What Wrong with Kodak

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What's Wrong With Kodak?

Long respected for their easy-to-use cameras, Kodak has faltered in recent years, putting out an array of disappointing products that have angered customers and damaged their reputation. What happened?

"You press the button, we do the rest" was the phrase that George Eastman used to convey the simplicity of Kodak cameras when he founded his company way back in the 1880s. For over a hundred years, that mantra has always been indicative of the brand's goals: to provide easy-to-use cameras for everyday people.

Recently, however, that long-standing Kodak reputation has come under fire. While the company still presents itself as user friendly and focused on the consumer, their EasyShare digital cameras, particularly the "C" and "V" series, have been rife with failures and other irritating shortcomings that have sent owners to DigitalCamera-HQ in droves, looking to vent their frustrations on our review pages.

Some of the earliest indications of trouble came with the aforementioned "C" series cameras. The "C" series cameras were intended to be very affordable, very approachable models that anyone could use. The idea was that you could buy it as a gift for an elderly family member, young child, or any digital camera novice, and they wouldn't feel overwhelmed by the technology. With prices in the $100-175 range, they were a significant bargain over the competition and with the Kodak name attached, they sold quite a few of these point-and-shoot cameras.

Bad reviews began to roll in almost immediately. The Kodak EasyShare C743 in particular was singled out for a lot of abuse. Many consumers who had thought they were getting a great deal on a 7-megapixel camera wrote in to complain that the camera would spontaneously shut itself off, if they could even get it to turn on at all. Other users reported significant battery drainage and cracking LCDs as well. Similar power problems plagued the C875, while the C643 had a notoriously fragile LCD display. The dissatisfaction with the "C" series was widespread.
The "V" series cameras, meant to be stylish and provocative with intriguing features like ultracompact zoom and dual-lens configurations, were also the subject of much discussion among our users. The V610 and V705 won high marks for their innovative concepts, but unfortunately, they couldn't really follow through with good performance. Our hands-on review of these two cameras highlights the major issues. The Kodak V803 and V1003 were big bombs, with extremely fragile LCDs that would crack at the slightest disturbance. The general consensus among those who wrote in to DCHQ was that these two cameras were "wastes of money."
Kodak clearly was aware that they had soured consumers on their existing product lines, and when they announced this past May that they were abandoning the "low-end" market (meaning as the "C" series), there was some hope that maybe they'd learn from their mistakes. However, this fall, Kodak introduced the "M" series, which eventually proved to be as shoddy and disappointing as its predecessors.

Owner Nick declares that the $99 Kodak M753 is "cheap for a reason." He reports: "Out of the 68 photos i took, about 5 came out sort of nice, the other ones were gritty and blurry. And no picture looked good enough to print bigger than 2" X 3" let alone the 20" x 30" which it claims to be capable of doing." Discussing the Kodak M853, owner Adi says "It's a shame that a camera from Kodak would be so feature rich doing almost everything else better than it's true intention: to take great pictures."

Of all the Kodak cameras released in 2007, only the Kodak Z712 IS seemed to actually satisfy consumers by performing well and giving them their money's worth.
It's unfortunate to see such a long-standing, venerable manufacturer seemingly hit rock bottom. By putting out sub-par product, Kodak has allowed its competitors, particularly Canon, to run away with the point-and-shoot camera market. We'd much rather see a robust Kodak fighting it out with Canon, resulting in more technological innovation and greater price drops. It'd be better for consumers. Instead, Canon dominates and the other brands weakly flail against their more committed rival. People are willing to give Kodak a chance. Unfortunately, even though those loyal shoppers are still pushing the button, Kodak isn't doing the rest.