Written: 9/8/2000
Written by: Tron®
Price: $299.95
Supplied by: Kodak

The appeal of owning a digital camera is undeniable. The promise of instant gratification, convenience, and the compatibility with standard PC's make them very tempting. As a review-guru, having one is a practical necessity, unless you want to have to hold up a review, waiting on the 1-Hour Lab at Wal-Mart to finish your pics, only to find out they're crap, and you've got to do them all over again. For me it was a gotta-have gadget, but we're still at a point where digital cameras are considerably more pricey than your average 35mm camera. At bare minimum, you are going to spend $200 for a basic digital camera, that has acceptable resolution for print work, and the features to make it worthwhile.

The Kodak DC-215 is an entry level digital camera, aimed at the first time digital camera user who wants good basic features, and wants to stick with a traditional camera manufacturer. Here are the specs:

• CCD Resolution: 1174 x 884 pixels 
• Image Resolution: 1152 x 864 pixels (high), 640 x 480 pixels (standard) 
• Image Quality Settings: Best, better, good 
• Color: 24-bit, millions of colors 
• Viewfinder: 1.8" TFT color LCD for review and preview, plus optical viewfinder 
• Lens: 2X true optical glass zoom, Focus-free 
• Lens Focal Length: 29 mm to 58 mm 
• Focus Distance: Regular: 19.8"(0.5 m) to infinity 
• Macro: 8" (0.2 m) 
• Exposure: Auto, or manual override (+/- 2 EV in 0.5-EV increments) with automatic white 
  balance and exposure lock 
• Flash: Strobe flash (auto, fill, red-eye, off), range up to 9.8' (3.0 m) 
• File Formats: JPEG (EXIF), FPX 
• Power: 4 AA batteries (included) or optional AC adapter 
• Shutter Speed: 1/2 to 1/362 second 
• Aperture Range: Wide: f/4.0 to f/13.5; Tele: f/4.79 to f/16.0 
• ISO Equivalent: 140 
• LCD Panel Indicators: Battery level, resolution setting, flash mode, self-timer, pictures remaining 
• Interface: Serial, PC Card (USB for Millennium 2000 Edition) 
• Video Out: NTSC and PAL (user selectable) 
• Date Stamp: Optional 
• Special Effects: Template 
• Tripod Mount: Standard 
• Self-Timer: 10 seconds 

You can see from the specs above, that it's got all the basics covered. It's housed in a sturdy aluminum frame, something I've not seen in a digital camera in this price range. It comes with a 4meg Compact Flash memory card, and a serial cable for downloading pictures. If you value your sanity though, you'll get a larger CF card, and a USB card reader, as the 4mb card is just too small, barely holding 13 images at the high quality setting. 

Next page: Taking a closer look

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