Has anyone used the Kodak V1233???

[gatorson]

Does anyone know if the quality of the V1233 lives up to its specs. Has anyone used the 720p video?

[ssiu]

I have had the V1253 for 2 weeks. (Besides a larger LCD and stereo mic, I believe V1253 and V1233 are the same.)

I got it mainly for the 720p video. (After applying the latest V1.01 firmware which fixes the most serious problems from the original V1.00 firmware) the 720p video at highest quiality setting looks good to me. Definitely higher resolution than my Panasonic TZ1 which takes 848x480 video. Even at lower light the noise is not too bad -- from what I remember the Canon TX1's lower light 720p video is more noisy than this Kodak. (I bought and returned the TX1 a few months ago.)

As for picture quality, it looks fine to me but I am not too demanding/discerning on that. I just want a carry-anywhere digicam that can take good pictures AND good video. I am satisfied with my 5MP TZ1's pictures (people say Panasonics have good lens but noisy sensors), as well as the 12MP V1253 pictures. From what I read in other forums, the V1253 picture quality is quite good. The JPEG compression seems higher (i.e. file sizes generally smaller) than other brands's 12MP picture would give.

(I didn't test high ISO performance. I set flash mode to Auto, and let camera uses flash as it deemed necessary. I don't generally mind flash pictures -- not too discerning about that. For low-light non-flash photography i.e. good high-ISO performance, get a Fuji F31fd while you can still find it.)

What I miss most from the V1253 (compared to my TZ1) is optical image stabilization. Indoor flash shots at Auto mode usually comes out at 1/30 sec ISO 200, and half of them or more have the "Blur indicator" as Yellow (Warning) instead of Green. Though most of them are not blurry even when I look at the pictures on my computer. But I feel I have to make extra effort to hold the camera steady, after I got used to the OIS of my TZ1.

[ssiu]

Note that the 12MP sensor is 1/1.72", which has 2.1 times the surface area of a 1/2.5" sensor. So it may not be any more noiser than a 6MP 1/2.5" sensor digicam.

[turbogaming]

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/kodakpht/petition.html

Help others out benefit from improved image quality on Kodak cameras. Most do not allow you to adjust the compression or noise control in the camera yet they allow you to control the amount of compression in video mode. Kodak is not a video camera company. Why do they do this?
This is a petition to ask Kodak to give us more control and also (hopefully) allow for RAW. Why give so many nice features but compress the photos down to such a bad level and apply extreme noise filtering?
I know of others who refuse to buy Kodak because of these issues. I should post in a more general area.