Kodak Easyshare DX6440 review

16 December 2003 16:15 GMT / By Stuart Miles

This 4 mega pixel compact camera from Kodak, which sits comfortably in the hand, isn't the lightest camera on the block (weighing 220g), but the combination of brushed steel and plastic makes for an interesting approach for a casing.

The outside sees the usual array of buttons surrounding the 1.8” LCD (134,000 pixel) display and this includes Kodak's Share button allowing you to select favourites, print or email images once you connect the camera to a printer dock or PC.

The camera offers five different scene selections (auto, sport, night, landscape, close up) as well as manual control all via the jog wheel on the rear of the camera. The small joystick at the centre of this wheel allows for easy movement around the menu system although to the large of thumb the stick can be too fiddly.

The camera has an optical viewfinder with dioptre adjustment and strangely this is more than its 5mega pixel older brother the DX6450.

Inside and the images are saved onto an internal 16Mb memory. The camera offers a 4x optical zoom and 3.8x digital zoom and this gives an equivalent of 33-132mm in a 35mm camera from the f/2.2-13 Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon lens.

Images themselves are slightly dull, although capturing action with the sports mode proved productive. Whites are sometimes poorly defined at the edges suffering from chromatic aberration and this along with lack of detail let the camera down. Close up and the camera performs well (see girl in white shirt right) making this camera come out overall as a average shoot.

Verdict

For a mid range 4 mega pixel digital camera, the DX6440 performs well although there was nothing that really grabbed our attention. It certainly isn't the best camera we have seen with 4 mega pixels and it isn't the worst either. It's strange that Kodak has opted for two 4 mega pixel cameras with in the range (the LS443) and the results are therefore slightly muddled. With a price tag of about £300 if you wanted to stay within the Kodak family you would be better off spending the money on a LS443 with its larger screen.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Kodak
Price as reviewed: £300
The good: 4 Mpixel now just above midrange
The bad: Not the best pictures in its class
Quick verdict: Even though the street price has dropped, audition it in a Jessops or just check the autumn replacements – not great in spite of Kodak’s digital-only range in the West
Score