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10-02-2010, 07:16 AM   #1
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Why Kodak cameras are so bad?

While buying P&S for myself, just looking trough e-bay used cams and recommending cameras to others, i've always find that there are some bad issues with Kodak cameras.

Many if not most of their small P&S have a tendency to simply die after e.g. 3 months. Others have problems with SD controllers (like file loss, if anything has been modified on pc - like single picture deleted).
There are many cases where they doesn't tolerate even slight bumps etc.

They used to be a big, good, quality company. Even now they are a very serious film and sensor manufacturer. Whats wrong with their digital cameras?

Today i disassembled one slim P&S. Everything seems to be built nicely and well assembled. Plastic looks durable, wires and connections are very ordered and have their place.

10-02-2010, 08:21 AM   #2
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I have a couple of friends who own Kodak super zoom cameras who are very satisfied with them. I wasn't aware of issues with them. I have a friend who regularly posts his mountain climbing shots on Facebook and uses a P&S Kodak. Personally, I have never owned one.
10-03-2010, 12:58 PM   #3
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Interesting.. actually i got one of the many broken cameras from ebay. Basically after disassembly i found out that it wasn't even broken - well kind of.

Now, the camera i just tried to repair has two possible causes of failure.

Weak zoom/lens extend motor, thin plastic and bad helix construction.

First of all the mechanism had got some sand in its main gear BUT. I could easily rotate the gear. The camera goes too fast in a fault condition. A little resistance in lens makes it think the lens is broken/obstructed and it tries to pull it back in and powers off.

Another problem might be that when most helixes in the lens have 3 support points, one of the main helixes (the one that extends lens on power-on) has only one profile/support point.
This makes the motor to apply eccentric force on lens barrel that can increase the friction to it, or even jam it completely.

Currently after cleaning out all the sand, i'm unable to assemble the lens for it to operate with sufficiently low friction.
All goes nice and smooth until i add the mentioned single guide helix.
I can even visually see the central assembly being pushed at an angle instead of being moved parallel to main axis.

I think i will convert this camera to fixed focus/focal length IR cam. I'll just have to override the position sensors.
Or maybe make it possible to manually extend the lens and control the zoom, let the motor freerun.

Last edited by ytterbium; 10-03-2010 at 01:07 PM.
10-03-2010, 01:32 PM   #4
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SquareTrade sells warranties for cameras and has shared their claim data in the following PDF:
http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/Camera_failure_study.pdf

Kodak is mid-low. Casio, Polaroid, and Pentax bring up the rear.

10-03-2010, 01:36 PM   #5
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You are presently talking about problems with a Kodak camera. I wonder if one could have similar experience with cameras of another make.

Like most in the P&S market, Kodak manufacture (no doubt from a 3rd party) cameras probably down to a price to remain competitive. I would guess that the same/other troubles could easily arise with another make at that price point ?

Have you tried contacting the company with your findings - I'm sure they'd be interested.
10-03-2010, 01:45 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by fotaki Quote
Have you tried contacting the company with your findings - I'm sure they'd be interested.
As far as may experience can tell, with any big company it is always false. They are never interested in anything.

You are probably right about the price point. But ebay is full of faulty kodak P&S. E.g. in this one i'd say it is 50:50 design and cost cutting problem.
They could easily use a non-metallic pin for helix but make 2 or 3 helix guides instead of just one.
This helix also has sharp corners instead of rounded transitions between diagonal and horizontal movement (other helix'es have rounded ones). Guess where the lens gets most resistance?

BTW. The lens has some sort of folding design. Middle part of the lens can slide aside to make space for other parts when the lens is collapsed.
I thought that was Pentax technology.

Last edited by ytterbium; 10-03-2010 at 01:51 PM.
10-04-2010, 08:14 AM   #7
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I suspect that many of the superzoom P&S cameras are all coming from the same place anyhow. Other than the name, they look identical and the specs are very similar.

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