Eastman Kodak Co. unveiled on Wednesday the EasyShare DX6490, a US$499 digital zoom camera that the company says is the first to unite a professional quality Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 10X optical zoom lens (38-380 mm equivalent) with a f/2.8 – f/3.7 maximum aperture.
The 4-megapixel camera, due to ship next month, also has a new image processing chip; low-light precision auto focusing; intelligent matrix metering; and multiple shooting modes. The DX6490’s lens can provide a “flattened” perspective and narrow depth of field for portrait photography. With a f/2.8 maximum aperture at wide angle and a f/3.7 at 10X — and the ability to step down to f/8 — the camera is also capable of performing in both low and bright light.
Using the dual-speed zoom control, you can drive the lens from 1X to 10X in just two seconds, then extend the total magnification up to 30X, according to Kodak. And the lens barrel extends just one inch after powering up the camera, with all lens movements occurring within the protective housing.
The DX6490 camera offers fully manual controls, permitting independent aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, ISO equivalent and other settings. The camera also features aperture and shutter priority modes, as well as sport, portrait, night, landscape, macro and automatic program modes. Saturated, neutral, black-and-white and sepia color modes lend additional in-camera creative options.
The camera is equipped with an external flash synch that’s capable of synching at any shutter speed for illuminating subjects beyond the 16-foot pop-up flash range. Using the high-resolution TTL electronic viewfinder (EVF) with diopter, as well as a 2.2-inch high-resolution indoor/outdoor LCD screen, you can preview shots or review pictures stored in 16MB internal memory or on optional SD/MMC cards.
The DX6490 camera’s “Share” button lets you tag pictures for e-mailing (with up to 32 on-camera e-mail addresses), printing, or marking as favorites. A new album feature, used in conjunction with Kodak EasyShare software version 3, enables organization of pictures right on the camera. The software is compatible with Mac OS X 10.2 or greater.
Additional features include joystick and jog-dial controls for quick control access and the ability to record and play back continuous digital video with audio. You can also buy an optional Kodak EasyShare camera dock 6000 for $79.95 that offers one-touch picture transfer to a connected computer while keeping the DX6490 camera’s lithium-ion battery charged.