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Introduction and Features The CX6200 is a basic point and shoot camera that is aimed at the entry level user stepping into the world of digital photography. The camera comes with 8 MB of internal memory, a memory card slot for expansion; 3x advanced digital zoom and a flash. The CX6200 is fully compatible with the Kodak Easyshare system. It can be connected to the Easyshare dock as well as the printers from Kodak for printing directly from the camera. The package looks pretty much complete for a beginner as well the basic user whose priority is simplicity and hassle-free clicking. 
The looks are fairly simple and elegant, the CX6200 continues with the 6XXX series. Its curvaceous silver body with a smooth finish gives the camera a nice solid look. The dimensions are well contained; it measures about 2" x 6" and is fairly light at 142g. At the back lies the 1.6" TFT colour LCD that can be used for preview, review and menu operations. The CX6200 is equipped with a high-quality Kodak glass lens with a focal length 37 mm (equivalent in 35 mm format). The aperture is fixed at f/4.5 and the focus range is 0.5 m (1.6 ft.) to infinity. The optical viewfinder is large and well placed. The LED on the side indicates power status and when the camera is ready to capture. The built-in flash has modes for auto, fill, red-eye and flash off. The flash range is 0.5-2.4 m (1.6-7.9 ft). On the top is the Flash button, which cycles through the Auto, Red-Eye, Fill, and Off modes. The Delete button is used to erase images during review. The Review button puts the camera into playback mode and the Menu button calls up and dismisses the menu. A Share button lets you select images for printing, emailing, or to mark as a favourite. Navigating the menus is simple, just use the four-way controller on the left of the LCD screen, to move up and down through the selections and accept a setting by pressing the center button. On the top is the mode dial that is used to power up the camera and switch between the auto and video mode. 
Looking at the feature set, starting with the image quality options, one can snap pictures in four modes, i.e. good (0.5 MP), better (1 MP), best 3:2 (1.8 MP) and best (2 MP). One can store 14 pictures at the highest resolution using the onboard memory; the storage can be expanded using a memory card though. The advanced digital zoom can be used on the fly by pressing the four-way controller. There is an option for adjusting the exposure and one can decide on the exposure compensation to be applied wherever required. There is the standard option of adding a date to the pictures snapped. In the movie mode the camera can capture movies at 320 x 240 pixels at 15 fps; though the movies are going to be silent, as the camera does not have a microphone. The 8 MB of onboard memory gives 25 seconds of video recording. The share button is very convenient to send pictures directly to the Kodak Easyshare software as well as the Kodak Easyshare Printer. One can turn the LCD off to save power, by default the camera is on the smart power saving mode where it turns itself off after 30 seconds of zero activity. Two AA type batteries or a CRV3 lithium pack supplies power to the unit. Performance Being a basic 2 MP camera, my expectations were in accordance. The picture quality is good and on par with others in its category. The colours are perfect as this sample image shows, which is surprisingly unlike the traditional Kodak performance, where the colours are warm and bright. If you are used to the extra vibrancy from Kodak, you will find the CX6200 a bit bland. I personally prefer the colours to be close to the real world, simply because one can edit the image later, but the original image should be as it was meant to be. The images do lack the crispness, especially in lowlight areas, pictures might turn out to be grainy, but that has been the case with almost all the Kodak cameras, it seems they prefer softer images. Digital zoom is nowhere close to the optical zoom in terms of effectiveness and clarity, but a proper integration coupled with some fine-tuning can certainly give acceptable results. This is exactly the case with CX6200, the digital zoom is pretty effective and a 3x digital zoom for a point and shoot camera is a bonus. You can compare this image with its close-up to see the difference for yourself. The video mode is very basic, the quality is just about ok and I wouldn't recommend this camera for video capture. The videos are grainy and the lens needs significant amount of light exposure. One cannot think of getting a video in low light conditions. Going on to the flash, it's excellent and surprisingly powerful for a small camera like this. The control pad is very effective and makes navigation a treat, but the black colour of the control pad does spoil the look of the camera. The LCD screen is a bit of a let down, it's grainy and very dull. Coming to the battery life, the CX6200 really shines bright in this area. A regular pair of good quality AA alkaline batteries would easily last for around 100 snaps with moderate use of the LCD. This is a big plus, considering that the camera is aimed at the price conscious segment, it would be a shame if it had turned out to be a battery hog. Conclusion Finally the myth about branded digital cameras being unreasonably expensive is broken, thanks to the CX6200. Even though the MRP is Rs. 9,000/-, the CX6200 can be bought at a street price of around Rs. 8000/-. At this price it's a steal, irrespective of the minor niggles. This camera is sure to excite a major chunk of the budget buyers who are looking for a decent camera at an affordable price. Test Unit Sourced From: Neoteric Informatique Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai.
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