This unremarkable digital camera shows generally good image quality but comes with a lot of limitations. Color are pleasing but more saturated than reality, sharpness is good and so are exposure and noise levels below ISO 400. The biggest image quality problem of the Kodak Easyshare V803 is noticeable barrel distortion near the wide end of its zoom. The first limitation is that ISO cannot be selected in long-shutter mode. This means that all exposures beyond 1/2s are performed using automatic ISO and can show more noise than necessary. The second limitation is that the zoom has only 5 steps over its 3X range, making precise framing rather difficult. Other problems with the V803 include a very slow startup time, a weak flash, poor battery life and tiny controls. Kodak also does not supply a charger with this camera, so you must recharge the battery using the supplied A/C adapter and therefore you cannot use the camera while a battery is charging, unless you buy an optional battery charger.

 

Even though the Kodak Easyshare V803 produces nice looking images, it is difficult to recommend this camera given the existence of the Fuji Finepix F20 which does nearly every better for a lower price point. The only features it is missing compared to the V803, is in-camera panorama stitching. On the other hand, the F20 produces images with much less noise, as a significantly more powerful flash and longer battery life. Although the Fuji F20's maximum shutter-speed is 4 second, compared to the V803's 8 seconds, the difference does not matter since the F20 more than one extra stop of usable ISO sensitivity. There are several other ultra-compact digital cameras which do better, including the more expensive Fuji Finepix F30, the wide-angle Canon Powershot SD800 IS, the water-proof Pentax Optio W10 and even the ultra-easy-and-powerful 10 megapixels HP Photosmart R967.