Battery Killer

I purchased this after a very satisfied experience with the older Kodak V530 which I dropped and broke.  A big selling point was ease of use and great photos.  I was hoping the V1073 would be more of the same but I have to say that I am sorry I made the "upgrade".

First the good.  The photos are great from the V1073.  The resolution is quite high at 10MP and the color is as amazing as my older Kodak camera.  The videos are supposed to be superb but I'm not into that.  If all you want to do is point and shoot, this camera will result in great photos.  It is extremely light and compact which is why I bought it.  While there is no viewfinder, the LCD is large.  It is however quite difficult to see in daylight.  For this model they moved most of the real buttons to a touch screen LCD.  Not a wise move.  The buttons were much quicker to access and more responsive on the older model.

The camera has a lot of nice features should you learn to use them.  You can take 3 photos for a panorama and it will stitch them together quite well.  It has other modes for low light etc, probably like most cameras.  The obvious design intent was to use "smart mode" which chooses the correct mode of operation for you.  When you turn the camera on it defaults to smart mode and it requires a few screen taps to choose another mode.

Now the bad.

1)  Battery life is rediculously short and there is no life indicator
2)  Zoom is extremely slow compared with most comparable cameras
3)  Touch screen makes navigating the options slow
4)  Shutter is hard to press

1) I get about 20 photos on a charge.  There is not even a battery indicator so you have no way to judge where you are on battery life.  On my old camera I got 60.  My guess is the touch screen sucking down the juice.

2) The zoom is so slow my subjects lose interest by the time I am ready to take the shot.  About 2 seconds for full zoom.  Other similar cameras zoom instantly compared with this thing.

3)  Besides the fact you can't read the touch screen in daylight, simple options like forcing the flash are painful.  On the old camera it was one button.  The new it is at least 3 taps on the touch screen.  The touch screen works pretty well but is better suited to those with small fingers.  Some of the options are too close together.

4)  The shutter button is small and recessed.  Unless your finger is lined up just right the shutter is hard to press.  I have loaned this to strangers to take photo of me and they can't figure out how to get the thing to actually take the photo.

In conclusion, don't buy this camera simply because it kills the battery in approximately 20 photos.  If you still want one, only buy it if you plan to just point and shoot.  If you like playing with the settings other cameras are easier to navigate.