Kodak Easyshare CX7430 Digital Camera ReviewWritten by Gary Hendricks
The Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is an excellent point-and-shoot digital camera that is currently selling very well. Just consider its features: 4 megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoom, 16MB of memory, as well as a movie mode. Given it’s low price (around $190), it’s an amazing deal. This camera is most suitable for beginners – it has all of basic functions you need in a simple digital camera. Let’s have a look at its various features:Design and Construction Like all point-and-shoot digital cameras, Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is designed to be compact enough to fit in your pocket. It’s silvery finish will certainly attract lots of attention too. Its dimensions are 4.0 inches by 2.6 inches by 1.25 inches (weight-height-depth), and it weighs only 6.3 ounces. There is a little 1.6 inch LCD screen behind camera for viewing images. Initially, I found LCD screen a tad on small side, but I got used to it after snapping a couple of photos. Optics and Resolution The Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is equipped with a Kodak Retinar lens and offers with a 4 megapixel resolution. There’s also a 3x optical zoom for taking subjects faraway. What is interesting about this camera is its wide range of scene modes. Most point-and-shoot cameras have a handful (maybe 5) scene modes for photography under different conditions: macro, landscape, night photography, etc. The Kodak EasyShare CX7430 has 9 scene modes to choose from, which is much more than competition. I didn’t expect much in terms of manual control in camera’s optics. If you’re looking to play around with shutter speed, aperture, white balance and other photography options, then this camera is not for you. Sure, there are some basic exposure controls but they are nowhere near fine settings allowed in advanced digital SLR cameras. That being said, quality of photos taken by Kodak EasyShare CX7430 were nothing short of outstanding. The photos, when printed out, were of extremely high quality. So if you’re type you just whips out a camera and takes quick shots, with a minimum of fuss, then this camera will be great for you. User Controls The user controls in Kodak CX7430 are located on both sides of LCD and also on mode dial at top surface of camera. Those more accustomed to Canon or Sony models will find that controls take a little getting used to. However, I did not have any problems reaching commonly used functions like flash control or image viewing. Movie Mode If you like to shoot some spontaneous movies with your digital camera, then you’ll be glad to know that CX7430 comes with a movie mode. You can capture video at 13 frames per second (fps) at VGA size 640 x 480. The movie mode is continuous, meaning that camera allows you to record movies up to memory limit of your memory card.
| | A Guide to Touching Up Your Digital PhotosWritten by Gary Hendricks
One problem I faced when starting out with digital photography was how to touch up my raw digital images. Perhaps an image was slightly dark, perhaps it had to be rotated or cropped. Digital photos usually require some form of manipulation before final output. So here's a short guide which I've compiled to help you touch up your photos. Step 1: Start Up Your Image Editor The first step, of course, is to fire up your favorite image editing program. For beginners, it's best to get a program like Ulead PhotoImpact. It's a great tool that allows you to achieve professional photo effects using simple, easy-to-follow steps. You may also want to check out my scoop of top 5 beginner photo editors for Windows. Open picture you want to edit within program and save a backup copy.Step 2: Remove Red Eye If you're taking photos of people, chances are you may have taken a photo with red-eye problems. This is easily removed with image editing software. In Paint Shop Pro, select Red-Eye Removal tool in menu and voila, program does all work for you. In Ulead PhotoImpact, there's an equivalent tool called Remove Red Eye in Tool Panel. Step 3: Rotate and Crop If you've taken a photo in a wrong orientation, it's easily corrected with little loss in quality by using a rotate tool. You'll also want to do some cropping of your photo to remove cluttered surroundings that draw attention away from your subject. For example, I find cropping very useful if my subject is occupying only middle portion of photograph. Cut away two sides of picture and you have a much more professional look. Step 4: Play with Color Don't be afraid to experiment with colors. Image editing programs put a lot of power in your hands. You can make leaves purple, change entire photo to black and white, add a sepia effect - almost anything you want. A good photo editing program will have automatic color balance options to adjust color defects in your pictures.
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