We don’t say this enough, but when it comes to gadgets, substance trumps style. Even if a gadget is pretty and stylish, it’s worthless if it doesn’t do what’s intended. Sure, Kodak’s EasyShare V803 might be pretty and stylish. Unfortunately it’s also a very poor digital camera.

Despite its fat, candy bar shape, the V803’s smooth curves and array of colors make it quite comely. Unfortunately, the camera’s sleek design makes for an uncomfortable control scheme. A handful of tiny rectangular buttons strewn across the top and left side of the camera back access the V803’s different modes and menus. The buttons feel unresponsive and are placed so that you have to use two hands while operating the camera, and we had a hard time trying to distinguish between them by touch. Also, you have to use a small, awkward-to-manipulate joystick to navigate the camera’s various settings and menus. In our field tests, it often mistranslated directional taps and button pushes for each other.

The Kodak V803 includes user-friendly functions such as in-camera digital red-eye removal, a blurry picture warning, and a new “Maintain Settings” menu that lets the user store their preferred settings such as flash, white balance, ISO, and resolution for use each time the camera is powered on.

Other Kodak V803 features include 4x digital zoom, three metering modes (multi-pattern, center-weighted, or center-spot), +/- 2.0 EV exposure compensation, 2, or 10 second self-timer, and a Movie mode that produces QuickTime MOV (MPEG-4) files with audio at 640 x 480, or 320 x 240 pixel resolution at a rate of up to 30 frames per second.

The Kodak Easyshare V705 is a modest upgrade of the innovative Kodak V570, which was the first camera to feature not one but two lenses when it was released last year. The official name is Kodak Retina Dual Lens Technology, and it allows Kodak to offer both an ultra wide-angle lens of 23mm and a more standard zoom lens of 39mm-117mm in the same camera. The Kodak V705 actually has two 1/2.5 inch, 7 megapixel sensors inside it, one for each lens. All of this advanced technology is housed in a very stylish and expensive looking black metal body that is just 20.4mm thick. Kodak have improved on the older Easyshare V570 by increasing the megapixel count from 5 to 7 and extending the ISO range from 50-1000 (available for all image sizes). As well as offering 22 scene modes for every possible shooting situation, the Kodak V705 also has an advanced video mode. You can zoom when shooting up to 640×480 video at 30fps with sound, turn on the digital stabilizer to reduce the effects of camera-shake, and even split the video in-camera after you have shot it.The Kodak Easyshare V705 has a 7.3 MP megapixel, 1/2.5 inch CCD that delivers 7.1 effective megapixels. There are a range of image sizes (3072 × 2304, 3072 × 2048, 2576 × 1932, 2048×1536, 1200 × 900) which are recorded as JPEGs. The camera has two lenses rather than the standard one. The first is a fixed ultra wide-angle lens equivalent to 23mm on a 35mm format camera. The second is a 3x optical zoom lens equivalent to 39-117 mm. There is also a 4x digital zoom should you feel the need to use it. The camera has 32Mb of built-in memory, of which 28Mb is available for picture storage - it is not supplied with either a SD Memory Card or MultiMedia Card.

The Kodak V705 offers an Auto exposure mode plus 22 different scene modes (portrait, panorama left-right, panorama right-left, sport, landscape, close-up, night portrait, night landscape, snow, beach, text, fireworks, flower, manner/museum, self portrait, party, children, backlight, panning shot, candlelight, sunset, custom). The maximum aperture is f2.8 for the 23mm lens and f3.9 (wide) – f4.4 (tele) for the zoom lens, and the shutter speed range is 8 secs. – 1/1448th sec. There are 6 ISO speeds ranging from 50 to 1000 and an Auto option. There are 4 different White Balance presets to choose from (daylight, tungsten, fluorescent, open shade), plus an Auto setting. The camera offers exposure compensation in ± 2 in 1/3 EV steps.With the Kodak V705’s ultra-wide angle 23mm lens, you can capture wide vistas, plus a unique in-camera panorama stitching requires only 3 pictures for a full 180° coverage. Use 2 or 3 shots stitched together for real estate pictures.

The Kodak V705 is a Point-and-Shoot camera with Auto (Programmed Auto) mode, easy-to-use Scene Modes, and everything designed to make it simple to use. It is similar to the V570 that it replaces, and now sports 7.1MP resolution. Image quality is good to very good.

The Kodak V705 is compact enough to fit in your pocket, though its elongated shape means that it is a bit wider than most digital cameras. Those with large hands would want to try out its small control buttons first. An extra large 2.5 in. LCD monitor with 230,000 pixels high resolution and a wide viewing angle makes viewing pictures easy.he V705 camera records TV-quality video, 640 × 480 at 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’s optical zoom is fully functional during video recording including auto focus. With the V705’s built in editing, 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 big 2.5 inch high-resolution color LCD gains up in low light situations and features a wide viewing angle. With KODAK’s PERFECT TOUCH Technology you can make your pictures as vivid as the moment you took them, print better, brighter pictures, and clear up dark shadows to reveal more smiles.Thanks to Anti-blur technology you can reduce the blur caused by camera shake, subject movement, or low- light conditions. The V705 automatically adjusts its settings to let you choose from 22 scene and 5 color modes letting you take the best shot with the least effort.

The Kodak Easyshare V705 is a modest upgrade of the innovative Kodak V570, which was the first camera to feature not one but two lenses when it was released last year. The official name is Kodak Retina Dual Lens Technology, and it allows Kodak to offer both an ultra wide-angle lens of 23mm and a more standard zoom lens of 39mm-117mm in the same camera. The Kodak V705 actually has two 1/2.5 inch, 7 megapixel sensors inside it, one for each lens. All of this advanced technology is housed in a very stylish and expensive looking black metal body that is just 20.4mm thick. Kodak have improved on the older Easyshare V570 by increasing the megapixel count from 5 to 7 and extending the ISO range from 50-1000 (available for all image sizes). As well as offering 22 scene modes for every possible shooting situation, the Kodak V705 also has an advanced video mode. You can zoom when shooting up to 640×480 video at 30fps with sound, turn on the digital stabilizer to reduce the effects of camera-shake, and even split the video in-camera after you have shot it. So have the relatively modest upgrades made the Kodak Easyshare V705 a worthy successor to the V570? Find out now by reading our latest in-depth review.

Aside from the colors, the V705’s body is almost identical to the V570’s, complete with the automatic sliding lens cover emblazoned with Ultrawide and 5X. The 5X part is actually a bit of marketing hype, since it includes the gap between the 23mm lens and the start of the 3X zoom at 39mm. Kodak employs digital zoom to fill the gap, but remember, it’ll rob you of a bit of resolution, though not all that much, since it’s only about 1.7X worth of digital zoom. Since there are two separate lenses, there is some parallax error when switching between the two, much like when you close one of your eyes, then switch back and forth between your left and right eyes. It is most noticeable when doing close-up and macro photography.

The big 2.5 inch high-resolution color LCD gains up in low light situations and features a wide viewing angle. With KODAK’s PERFECT TOUCH Technology you can make your pictures as vivid as the moment you took them, print better, brighter pictures, and clear up dark shadows to reveal more smiles.Thanks to Anti-blur technology you can reduce the blur caused by camera shake, subject movement, or low- light conditions. The V705 automatically adjusts its settings to let you choose from 22 scene and 5 color modes letting you take the best shot with the least effort.

The V705 is part of the KODAK EASYSHARE System, so sharing your pictures is amazingly simple. Just press “Share” and your photo will be ready to print or e-mail later. With the KODAK EASYSHARE Software (included) you can organize files and folders, print greeting cards, and create Photo Projects.

This presents a bit of a problem, since the lenses on the majority of zoom compacts have a minimum focal length equal to around 38mm, which really isn’t that wide at all, so in order to get everyone into the frame you either have to step backwards and trip comically into the goldfish pond or spend ten minutes persuading aunt Ethel and cousin Bob to squeeze in a bit more at the ends. To the rescue comes Kodak, ever the champion of social photography, with the latest in its unique line of dual-lens cameras. The EasyShare V705 has one zoom lens that covers the usual 39-117mm territory occupied by most 3x zoom digital compacts, and another fixed lens that is equivalent to 23mm, by far the widest angle lens on any compact digital camera, and more than enough for even the most extended family get-together.