Kodak EasyShare LS743

Reviews are courtesy of Jeff Keller ,
DCRP Founder and Editor, DCResource.com

 

The Kodak EasyShare LS743 (£153.20) is a compact 4 Megapixel camera with a design quite unlike any previous Kodak camera. Along with its 5 Megapixel sibling, the LS753, this camera features a 3X zoom, point-and-shoot operation, a user-friendly interface, and support for both Kodak camera and printer docks.

 

There's a ton of competition in this class. How does the LS743 perform? Find out in our review !

 

What's in the Box?

The LS743 has a very good bundle. Do note that depending on where you live (especially outside of the U.S. and Canada), your bundle may be different. Inside the box, you'll find:

• The 4.0 effective Megapixel Kodak EasyShare LS743 camera
• KLIC-5000 lithium-ion battery (rechargeable)
• Battery charger with plug(s)
• Camera dock insert
• Neck strap
• USB cable
• A/V cable
• CD-ROM featuring Kodak EasyShare software
• 56 page manual (printed)

As with other recent Kodak models, the LS743 has internal memory plus a memory card slot. Kodak includes 16MB of internal memory (and no memory card), which is barely enough to get started with, so do yourself a favor and buy a memory card. The LS743 can use Secure Digital (SD) or MultiMedia (MMC) cards, and I recommend the former because of its superior capacity and performance. I'd say that a 128MB card is the minimum that you should buy.

The LS743 uses the familiar KLIC-5000 lithium-ion rechargeable battery, which has a fairly low 3.9 wh of energy. Kodak estimates that you can take between 200 and 250 photos per charge, which seems pretty good to me. As frequent readers of this site know, I'm not a huge fan of proprietary batteries like this due to their cost and the fact that you can't use alkalines if you're in a jam. But I don't think you could fit AAs into a camera this small.

When it's time to recharge the battery, just pop it into the included external charger. Expect a three-hour wait while the battery is charged. This isn't just one of those "plug in right into the wall" chargers -- you can swap plugs too, allowing you to use it all over the world. I'm not sure if you can buy the plugs separately, though.

The ultra-compact LS743 has a built-in lens cover, so there's no lens cap to worry about. The LS743 is compatible with Kodak's camera and printer docks. The camera dock 6000 provides battery charging and photo transfer capabilities. You can do both without buying the dock. The cooler accessory is the printer dock 6000, which produces a 4 x 6 inch print in just 90 seconds. Just pop the LS743 onto the printer and you're set. The printer dock 6000 can also be hooked into your television for slideshow viewing. Aside from those two items, the only other real accessories for the LS743 are an AC adapter and various camera cases.

Look and Feel

The LS743 is a small (but wide), all-metal camera that will fit into any pocket with ease. It's well built, and can take whatever you throw at it. In terms of usability, I'm not totally thrilled with it. The jog dial is placed right by the shutter release button, and I pressed it accidentally many times. I'm not a big fan of the unusual zoom controller either. The official dimension of the camera are 108 x 30 x 49 mm / 4.3 x 1.2 x 1.9 inches (W x H x D, excluding protrusions), and it weighs just 165 g / 6 oz. empty.With the boring stuff out the way, now we can get started with our tour of this camera !

The LS743 has a compact 2.8X optical zoom Schneider-Kreuznach lens, with a rather slow maximum aperture of F3.0 - F4.9. The focal range of the lens is 6 - 16.6 mm, which is equivalent to 36 - 100 mm. The camera does not support conversion lenses. Above the lens are the self-timer lamp, microphone, optical viewfinder, and light sensor. To the left of all of those is the built-in flash, which has a relatively small working range of 0.6 - 3.0 m at wide-angle and 0.6 - 1.8 m at telephoto. The LS743 doesn't support and external flash, nor would I expect it to.The LS743 does not have an AF-assist lamp, which greatly aids in low light focusing.

The LS743 has a very nice 1.8" lcd . This lcd is what Kodak calls "indoor/outdoor", and it really is easier to see outdoors than your typical lcd (though the screen on the DX7630 is better). Images on the screen are sharp, thanks to the 134k pixel resolution, and everything is fluid as well, as the frame rate is 24 frames/second. The brightness is not adjustable, though, and the screen will be too dark to be usable in low light conditions.At the top-left of the photo, you'll see the optical viewfinder. This is a pretty tiny one, so I recommend trying it out before you buy in case it's too small. The viewfinder shows 80% of the frame, and it lacks a diopter correction knob to focus what you're looking at.

To the left of the lcd are four buttons:

• Delete photo
• Menu
• Review - enters playback mode
• Share

On the back of the camera is the four-way/zoom controller, and I don't like it. I found it difficult to use the four-way controller, especially when you're trying to press it inward to select a menu option. The zoom controller around it is unusual and takes some getting used to. The zoom controller moves the lens from wide-angle to telephoto in two seconds. There are six steps in the zoom range.

If you like pulsating blue LEDs, then this is your camera ! You'll never have trouble finding the power button, which is that blue thing toward the center of the photo. To the right of that is the speaker, followed by the flash button, shutter release button, and jog dial. The available flash modes are auto, off, fill flash, and auto w/redeye reduction. Pressing the flash button also gives you a quick overview of camera settings and shots remaining. The jog dial is used for selecting the camera mode. I don't like its placement, either -- it's too easy to bump.

On this side of the camera you'll find the LS743's I/O ports, which are kept behind a rubber cover. The ports include USB 2.0 (don't worry, you can still use it with the "old USB"), video out, and DC-in (for optional AC adapter).

How Does it Compare?

The Kodak EasyShare LS743 is a nice choice for those looking for a compact, high-resolution point-and-shoot camera. Enthusiasts will be turned off by its lack of manual controls and limited image quality choices, but the average shooter probably won't miss either. The LS743 has a compact body made mostly of metal, and it's very slick. I did not care for the clumsy four-way and zoom controllers, though. Photo quality is good, though a bit "fuzzy" at times. The sky seemed mottled, as well. Kodak puts the word "Easy" into the product name for a reason -- cameras don't get much easier to operate than this one here. The camera is responsive and all the menus are simple and understandable. The EasyShare system lets you tag photos for printing, e-mailing, or organizing right on the camera. Combine this with the excellent software on your Mac or PC, and you've got a complete system for sharing your photos. Other nice features on the LS743 include USB 2.0 and support for Kodak's camera and printer docks.

There a few downsides in addition to those listed above. Low light shooting wasn't so hot: there's no AF-assist lamp, and the lcd was too dark to be usable. The camera doesn't store settings when it is powered off, which can be frustrating. And finally, the movie mode, while having a VGA resolution, the frame rate is slow and the quality was not great.

All-in-all, I do recommend this camera, especially for beginners who want nice photos from a small, super easy-to-use camera.

What I liked:

• Good photo quality
• Compact, stylish body
• Surprisingly good redeye test performance
• Incredibly easy-to-use
• EasyShare system makes it very easy to share, print, and organize photos -- right on the camera
• USB 2.0
• Supports optional camera and printer dock
• Nice software bundle

What I didn't care for:

• Sky is noisy and images have a "fuzzy" look at times
• No manual controls
• No AF-assist lamp; poor low light focusing
• Clumsy four-way, zoom controllers
• Tiny optical viewfinder
• VGA movie mode not so hot
• Cameras does not save settings when powered off
• Zoom lens is only 2.8X

As always, I recommend a trip down to your local reseller to try out the LS743 and it's competitors before you buy !