets which are actually tuned to perfection. Like the night landscape mode. Took a snap well past midnight of landscape and these came with dusk kinda light
- One of the reviews mentioned they were not able to take snaps with background light and get the silhotte effect as the objects in front came out with details....but i could easily get it in program mode without much of change in settings..except for reducing the exposure.
- Great non-flash photography: Though it has a really awesome flash, but this camera gives give superb performance in low light.
- Multiple focus options lets you focus on the areas you want to choose and fade the others.. almost a DSLR feature. Along with HDR and RAW capture this comes as close to a DSLR except for the sensor size.
- Commendable performance in burst mode thanks to the fast backlit CMOS sensor.
- Great full HD videos: Though the focusing while taking videos can be a lil slow, but it does an amazing job for 90% of the time considering its not a full blown camcorder. Snapping while recording video is a really smart option :) lets capture the still images as well while recording the video.
Some of the things which could have been improved on this great camera:
- They could have put in a bigger processor as the one in the cam right now lets you know its being pushed to the limits very often
- Recording speeds are better than what i expected but could be bettered further (though class 10 SD HC may give better results than my class 6 SD HC)
- Manual focus would have boosted its ability for really creative snapping
Overall i am really really happy with this camera and the bundle i got. (8 rechargeable batteries+ charger + hdmi cable + 8gb class 6 SD HC Card). For this price i would say it one of the best deal and great bargain......and definetly not a CHEAP camera!!
Go for it and be the snapper you always wanted to be :)

Auto Mode is great. Manual Mode is like trying to drive an army tank., John Sturgeon
The Kodak EasyShare Z990 works great in Auto Mode, but in Manual Mode it feels like you are trying to drive an army tank, in low gear.
Using a camera only in Auto Mode - any camera, even if it is a DSLR - is simply using the camera as a glorified "Point-and-Shoot" camera. That is fine if that is how someone wants to use the camera, but then an honest review of the camera is, "The Kodak EasyShare Z990 works really well as a point-and-shoot camera." Which it does.
I've had mine for just over a year now, and though I get it out and use it sometimes - because I enjoy the challenge, I guess - at this point I am about out of patience with it for anything except Auto Mode and the HDR feature.
As a "Bridge" camera - meaning a "bridge" somewhere between a Point-and-Shoot and a full DSLR - using Manual Mode, no, it does not work quite so well.
On any camera, when you are using Manual Mode you have to set three settings - ISO (film speed), Shutter Speed, and Aperture (size of the hole in front of the lens) - just to take your first shot. And every other camera I ever worked with remembered what setting I was on, and then let me change that by one or two clicks to create a new setting. Not the Kodak Z990. It does not remember anything if you try to make any change to your settings. Not even while it is still turned on. And every time you turn the camera off, even for a few seconds, all of your settings are completely reset back to the camera default settings.
Some of the default settings in Manual Mode on the Kodak EasyShare Z990 are just plane backwards. If you want to set the ISO, the camera defaults every time to ISO 6400. For daytime shooting you want just the opposite, either an ISO 125 or ISO 200. But the camera always defaults to ISO 6400, and each time you have to click your way all the way down to ISO 125 to set it. Then suppose you want to try the same shot at ISO 200. Does it remember you are on ISO 125, just one click away? Nope. You click on the ISO icon again and have to start all over again at ISO 6400 and work your way all the way down to ISO 200 and set it - again.
Ready to set the next setting, shutter speed? Same process. You have to start at the fastest shutter speed of 1/2000 sec and click your way all the way down to the one you want. If you are trying to take a long-exposure night shot say at 16 seconds, then you literally have to run through every other setting to get there. And some of the menus choices - like starting at a shutter speed of 1/2000 and dropping it down to 16 seconds - are on 3 different pages. When you get to the end of each page in the menu, you have an extra step. Question mark, do you want to go to the next page? (Of course) Okay, then click the "next" arrow, go to the next page of the menu and go through that page in the same way, then click the question mark again, and do it all over again on the third page of the menu.
Then suppose after you take that one shot at 16 seconds you decide you want to try another shot with a couple of seconds less shutter speed instead? Does it remember you are on 16 seconds, just one click away? Nope. You have to start all over at 1/2000 second and repeat the whole process all over again, page after page, until you finally get there.
Are you finally ready to set the third setting, Aperture? Same slow, tedious process each time. It's a terrible pain to work with.
You have to do this every single time you make a single change to one of your settings, even if you leave the camera turned on in the process. Any attempt to make any change throws you all the way back to the original default setting for that feature every single time. Turn the camera off, even for a few seconds, and ALL of your Manual settings get lost, and you have to start creating new ones all over again.
Trying to use the Kodak EasyShare Z990 as a Bridge camera in Manual Mode feels like you are trying to drive an army tank, in low gear.
5 stars for how well the camera works in Auto Mode. But 1 star for how hard it is to work with - as an actual bridge camera - in Manual Mode. Since most people here seem to be using it mostly in Auto mode, then I'll give it a 4-star rating for use as a point-and-shoot camera - only. For anything else, I simply wouldn't recommend it, unless you really need to save money, and so it's worth it to you to go through all of that cumbersome process every time you try to use it in the Manual Modes of a standard bridge camera.

Great camera from Kodak!, Amazon Fan
I purchased this camera (w/the bundle) from Amazon a few months ago, and I'm quite pleased with it. It has many great features like facial recognition, Easyshare, but the feature I love the most is the effects the camera provides for film enthusiasts. It offers photo effects that mimic popular Kodak films such as T-Max, Tri-X, Kodacolor, Ektachrome, and, last but not least, Kodachrome! I use these all the time.
The camera is very sophisticated. I like how the flash pops out if there isn't enough light in the given situation. I really recommend this camera. Especially, since it's Kodak's last one. : (

Easy to handle...affordable camera., Bipasha
I am using this camera for one year now along with a Nikon d5000. Very usefull camera for beginners.Highly recomended.

Z990-- Highly recommend!!, WerKuhl
I love taking pictures, and like to stick with Kodak cameras. This camera is THE BEST camera I have ever had, and it is probably the least expensive one that I've had. I did a lot of research before purchasing, and took the recommendations!! I've had it for 2 months, and have been suggesting it to my friends!! One friend had spent 3 times as much on a Canon, the Kodak Z990 is just as good for SO much less!!

Love/Hate Relationship, Ashlee wilkes
When this camera works, it works GREAT! The image stabilizer is unbelievable when in full zoom and I've taken dozens of perfect shots from very far away. Also, as many others have commented, the low-light pictures are freaky good. I've taken it on several trips and came back with excellent shots! (one trip abroad and another to Montana where I got amazing wildlife pictures)
However, I decided to sell my Kodak Z990 because the camera is not reliable. I've experienced many glitchy delays and had to wait a few minutes between shots to wait for the camera to catch up. The zoom is especially buggy, it can get stuck extended or absolutely refuse to zoom in. I have the high speed memory card and keep freshly charged Kodak batteries but it is still too frustrating to live with. Using the Kodak brand rechargeables that it comes with tends to help but I'm going to turn this one in and wait for Kodak to give us a camera with all the good of this one but fix the bad.
In summary: great start of a camera at a good price, but just too many delays and bugs so hopefully Kodak can clean it up

Needs a better Firmware Update., Don VanWassenhoven
The price, features and zoom beat out all of the competition.
The big problem is it takes 20 seconds to process picture and return to ready.
Shutter speed is slow, press button and sometimes the picture is gone before it takes the picture.
Sometimes the flash does not go off at all when it should.
Yes it has the latest firmware update and I use 6 & 10 High Speed cards.

fantastic, just me
I have started taking photos at work, as part of my job. They didn't have a camera so I used my older kodak for awhile, until they bought a nikon z810. My kodak z1012is is so much better at taking photos that I decided to get another kodak before they were all gone since they have stopped making them. The z990 was the best price for what you got that I could find. This camera totally rocks. It does so much more than anyone really needs a camera to do and it does it all so well. In comparison to the much more expensive nikon, this is easily four times the camera.
This camera will focus on the item you wish to take a photo of quickly without you having to sit and wait. The nikon takes forever and sometimes it just wont focus on something (luckily I am taking photos of something that sits still).
The camera flash on this kodak doesn't wash out the colors, unlike the nikon.
I guess I should just say that overall if you are shopping for a nice camera, stop looking this one does everything the average user will ever need and more. there is several setting for ease of use so you can just point and shoot, or set something up yourself for a more artist flare.
The added batterys, charger, cable, and memory card, make this camera ready to go right out of the box with nothing more than a optional case to buy to make it complete.

KODAK 990, ALmondo
this is a truly nice camera,for the money,this is the second one i bought,my ex ripped me off for the first one!very easy to work,share ,and enjoy!! thumbs up,5 stars from me... AP....

So Far So Good, IndieStyle
Well, I just got the camera today and at first the pictures were kind of fuzzy; but after I messed with the settings a bit I noticed that the pictures were coming out much more crisp.
The video is quite nice as well, 720p or 1080p they're both recorded very well with this camera.
As for the zoom I think is a pretty cool feature although I don't care much for it, and as for the camera itself the feel is nice and comfortable overall I'd give this camera a 9/10.
❦

Amazon excellent service., albie odendaal
Kodak EasyShare Z990 12 MP Digital Camera with 30x Optical Zoom, HD Video Capture and 3.0-Inch LCDI must compliment Amazon for their excellent delivery service. I ordered a Kodak z990 max camera on Monday and it was delivered to my door by Friday.
To make this more amazing you must know that i reside in Durban South Africa.
The camera works like a charm and very easy to operate. All the features advertised is exactly what you get.And at the price that i paid for it what abargain cheaper than direct from kodak themselfs.