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First off, let me just say that I'm a Canon believer. The only reason I have this camera is because I got it at work as a prize. I've owned a Canon A40 (2MP) and a Canon A80 (4MP). I've never been too big a fan of Kodak's build quality (cheap plastic on many lower end models) and have always been skeptical about their image quality.
The good thing about this camera is that it feels solidly built. I can't really attest to it's durability, as I've never been unfortunate enough to have dropped it. Kudos to Kodak for the appearance of the camera - it's a good size, has a solid weight, and the screen looks really nice. The buttons are small and difficult to distinguish but functional enough. The menu isn't as intuitive as what I've used on my Canon's, acceptable, but not great.
The real weakness of this camera lies in it's picture quality. Since my A80 is only 4MP, I figured that this would be a nice upgrade for me, regardless of my preference to Canon's design and interface. I only recently had a real chance to use the camera and it was then that I learned that it's image quality was not adequate for me.
I was visiting Sea World, and I took my A80 and the v1003. We were taking pictures with both cameras of the same shows and after I got home, I began comparing the shots in iPhoto. I was disappointed by the amount of noise/grain in the v1003's shots. My Canon shots were generally brighter and certainly not plagued with noise. Even some outdoor shots in bright daylight couldn't match up to those of the Canon. The shutter response was slow, despite prepping for the shot, there was too much lag. Most of the action shots were caught with the Canon. Even more disappointing was the video quality. This camera records at 640x480, much better than my Canon's 320x240, but the compression is horrible. I like that I was able to zoom in and out as I recorded (a feature that my A80 lacks) but I was completely unimpressed after seeing the videos on my computer.
Certainly this camera is priced cheaper than what I have paid for either of my Canon's when they were available, but the quality is still inexcusable. I won't say that the camera is completely worthless, but even at Amazon's price, it is a hard sell if you are even remotely serious about the quality of your photos. This is a good camera for "fun" occasions and may be enough for a school student to take pictures of their friends. I wouldn't count on it for a major event or a family trip. The v1003 failed to take the roll of my A80 and since then I decided to purchase a Canon SD870.
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