Physical Tour

**Back
**The back panel is designed around the 2.4-inch LCD display, positioned to the far left and taking up almost all of the vertical dimension and 75% of the horizontal. It’s a typical setup for cameras in this range. In the remaining 25% of real estate, Kodak has put the camera controls, among them the four-way controller switch, lens zoom controls and buttons for delete, LCD display options, menu and playback. Above the LCD is a flash ready light, a "share" switch for printing out to an EasyShare dock, and on the far left at the top, the optical viewfinder.

**Left Side
**The left side of the EasyShare C643 is basically unadorned matte chrome plastic with a power in jack and a couple of small holes at the bottom for the speaker. The jack will be a welcome feature for those who neglect to use fresh batteries.

**Right Side
**On the right side of the camera is a door giving access to the USB / A/V port and the slot for a standard SD memory card. There is also a wrist strap lug.

**Top
**On the top of the camera is a combined shoot mode/on-off switch, encircling the shutter release, and two small buttons for activating flash and self-timer.

**Bottom
**On the bottom of the C643, moving left to right, there is the battery compartment door, an ImageLink port and a tripod connection (centered over the lens axis).

Components

**Viewfinder
**The C643 is a point-and-shoot beginner’s camera with an optical viewfinder—a nice touch. It tracks the zoom lens and has fair enough image brightness considering the camera’s price. We did a rough check of its coverage compared to the LCD screen image and would characterize the coverage as noticeably inferior. There was no diopter adjustment; since it’s just a window, but everything seemed to be in sharp focus regardless of distance.

**LCD Screen
**The EasyShare C643 has a 2.4-inch LCD screen with backlight brightness control. Its overall image quality is in line with other cameras we have tested; in an 8x magnification on the LCD screen, the image appeared equal to other cameras we have informally tested in this price range. We spotted no unusual color fringing, aberrations or obvious deficiencies. However, Kodak specifications gave no indication of total pixel count in the display. It displayed the usual image brightness falloff with angled view but is usable from about 30 degrees to either side with no difficulty. We had no way of evaluating the image in bright light conditions. Backlight brightness was adjustable as a menu setting.

Shooting information is displayed in two steps. In shooting mode, the display includes the usual details such as pictures remaining, battery life, flash setting, image size and ISO setting. However, also added to the mix are displays for zoom position, metering pattern, white balance, shooting mode, F-stop, shutter speed and EV compensation. It gets to be a rather busy screen to look at, with icons on three of four sides of the image—a bit much for our taste. However, holding down the shutter release button halfway causes many of the icons to drop to allow a clear view of the image.

Like other cameras in this category, the C643’s LCD takes up most of the back of the camera. It is integrated into the back in a way that looks polished; we like the overall proportions.

**Flash
**The C643 has the usual small rectangular flashtube located within "red-eye" distance to the lens. Its range is listed by Kodak as 2.0-11 feet in the wide position at ISO 140, and 2.0-6.9 feet in the telephoto position. These numbers are almost exact clones of the figures we’ve seen for other cameras in this price range. Three flash options are available: Auto, Fill and Off. In the Fill, position, the flash always fires; however, there is no adjustment for decreasing the fill intensity.

Red-eye reduction works in the usual way, and the C643 has an additional digital red-eye reduction which is available as a menu selection. This feature was not tested. Flash exposures on the Auto setting provided the typical direct flash look with good skin tones.

**Zoom Lens
**There is nothing spectacular about the Kodak lens attached to the C643. Kodak does not provide information regarding the number of elements, their materials of construction or their grouping. The 3x zoom range from 36-108mm equivalent covers the common wide-to-telephoto requirements of a beginner shooter—not too wide and not too telephoto. The f/2.7-f/4.8 maximum aperture range is typical of other manufacturers. Clearly, this is a lens designed for moderate lighting and not low light situations, as well as at moderate and not extreme distance settings.

Zoom adjustment is via the typical button pair located on the top right of the camera back. Its action was smooth and controllable, and not too fast. The camera refocused immediately after zoom.

Design / Layout

**Model Design / Appearance
**As is the case with the competition, the C643’s design is influenced by the large display screen on the rear. It forces the camera into a somewhat boxy shape in order to fit the vertical dimension of the screen. It fits easily into a pocket, however, and the proportions are pleasing. We do take notice of its thickness, 1.3 inches, as just a bit wider than other cameras in this class, adding to its blocky look. This added thickness allows a shooting mode dial on the top surface.

**Handling Ability
**The big problem with cameras such as the C643 is finding room for the buttons and controls after the screen has taken up most of the room on the back. With this camera, as with its competition, every square inch is taken up with some control or function, and thus there is little breathing room for the person with large hands and fingers. They are likely to cover up the viewfinder at the right top corner, or accidentally engage the controller switch on the back. If the user keeps their paws on the right side grip area, the camera is easy to hold, and this is how the camera should be used in practice.

You can hold the camera in both hands, with the index finger of the right hand poised on the exposure button and the left thumb and index finger on the top and bottom. Or you can just hold the camera in the right hand; however, the plastic front surface has no rubberized surface and could get slippery. Overall, it’s not an especially stylish design, but it is entirely functional, and quite typical in its control arrangement.

The carrying strap can be attached to a lug at the top of the right side; the C643 is suitable for one-hand carrying.

**Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
**Kodak has put the additional camera thickness to use by placing the shooting mode dial on the top of the camera rather than on the back. This opens up some room on the back; the "OK" button in the center of the controller switch is large enough to be poked with a man’s finger without difficulty and there are no switches near the four quadrants of the controller, so clicking through menu choices is fast. They’ve done a nice job addressing this ergonomic problem, though there still isn’t quite as much space as I’d like.

The buttons for camera functions are just the right size and the "click" to them feels solid. The only possible criticism is the small size of the text descriptions for the buttons on the back.

**Menu
**The C643 uses a nested menu structure, navigable with the four-way controller switch. In general, the operation was intuitive after a few minutes of navigation.

Navigation starts with the Menu button on the back, which brings up the main menu items: exposure bracketing, picture size in megapixels, white balance, ISO setting (Auto and 100-400 manual), focus zone (multi or center), color mode (color, B&W or sepia), long time exposure, image storage (internal or memory card), camera sounds, auto power on/off, date and time and blur warning setup. They appear on a light blue background with white letters, and contrast between the two was not as good as on some other cameras we have tested. Offsetting this was the use of both icons and word descriptions of each option, and clear return paths to the top menu. There are no live previews of the color settings.

**Ease of Use
**Setting up and using the C643 was generally pleasant. The camera, like its competition, has a tremendous amount of functionality for a beginner’s camera, so the trick is to "hide" the functionality options to prevent scaring the casual user and help ease them into photography. At the same time, the functions can’t be so inaccessible that the operator never uses them. It’s a balancing act that Kodak has performed successfully. The C643 really is easy to use without having a specific "easy to use" setting that blocks off menu choices.

The top-mounted mode dial and on/off switch allow the user to enter the most common shooting presets: Auto, Landscape, Macro, scene rendering menu, movie and image favorites (a file tagging option). Separate buttons take care of automatic printing, flash, burst shooting and LCD information. In other words, the camera makes good use of separate, dedicated buttons.

Of course, Kodak has written the book on docking station solutions to printing, so the C643 benefits from this experience. All the user needs to do is put the camera on the docking station and click through the images after pushing the Review button. At that point, an image can be tagged as a "Favorite", and an entire shoot reduced to just a few "favorite" images for printing. At that point, the printing function selects just these images and images come out of the Kodak printer in just over a minute. This is more satisfying for the beginner than a straight download through the USB port into a computer and printing from there, which is a workflow that recognizes the user’s desire to edit the images chosen for printing.

Modes

**Auto Mode
**Since this is entry level camera, there is only a full program mode and no separate adjustment for shutter speed or aperture. It comes with a blur warning system, which can be turned on and will show an icon on the playback screen when the image is blurry: green indicating no blur, yellow a slight blur, red a full blur.

Images shot in the low light conditions of the exhibit hall were competitive with other cameras we used in the same conditions, and were pleasing exposures. The camera was vulnerable to backlight underexposure, but this is a typical concern.

**Movie Mode
**The C643 offers 640 x 480 pixel resolution in movie mode at 30 fps and a lower setting of 320 x 240 at 30 fps, which is the new standard for image quality in movie mode. The digital zoom is disconnected in this mode, but the optical zoom can be used and its action is smooth. Focus was maintained while zooming. There is no editing of clips available. Audio recording is normal during video recording, but we did not test for its clarity or sensitivity.

**Drive / Burst Mode
**In normal shooting, you can take pictures about 1.5 seconds apart until 4 images are captured in the buffer, at which point the shoot time extends to a bit less than 5 seconds. This is a function of the Kodak C643’s internal 32 MB of storage. In burst mode, you can fire off five shots in about 3 seconds. These times are compatible with the intended market for the camera.

The self-timer is accessed through the same top-mounted button as the drive/burst mode and offers settings of 2 seconds and 10 seconds.

**Playback Mode
**The C643 has a good range of playback options for a camera in this category. The usual delete, slide show and thumbnail views are represented, but Kodak has also added an album-making capability, the aforementioned "Favorites" tagging function and the ability to do in-camera cropping. You can even "undo" an accidental "delete". And as mentioned, the camera uses a one-button print function through the docking station.

Playback features the usual zoom ability to 8x and a fast scroll through the images. Thumbnail view is 9-up and not adjustable; the slide show transitions are not adjustable either. This camera does not offer adjustments to images for color, sharpness or saturation.

**Custom Image Presets
**A basic range of point-and-shoot image presets are included on the mode dial on top of the camera: Auto, Portrait, Macro, Landscape, Sports and Nighttime. Menu options expand these choices to include Night Portraits, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Self-portrait, Backlight Compensation, Children and Party. Kodak has kept the amount of these presets to a reasonable level.

Control Options

**Manual Control Options
**The Kodak EasyShare C643 offers no manual control of shutter speed or F-stop; no Kodak C-series cameras do. However, users can impose control over exposure using the EV compensation setting. Users can also select ISO sensitivity and white balance from a list of presets.

**Focus
***Auto Focus
*Two different patterns are provided for autofocus: center zone and multi-zone. Kodak lists the following focus ranges: normal from 2 ft to infinity; macro from 0.43 ft to 2.3 ft in wide angle; 0.73 ft to 2.3 ft in telephoto; and 32.8 ft to infinity in landscape. These ranges are in line with ranges of competing cameras.

In use, the autofocus worked quickly, even in dim light.

*Manual Focus
*No manual focus is provided, but on a Kodak C-series camera this is not surprising.

**Metering
**Metering in the C643 is center-weighted only. No pattern was described. This is a basic system and can be tricked by extreme backlight.

**Exposure
**Kodak is one of the few manufacturers that still offer exposure compensation adjustments in 1/2 stops rather than 1/3 stops. Some users may find fault with this, but C-series cameras are meant to be simple, and plenty of users in the intended market will rarely if ever use this feature at all. Exposures can be adjusted in a range of +/- 2 EV in 1/2-stop increments, with adjustments easily accessible in the menu offerings.

**White Balance
**Kodak has kept the white balance options on the simple side: Auto, Daylight, Tungsten and Fluorescent. There is no manual white balance. This range of settings is smaller than that found on competitor’s cameras, but possibly like the truncated exposure compensation options, it is a deliberate decision to avoid confusing the beginning photographer.

**ISO
**Multiple settings besides Auto are provided: 50, 100, 200 and 400. You can get to these easily via the menu. This is a fairly average range, though other manufacturers are offering higher ISOs this year.

Images taken on the PMA show floor at an ISO of 400 showed more noise in shadow areas; however, it was no greater than observed in competitive models.

**Shutter Speed
**There is no adjustment for shutter speed. The auto setting can range from 4 seconds to 1/1400 second, and certain scene presets have different fixed ranges.

**Aperture
**There is no adjustment for aperture.

Image Parameters

**Picture Quality / Size Options
**Full picture resolution is 6 megapixels (2848 x 2134), with decreasing image sizes ranging from 5.4, 4, 1.9 and 0.8 megapixels. There is no adjustment for JPEG quality or compression. You can expect excellent 8 x 10-inch images from full resolution shooting, and the lowest resolution would come in handy for email attachments, eBay and so forth. Kodak says the full resolution images could be taken to prints of 20 x 30 inches, but we would have to be convinced of that with some solid testing results.

**Picture Effects Mode
**As mentioned, there are no playback adjustments for color, saturation, contrast or sharpness. This is a limited range set by Kodak in accordance with their philosophy of keeping the controls simple. There are however three basic color modes of color, sepia, and black and white.

Connectivity / Extras

**Connectivity
***Software
*Kodak supplies their EasyShare software with the standard camera bundle. It was not tested, though we have found previous versions of this software—surprise, surprise—very easy to use.

*Jacks, Ports, Plugs
*The USB / A/V port is under a side hatch, along with the SD slot, and cables for computer or video are supplied. An ImageLink port is on the bottom and this fits a standard docking station.

*Direct Print Options
*Besides ImageLink docking, prints can be sent directly through PictBridge.

*Battery
*The C643 takes standard AA alkaline batteries, or a variety of more exotic power sources. It can use NiMH rechargeable AA batteries, or 1 Kodak Lithium battery CRV3. The power port on the side of the camera can use a 3 volt DC input source. These options are more than you find on the typical camera in this price range. It is also worth mentioning that the docking station accessory also functions as a battery charger, providing a full charge in 3.5 hours. However, the company provided no specifications relating to number of shots per charge or type of battery.

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*Memory
*The C643 contains its own 32 MB of memory and accepts standard SD memory cards.

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Overall Impressions

**Value
**The C643 is a good value in a field crowded with good values. Its features and design philosophy reflect the skill of Eastman Kodak to identify exactly what its target audience wants—no more and no less. It has no obvious weak spots, in the sense that the simplified settings are a deliberate decision to make the camera easier to use for the beginner. Yet it comes through with full motion video at 30 fps, in-camera cropping of images and several other features found in more expensive cameras.

It is not the most glamorous camera and almost has a clunky look to it compared to more svelte competitors. But then again, it has an optical viewfinder that the others do not. It is a camera with a minimum of gimmicks, and personally, I like that.

**Who It’s For
***Point-and-Shooters - *This camera is a direct hit for the point-and-shoot crowd, period.

Budget Consumers - This is a good value for the budget-conscious, but only if they are beginners. The C643 is a point-and-shoot, first and foremost.

*Gadget Freaks - *Kodak is definitely not interested in attracting gadget freaks with this camera. They will be turned off by the camera’s simplified controls and clumsy appearance.

Manual Control Freaks - This camera has almost no manual control, thus no appeal to manual control freaks. Kodak’s C-series is anathema to this group.

*Pros / Serious Hobbyists - *This camera is for the beginner only.

Conclusion

**Conclusion
**Kodak has done a lot of work in studying its cameras’ target audience: the beginners. So the Kodak EasyShare C643 has not one ounce of extra "fat", not one feature that a professional would ask for, such as adjustable contrast or sharpness setting. On the other hand, it has a great deal of functionality in the area that a beginner would want, and care a great deal about. The image tagging and editing possible with the software and the direct print ability continue to serve Kodak well. It’s a tried and true simplified file management system. And the C643 has a dock for the ultimate in fast and easy image printing, which recharges batteries to boot. In fact, the cameras are specifically integrated into the printing function; they make you want to print the images, because it is so easy to do so. So if a competitor’s camera has the C643 beat on this feature or that, the camera still can point to its docking system, which no other company has executed in quite the same slick way.

In short, the C643 offers no surprises over Kodaks of years past, but it appears as solid, simple and dependable as the Kodaks that have come before. (Further testing is needed to ascertain image quality, of course.) We can’t frown on Kodak too much for sticking with a formula that’s already proven to be so successful. If you want innovation or unusual features, this Kodak should be low on your list. But if you’re a newcomer to digital photography, the EasyShare C643 will probably serve just fine.