Disappointing.

When the light sensor of my 2 year old 6.1mp Kodak (a DX7630) went out recently, I began shopping. Kodak wanted $135 to repair a 2 year old camera, and offered refurbished older cameras at new prices for trade-in. That didn't work for me, so again, I started shopping.

But for my prior camera going bad so soon, I'd really been pleased with it. Additionally, I have a Kodak printer/dock, so I was inclined to stay with a Kodak camera. In my search, I stumbled upon the new v1003.

At a glance, I was impressed. 10mp, small size, big screen... it appeared to have all of the things that I was looking for. I caught a one day online sale at Best Buy for $179, I was REALLY happy. This camera has been at least $199 everywhere else I've found it.

It arrived quickly (kudos to Best Buy on that!) and I was anxious to get started. I charged the battery the recommended time and followed my 1 year old son around to take my first photo. I pressed the button half-way (to focus), then snapped. Then, what seemed like a VERY long time later, it actually took the pic. I tried a few more - same story... SERIOUS lag. The only thing I had to compare to was my older Kodak, which really wasn't that old - just wasn't taking good photos (what with the bad light sensor).

Anyway, I called Kodak and described what I was running into. Just describing it on the phone, the technician said that it sounded like it was performing as it should. I even tried holding the camera to the telephone and describing what was happening, so he could hear the sounds the camera was making. He still said that he thought it was fine.

He referred me to the specs of the camera, saying that the spec in question was labeled "click to capture". This camera is rated at less than 0.4 seconds. No way that this was even close. He tried having me change from the "automatic" setting to the "sports" scene setting - same thing. He thought it sounded fine, but it seemed terribly slow to me. I thanked him for his time and hung up, scratching my head.

I decided to test it out - this time, using a stopwatch. I started by focusing the camera (on the "auto" setting, holding the button down halfway). Once focused, I started the stopwatch and clicked the camera button on down at the same time, then stopped the watch when the camera captured the photo - not wrote it to the memory card; captured the photo (effectively, a true "click to capture" test). Across roughly a dozen tests, the camera was consistently between 1.5 and 1.8 seconds... a far cry longer than the rated less than 0.4 seconds. Taking this even further, I tested it against my older DX7630 (which is rated at less than 0.3 seconds, click to capture). Pressing the button on both cameras halfway to allow focus, I then snapped a photo with each at the exact same time. The DX7630 was immediate... and then, over a second later, the v1003 snapped.

I called Kodak again. This time, I was armed with that data. The lady that spoke to basically tried walking me thru the same steps that the prior gentleman had - and we reached the same conclusion. However, with time data in hand, she agreed, and suggested that I send it back. I called Best Buy and they issued a call tag for the original and cross-shipped a new one - again, kudos to Best Buy on that!

The replacement arrived today. It will be going back tomorrow. I charged the battery and checked it out... exact same performance. I have little kids that move fast, and this camera is simply too slow to catch them. Even though it claims to have digital image stabilization, unless the subject is still (even set to the "sports" scene), my images were blurry. My test tonight started with watching my son walk down the hall. I focused and snapped... and by the time the camera captured the photo, my son had actually turned the corner and was in another room - and not in the picture that I was taking. While I think this would be a decent camera for taking stills, I bought this camera to take photos of my kids, and they are just about the furthest thing from "still"... and inasmuch, for me, it's simply not usable.

I've checked out several other cameras in the meantime... sorry Kodak - looks like I'll be buying a Canon.