At first glance, the Kodak V705 appears to be a much more high-tech and expensive camera than it actually is. In many ways, this is a positive aspect of a product but for me it was just one of the factors that lead to my overall disappointment in this camera.

With its dual lens technology, Kodak boasts that this camera has the incredible ability to capture “amazingly wide views with the world’s smallest ultra-wide-angle optical zoom digital camera”. Not only does this set the appearance of the camera apart from its competitors, it is definitely useful in capturing a larger portion of a wide landscape or even as some have pointed out in the past, a house for real estate purposes.

This camera also feels very solid and despite its boxy shape it is also fairly comfortable to hold. This is not quite as pocket-sized as many other cameras in this price range and market but it is still pretty portable, just a bit longer than most. The lens cover that slides back also makes turning on this camera a very flashy experience as it swiftly and smoothly moves. While I tested the silver version, the camera also comes in pink and black for those with a more non-traditional camera color choice in mind.

While I do feel this camera has great aesthetics, one small drawback is the small and thin buttons that could be difficult for larger hands. The joystick with which you navigate menus and review images is also small and hard to maneuver at times. Another pesky interface issue was the deleting images menu that popped up when you review your images. Instead of taking up a small portion of the screen, it is on top of your whole image (it is slightly opaque so you can see through it). The problem with this is that you really have to look closely to see what image you are deleting which can be especially a problem if you have many images of a similar subject in a row. I accidentally deleted one of my better images this way during the review period.

Another potentially positive feature of this camera is the large, 2.5” LCD screen. However, upon using this camera, I was disappointed by the below average quality of the screen including a large amount of graininess and noise. This noise also translated a good amount onto the images captured due in part to the large number of megapixels on a small sensor.

Again, Kodak includes many scene modes (22 to be exact) for the less experienced photographer to master the settings of just about any situation. For those seeking to spread their horizons beyond this, good luck as this camera does not include any manual settings. As I found with the Kodak C875, one of the most promising scene modes, panorama, still needs more work. For this, the user will take three pictures. After the first, the camera shows a small portion of the first where the 2nd should overlap and the same goes for the 3rd. For landscapes, it is difficult if not impossible to distinguish where these overlapping points since often a forest or a sky scene do not contain many unique areas of differentiation.

Overall this camera has a relatively intuitive interface and aesthetic appeal but the small annoyances I came across along the way in the end overshadowed the positives. For the money, I think it best to wait for either a newer version of this camera with some fixes or a more basic point and shoot digital would be the way to go. Unless you are in dire need of a wide-angle lens, there are many alternatives on the market that will give you the same if not better image quality and smaller, compact size.

-Review by Molly
June 25, 2007