Home > Consumer Reviews > Kodak EasyShare Z1485 14MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5 inch LCD (Blue)

We've wanted a new digital camera for several years. I read & read - much of it here on Amazon. I'm shy of professional reviews (which can be overly into high end stuff) I like the reviews here on Amazon alot.
One of the biggest gripes I've seen here have been related to power issues. Yes You Must use Lithium Batteries or you're gonna be Disappointed. Its Twenty-0-9 get yer darn lithiums and move forward. Amazon has great deals on the lithium batteries - they're the Kodak KLIC-8000 style but the generic ones work quite well.
One of the things about it nearly being 2010 is small is the way things are. I like the fact that I can easily carry my Z1485 in my pocket. Thing is, I hate the way most of these cameras give you nothing to hold onto. Grabbing cameras at local retailers I found most of them all too easy to drop. That was the first thing I liked about the Z1485. That bit of a bulge with that rubbery strip makes it far easier to hold than most cameras in this class. The on screen little let you know what mode you just went into is handy too. A true view finder sure would be preferable but the screen works okay.
Then I seemed to recall that Kodak had slipped in to an abyss of poor quality and lack of keeping up with current technology. I went back and started doing some research and found that they had done a come back and were back as being a maker of `good bang for the buck' cameras.
I found that it had both the point & shoot for my hunny and multiple program modes for myself. We do alot of photography at night club shows - difficult and generally dim lighting, performers moving, dancing, and so on. The relatively large CCD helps the Z1485 handle poor lighting. Ricky likes the 'smart capture' features and gets plenty of good shots. The optical image stabilization is awesome!
The first pics I took with it were done by setting it to smart capture in a dim bar with awful lighting. I shook the camera like a can of spray paint and hit the shutter button repeatedly trying to get blur, backlighting, and whatever other intentionally bad situations to see what I'd get for results. What I got was a bunch of pretty good pictures of things I didn't care about. I was amazed at how well the Z1485 did with me trying to get bad pix. Of course when trying for good pix they're oft pretty good. Using the program modes is even better (for those of us so inclined)
We give it two thumbs up. heres a little thing on the smart capture feature - [...]

I really wanted a good digital camera so I started looking for reviews online. That's when I discovered this 14mp camera and I suddenly NEEDED it so bad. I've never seen a 14MP camera, especially for under $200!. Still, I thought really hard before buying this camera. Even though it has some great reviews there were some people that insisted it took horrible pictures. SERIOUSLY?! I couldnt take a horrible picture with this camera if I tried! I bought it on ebay last week for [...] bucks (I KNOW!! :) ).
So far i've taken really great pictures with it. Im still trying out all the settings because there are so many and I want to experiment which ones work best with certain lighting. Im so glad I didnt listen to the bad reviews. I'm not sure if people realize that you have to hold down the shutter button half way and the camera will let you know when to take the picture (the frame will turn green). This takes less than a second but the results are great. Before you post a review saying youre getting blurry or bad pictures, make sure you are using the right setting.

So far, excellent digital camera! Only "cons" discovered were that any power source other than rechargable Lithium Ion batteries are impractical. This little powerhouse of a camera gobbles up other batteries like a wood chipper! Also, I've found that you must be in the auto mode to get to macro program. You cannot select Macro from the dial. I did experience difficulty trying to take a macro photo where the camera oscilated between auto and macro. Many macro shots were out of focus because of this. This was a minor issue, though. Overall, very, very satisfied!

This is another great camera from Kodak. I had some reservations about this purchase based on other's concerns about battery life. Simply put- if you use Lithium batteries, there is no problem. I have taken over 1000 photos and movies with 2 battery changes. The picture quality and ease of use is great. I appreciate the manual mode even though I do not get much use out of it yet.

My only complaint is that the camera can sometimes take too long to process a command (delete, review), but this is a great little point and shoot.

I am very pleased with my purchase.

I took it down to Florida for a few days and took some really great pics with it. They were all clear no matter what conditions under which they were taken. My girlfriend had more fun with it than I did, taking all sorts of different photos and some video, for which you do need a memory card. I was able to get an 8MG card for $14 from Amazon. I like the color and the compactness of it. My only concern is that it's not the thinnest camera you can buy. It's almost 1.5 inches at it's thickest. I got a case for it, again from Amazon, and it fits perfectly, and I have room for an extra card and batteries. Speaking of which, it would have been nice if it had come with a charger, since it's got rechargeable batteries. My mom has an 8MP Kodak and I can tell the difference in the photos, though hers is thinner. If you don't mind the relative bulk, it's a great little camera with lots of features.