Kodak EasyShare Z1285 12.0MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom

I was excited when I purchased this camera.. 12 megapixels, optical zoom! I bought it in September 2007. And it was treated so very well..no dropping, no nothing, hardly used it..

In September 2008, it started to freeze and die. Fresh batteries didn't help. Sometimes it turned on, sometimes not. Now it is permanently opened..the lens extended..and it will not turn on.

I had to buy a new camera in October (Nikon- I didn't make the same mistake twice) so I could take photos on my trip to see family.

I wrote several detailed emails to Kodak. They just recommended new batteries and other nonhelpful thoughts. Now I can't use the camera. Should I toss it, repair it? They do not replace defective cameras and they will not pay for repair, though there was ostensibly a year warranty on the darn thing. I don't really know what a warranty is worth. Nothing, apparantly.

My advice is- DO NOT BUY this camera..be wary of Kodak products. No help will be forthcoming should you get a crappy product. Maybe all digital camera makers are like this...I don't know yet.

12 mp which can be adjusted from a lower MP such as 6 & up. Takes great pictures,the memory card that i bought was 8gigs great buy. I am very pleased with the results. I only by the best for the price and this was it.

I am sorry to have taken so long to write this review. I have had the Kodak Z1285 camera for about 6 months now. This camera has angered me so much, that I finally had to sit down and warn others of its absolutely terrible performance.

Sure, it looks like a great deal: 12 megapixels, 5x optical zoom, HD video, etc. However, the performance is UNACCEPTABLE. The first thing is a constant blue screen of death. After literally each picture, when you are ready to snap the second precious pic of any loved one or special moment, this camera blanks out to a "blue screen of death" with the word "Processing" displayed. This blue screen lasts anywhere from 3 seconds to 30 seconds and disables your ability to snap a picture. Bye Bye precious moment. This one feature alone makes this camera unsatisfactory for anyone's use. It is a definite deal killer.

I called Kodak about this and wrote emails. They do not seem to be aware of this problem and gave me the standard "we apologize for blah blah blah." They suggested that either the batteries needed replacement or the memory card was defective. Neither was the problem. I use lithium AA batteries (great batteries by the way - forget alkalines for your camera.) I also used different memory cards all from the most reputable supplier "SanDisk." The Blue Screen of Processing Death is in the camera. You will be EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED due to this design defect. Kodak did not offer to refund my money.

The next deal killer is the video. Forget taking HD video with this camera. My Razr cell phone takes better video - literally. The video on this camera is CHOPPY, STAGGERS, MISSES ACTION, and is TOTALLY UNWATCHABLE. You could take successive photos, place them in a stack and flip through them quickly and get better animation movement. The video at ANY setting (of quality resolution) is UNACCEPTABLE. It's like the camera has to stop taping and REFOCUS every 1/2 second to 2 seconds. Much action is truly missed and the movie is more like flipping pages through a story book and "skipping through time."

The next deal killer is the optical zoom. The camera zooms but it is too shaky to take a picture with. And for some reason all the pictures taken at high zoom are GRAINY. Color rendition is also EXTREMELY POOR. In essence, the zoom is USELESS.

In addition, the "Image Stabilization" option is a knob setting and not a selection that can be used for every mode of picture taking. So if you want to use a night shot or the "Beach" or "Firecracker" or "Museum" or ANY mode setting, you CANNOT USE the image stabilization at the same time since it is not setting. In fact, when you select the Image Stabilization, there is no way to tell what mode the camera is in or how it is adjusting the speed or ISO settings. The "Image Stabilization" setting is thus USELESS. When on high zoom, you definitely need image stabilization because the camera is so shaky and sensitive to movement your photo will be BLURRY and SMEARED and UNACCEPTABLE. So if you wanted to, for example, take a night time shot of a city scene with all the city lights, from far away, and you zoom up on it, you CANNOT engage the stabilization feature and your picture will, without FAIL, come out BLURRED.

I should note that the camera has a good feel to it and does not feel like a cheap plastic camera. That is its one nice feature. However, it cannot take a decent picture even when all lighting and subject conditions are optimal. Note also that there is no viewfinder so you must always use the LCD screen (a battery life waster).

In conclusion, this camera is SLOW, POORLY DESIGNED, and takes LOUSY, POOR-COLOR RENDITION pictures. The video is COMPLETELY UNUSABLE. I had owned a Kodak 3 megapixel camera for several years before I got this one. The old Kodak camera took wonderful pictures. This Z1285 model however, has set digital photography back many years. All in all, buy AT YOUR OWN RISK. I wish I had taken this camera back when I first got it. I just couldn't believe it was as bad as it truly is. My fellow citizens - consider yourselves FOREWARNED. Best of luck to all.

I bought this camera for the brand (always like Kodak), for the fact that it uses an SD card, AA batteries (rechargeables always!), and also for the megapixels it offered. I like the picture quality, especially for landscape, sport and sunset. Indoors with flash is not the greatest, and taking concert pictures does not give me great results. Video is good, sound quality is so-so. Advice to anyone purchasing this camera: use a padded case. I had this camera in the back of our motorcycle and we hit a deep hole (the camera was in my purse in a small case). The back display is broken (not in pieces but looks like a fireworks display when you turn the camera on). You can't see to take a picture, or review the images after you take a picture. But, if I take a picture, and put my SD card into a different camera, I can see the picture. I really liked this camera, but only used it for about 2 months. Take care of those digital cameras with large displays!

We purchased a Kodak Z1275 in August, 2007 and were instantly amazed. When we accidentally broke the screen, we immediately sent it in for repairs, and bought a Z1285 to cover in its absence (in July, 2008). We have taken ~4,400 pictures on the Z1275 and 500+ on the Z1285.

The Z1275 and Z1285 are largely the same. The only changes I have seen (beyond body color) is that the 1275 has bracketing settings and that the 1285 has a much quieter motor, which greatly helps when taking movies.

The image quality, coupled with the small size (but not too small, like so many unusable `tiny' cameras), is what has one of them in my pocket virtually all weekend, and in my briefcase while on business travel during the week, and one at home for the family to use.

While on a trip to Southern California last April, I took similar photos with the Z1275 and with professional Kodak Portra film, and I was stunned at how much better the Z1275 images came out - the colors were brighter and more vibrant, and the details amazing. We could also see some incredibly small details on the bugs on the flowers, and those pictures were from a foot or two away.

The short list of the best features are:
- Ease of use... Kodak really thought through the buttons and the menus to make it all quite easy to quickly jump through
- The strength of the video quality - I do recommend a tripod for less shaking from natural body movements
- Action prints makes pictures of the videos.
- The P/M setting lets me get amazing night photos, including shots of stars; while I prefer ISO 64 wherever possible, some of the darkest settings come better in the still-sharp 400 and 800 speed settings.
- Great close-up pictures of the flowers (if only I could get the wind to stop blowing better)
- Panoramic images (stitched in-camera) that capture scenes so well (I hope they upgrade to full 12-megapixels for these; they currently step-down to 4mp)
- Perfect Touch technology is simply amazing, taking good pictures and making them truly great!
- Out kids love taking pictures and quickly learned how to use it themselves

For batteries, I recommend Energizer 2500 mAh NiMH AA rechargeables and their compact charger.


Kodak continues to be the premier photographic/imaging company in the world.

As stated before, the advantages of this camera are hard to find in this price range. 12 Mp, HD stills and video, decent zoom for stills/video and image stabilization, in a pocket size camera... well, I am happy with the purchase and would recommend it no problem!

The camera was delivered right on time, and it works perfectly! No problem with this item or seller.

I've had this camera for a few weeks now and havew taken many pictures with it. The photos are generally good, but not as good as I would expect for a 12.1mp camera. It is difficult to accurately compose photos with the digital screen. the screen is often difficult to see well in bright light. the functions are somewhat complicated if you're used to a point and shoot camera, but I'm sure will become more familiar with time and review of the operators manual. I am not unhappy with the camera however and would recommend it to those who have the time and patience to learn to use it properly.

Good Camera- Pictures are clear and sharp. NiMH batteries are good. I did not rate it 5 stars because of the batteries. It was listed as a Kodak package, which had 4 rechargeable batteries. That was correct, but they did not say it would not work for charging on the Kodak series 3 printer.
The pictures print, but the battery will not charge. This means switching the battery every time it runs down and using another charger, which they did send with the batteries. I must now buy Kodak batteries, or be aggravated every time I have to switch them.

I have had several Easyshares. I got this one hoping fo better results, BUT its like the others.
These take terrible low-light pictures, terrible macro-pictures, terrible back-lit pictures. If you go to a concert don't even THINK about taking this camera, you'll be highly disapointed.
It does take VERY GOOD pictures in daylight or in situations where it is well lit and the target is stationary.
Ease of use, battery life, and downloading are all excellent, 5 out of 5.

When I bought this camera 2 months ago I was so pleased and thought all the bad press was b/c folks got lemons...I got one too it seems. Even when I fully charge the battery, the camera has started to just turn off whenever I zoom in or out. I am stuck with whatever the lens picks up at the distance I am.
I will be returning it.

I give the Kodak Easyshare Z1285 camera a huge thumbs-up! It's a great little camera that does a lot of stuff. It has automatic settings for all sorts of different picture-taking situations, as well settings that can be easily manipulated manually. This also includes a manual focus in the P/M manual mode. The pictures are crystal clear, and provide great prints. The pictures are clear enough to blow-up to a 30" x 40" sized poster print. I'm no longer limited to a 4" x 6" print, as I was with my older camera. The videos are also crystal clear. Although it's not a camcorder, it does take incredibly beautiful and fairly long videos. I think buying the camera was definitely money well spent. I highly recommend it to anyone that's looking for an easy camera to operate, that provides either automatic or manual settings, takes great pictures and video, and is fairly priced. This is the one to buy!

I have gotten my z1285 a little over a week ago and i love it. the zoom is awesome on it and the video is great as well. i was kind of worried by some of the other reviews i read. i have a class 6 8 gig card and i do not hear it trying to "write" on the card when i'm doing a video. yes you can hear a lil hum when your zooming on video but it's not that bad. Overall the pictures and video quality are awesome. it's very easy to use and to operate as well. i'm very pleased with my purchase of the z1285 and the 8 gig class 6 sd card!

Purchased one month ago for vacation, family photos/movies. Great camera with fine resolution, fantastic pictures. The telephoto with digital zoom allows tremendous closeups but the image will be blurry if not held very steady or using a tripod. For the cost and zoom capability - I'm not disappointed - very easy to use. Highly recommended.

I'am very satisfied with the quality of picture this camera produces. It is very clear: you can see every minute detail in high definition quality. It is also very easy to use even my 6 year old daughter can use it with ease. I would highly reccommend this to a friend. You won't be disappointed with the picture quality even if you are a professional or hobbiest photographer.

I just bought the camera about a momth ago and I am not satisfied with it. First the picture on the screen isn't clear and the pictures are not a good quality when they are printed out.
I thought with 12 megapixels it would be a lot clearer.

I love this camera. I have had it for a little over a month. Prior to this I owned 2 HP cameras. My last HP camera took wonderful pictures, but ate batteries. When going anywhere-a wedding, the zoo for the day, etc I knew to pack at least 10 batteries, usually more like 12 and I'd use everyone of them, which I why I decided to buy a new camera. Here are my thoughts:

1. Batteries- this camera is great on the batteries. I bought a pack of 4 Kodak AA reacharable, along with a charger. So far, those batteries have served me and I've only had to recharge a few times. I went to a shower where I took over 150 pictures and I NEVER had to change the batteries, and the batteries had already been in the camera for awhile.

2. Picture Quality-is great. I can easily get a clear 8 x 10 in any of the picutres. I do a lot of flower designing for weddings and I take up close pictures of my bouquets a lot. It took me a few times to play with the settings to find the right one, but it takes good pictures even with that, which leads me to my next point

3. Flash- seems to be very good. My flower colors are very true to real life, as is all of the colors in the pictures that I take.

4. Features-this camera has great feaures. It has a panoramic mode, which I love, although I haven't yet had a real reason to use it. It also has a speical self-portriat setting, which my teenage god-daughter loves. It has a fireworks option, which I can't wait to try tonight, and several other great options. When I first got the camera, I took a picture of the exact same thing using each of the settings to see how it affected the picture. If you arent sure of the settings, or are giving your camera to someone else to take pictures with, you can set it to the Smart Scene function and the camera will automatically use the best option.

5. Memory-You need to get at least a 2GB or 4GB memory card. The camera does have an "internal" memory, which I found took about 20-30 pictures depending on how many megapixels I had it set on (I usually have it set on 9, so that it doesn't take as much memory). I had a 128MB memory card from my old camera that allowed me to take just under 300 pix on that camera, but I could only take about 45 on this one. Now that I have the 4GB card, I can take over 2,000 pictures.

6. Software- I don't really like the software that came with it. I find it hard to use, and it took a lot of memory from my system. The HP software is much better than the Kodak software. It put my pictures is some weird file that I had to search long for before I could find where they were to send out in an email, etc. The software works with both the Vista Desktop I have, and my XP laptop. I have found it easier to just use the memory card port on the desktop, rather than hooking up the camera with the included USB cord. That being said, the software is great if you want to burn your pictures to a CD, since it's very easy.

7. The only 2 things I dont LOVE about this camera is the fact that each time I remove the batteries & recharge them, I have to re-set the time & date. This may be because it is without batteries at times for 24+ hours. However, that is not enough to stop me from highly recommending this camera. I also find the turn-around time between shots to be a little longer that I would like, but there may be a setting to help change with. I'm still playing with the camera, and haven't played with EVERY feature yet.

All in all, the camera is an excellent value and I don't regret buying it.

Had a hard time getting the camera to turn on --- took about 10 trys to get it on. Took some great pictures. Truned it off. came back later to take more pictures and finally got the camera on again after 10 or 15 attemps. It kept getting worse untill it will not turn on at all.