Kodak EasyShare DX7590 review

This camera has a lot going for it. It has a 5-megapixel chip, sturdy casing, a 10x zoom and a chunky manual backing up the idiot-proof menus. Most important is its price, which is a bargain. But there are one or two things that are not quite right.

Before we get to the problems, let's look at what's good about the DX7590. For a start, there's the quality of its output, which is hard to fault. Colours are realistic and skin tones are accurately reproduced. Edges are razor sharp and our tests threw up no evidence of any chromatic aberration. The flash, too, has a good throw and didn't adversely affect the quality of the output in our tests. It also shoots video at 640x480 pixels, with sound, so it's better suited than most to ad hoc filming.

But it's marred by a slow focus. We often found ourselves waiting three seconds or more as it shuffled the lens to get a fix. In movie mode, the focus you set when you shoot the first frame is the focus you use for the rest of the film, which can make close objects take on a woolly edge.

However, if you're prepared to live with this rather slow focus, and the fact that when it needs to use the flash you have to pop it up yourself rather than have it done for you, this is a very good camera. The firmware is excellent, with an intuitive menu system giving you speedy access to every setting you could want. Shutter and aperture priority, as well as f-stop settings, are controlled by a wheel on the front of the grip, which is well placed and easy to use, although uncomfortable. To the rear your thumb falls naturally to the mode selection wheel beside a massive 2.2" LCD, making this a true one-handed camera.

The layout is good, too. The viewfinder, which houses a screen rather than a lens, is offset so you don't press your nose on the LCD, and the light sensors are well away from where you might put a finger so you'll never block their view and overexpose your shots. Exposure compensation is a fairly regular +/-2.0EV in 0.3EV steps, but ISO equivalents run to an impressive scale of 80 to 800.

There's an optional dock for charging the battery and transferring images, but if you don't have one you'll be connecting with the bundled USB cable whenever you want to empty the built-in memory. This runs to 32MB, which Kodak says is enough for 17 shots, or nine if you switch from standard compression to fine. Fortunately it's supplemented by a vacant SD/MMC slot, which when filled with a 512MB card should accommodate a minimum of 319 extra shots.

The DX7590 feels like something of a lost opportunity. It has many great features, but a few shortcomings in the overall design do much to spoil its appeal. If you're interested only in the quality of the output it remains a good choice, but if you want something that's also speedy and pleasant to use, there are better alternatives.