Kodak EasyShare M381 – A Cheap Ultracompact Pocket Camera

Thumbs Up:

Has Kodak Perfect Touch Technology. Fine photo quality up to ISO 200.

Thumbs Down:

Narrow lens and no HD support. No optical image stabilization, photo quality drops at ISO 400, exteriors are cheap.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Kodak EasyShare M381 has CCD Optical Sensor to provide total 12.7 Mega Pixels (4164×3050) with 5x digital zoom. The camera has Kodak AF 5x Optical Aspheric lens of 35-1755 mm focal length with lens aperture of F/3.0-4.8.

Light sensitivity options are ISO 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and selectable (64-1600). The White Balance feature includes Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent and Open Shade. The shutter speed is 8-1/400 sec.

The Kodak also offers various scene modes with M381 camera: portrait, landscape, close-up, night portrait, night landscape, snow, beach, text/document, fireworks, museum/manner, flower, high-ISO, self-portrait, children, backlight, panning, candlelight and sunset.

The still picture format is JPEG/EXIF v2.21. Image storage resolutions are 3968 × 2976, 3968 × 2640, 3968 × 2224, 2880 × 2160, 2048 × 1536, 1920 × 1080 and 1280 × 960. Kodak M381 supports six color modes: high, natural (default), low, sepia, black and white for still capture with three types of sharpness – Sharp, normal and soft. The video capture is stored in format of QuickTime Motion, JPEG with audio recording during capture in VGA (640×480) at 30fps and QVGA (320×240) at 30 fps.

The Kodak M381 has Smart Capture Auto Mode for integrating the face detection, scene detection; optimize auto ISO, broader dynamic range, optimized output and auto KPT. Kodak has also offered some additional features with this M381 like Direct print, Auto Recording, Auto Power Save, Face Detection, Cropping an Image, Date/Time Stamp, Sharpness Control, PictBridge Support, YouTube Capture Mode, USB 2.0 compatibility, Dynamic Range Optimizer, Scene Detection Technology, Display Brightness control and Camera Orientation Detection.

The M381 camera has AV Output (NTSC or PAL Selectable) output interface and digital USB 2.0 high speed. The camera has 5V AC adapter inlet on camera and powered by Kodak li-ion re-chargable Digital Camera Battery KLIC-7003. The package includes Kodak rechargable battery, Kodak USB AC Adapter for in-camera charging, Wrist Strap, USB Cable, Kodak Easy Share Software and User Guide with Kodak Easy Share Software. The camera comes with one-year warranty from the Kodak.

Razzle Dazzle:

The main attraction of this Kodak M381 is its simplicity. Kodak EasyShare M381 weighs 4.7 oz has a dimension of 4.0×2.3×0.8 inch (W×H×D). The camera has a built-in mechanical lens cover. The camera costs around $169.95.

Inside Dope:

The Kodak EasyShare M381 is available in blue-gray, black and red colors. It is small enough to fit in a small handbag or pants pocket. The plastic controls feels cheap, however, the camera body is nice and comfortable to use. Shutter Button, Mode Dial, Power Button and Flash Buttons are located on the top whereas Zoom, Info, Review, Menu, Share, Delete and Five-way controller buttons are at the back of the camera.

Kodak has made menus appealing, user friendly and you can easily navigate on this Kodak M381. The shooting options are not obscure. The Kodak has introduced a help button to show the description for each feature for helping us to take the pictures effectively.

Cameras from different companies with better features and same price range are also available in the market. M381 has only electronic blur reduction but it did not have optical or mechanical image stabilization. The lens is narrow, whereas, cameras with wide-angle lenses are available in the same class. There is no HD Video capture with this camera, which is another disappointment.

This smart capture has impressed us a lot while testing because we did not have to worry much about settings to capture good pictures. To improve details and contrast, Smart Auto Capture applies Kodak Perfect Touch Technology.

Mode Dial indicates the spots for Sport and Blur Reduction modes for boosting shutter speed, ISO, Panorama and a basic movie option. The Kodak M381 gives mixed shooting performance. The shot to shot time are 1.5 seconds with Flash and 1.1 seconds without flash, however, the startup time is 2.6 seconds, which is a bit long. The Burst Mode is limited to three shots at a time with a speed of 2.1 frames per second. In good light the shutter lag is 0.6 seconds, and in low light, it is 0.7 seconds.

Kodak M381 works fine up to ISO 200. Shifting colors between different lights and softening the details dramatically are impressive. However, we were surprised that the camera performed well at ISO 400 and above. At ISO 400, the noise reduction hits hard and if you go up to ISO 800 and 1600, the situation gets worse. We do not recommend the camera without flash even in indoor shots and low light. It is disappointing that Kodak has not given any quality adjustment settings. Still photography includes orientation sensor and date/time stamp.

The file size of the captured photographs is compressed and ranges from 0.5MB to 2MB maximum. The inbuilt memory is 32MB, however, there is expandable slot to add external memory. The video length depends upon the memory capacity and can go up to 4GB.

M381 justifies the color at ISO 200 and below because they are accurate but violets and blues look pumped up. The auto white balance is good enough, however, we found a little bit warm under fluorescent light. Kodak Perfect Touch System is overall fine; however, it washes out photos and overcorrects occasionally. The great part of Perfect Touch System is that it shows the display to take the shot in Program Mode. We can apply the Perfect Touch adjustments in the playback.

The M381 can record only VGA and QVGA videos. There is no HD movie mode, which is again a turn off, considering many competitors are offering it now. The camera is the best to shoot quick clips to post at video sharing websites like YouTube. You cannot use optical zoom while shooting videos.

The Kodak has published Easy Share Software with necessary updates and drivers at its website. For technical support, you can call the toll free number provided on the website between 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (ET).

Nitty Gritty:

Couple of key features are missing from the Kodak EasyShare M381; however, this pocket sized camera is good for still photography and gives average quality photos and videos.