Camera Tour, Continued
Kodak elected to use a selector dial on the top of the camera to both change shooting modes as well as turn the camera on and off. Turning the selector knob counterclockwise from the off position, you change shooting modes from Auto to Landscape to Macro to "SCN" (scene mode). In this last mode, you have access to ten pre-programmed shooting modes in addition to the dedicated Auto, Landscape and Close-up modes. The names are self-explanatory, but as you scroll through them, a description of the shooting mode appears briefly on the screen. The shooting modes are: Portrait, Sport, Children, Party, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Self-portrait, Backlight and Night Portrait; the last position is for shooting videos.
One click clockwise from the off position takes you to images you had tagged as your favorites. I personally might have preferred a dedicated on/off button, as you have to turn the dial back to the off position if you don't want to wait for the auto-power down time. And, for example, if you're shooting in, say, the landscape mode and the camera powers down, you'll have to turn the knob back to off and then back to one of four capture modes or favorite mode to turn it back on again.
As you change scene modes, the name of the mode and its description appears briefly on the screen.
On the right side of the camera (looking from the rear), there's a door that opens to reveal the card slot for the SD/MMC memory, as well as a USB connector to connect to your computer or video device. The camera, although not supplied with a video output cable, is capable of putting out either NTSC or PAL video.
The bottom of the camera has a standard ¼" tripod mount, a data connector for use with the Kodak Series 3 picture and printer docks, and the battery door. Like the HP M437, the C533 is powered by AA batteries, and Kodak thoughtfully molded the battery types into the battery door. Though the camera will run on AA alkaline batteries, you're probably better off using AA lithium or CRV3 lithium batteries. Kodak gives you several ways to extend your battery life, including setting the auto-power down time (1, 2, 5 or 10 minutes) as well as using the optical view finder instead of the LCD for framing your pictures.
Kodak EasyShare C533 rear view.
The first thing you'll notice about the rear of the camera is the viewfinder. For shooting outdoors on a sunny day when the LCD screen might be difficult to see, you can't beat a viewfinder. Kodak rates it as 85% field of view, whereas with the LCD, what you see on the screen is what you get. Of course, the viewfinder doesn't work beyond the range of the optical zoom. Next to the viewfinder is a "ready" LED, which turns green when you have focused, and the flash (if needed) has charged. Again, this is nice if you're using the viewfinder. When using the LCD, focus brackets turn green to indicate focus lock. There's also a dedicated "share button" that lets you tag images for printing or e-mailing when used with the supplied EasyShare software, or as favorites. The rear of the camera also has the fairly typical zoom in/out controls, a four position navigation switch used for navigation with a center "OK" button.
