I have been reviewing Kodak Easyshare cameras being sold on Trademe
in NZ, and have bought one for Maggie's grand-daughter for her 11th
birthday (yesterday).
It seems to me that they have adopted Henry
Ford's business practice, without noticing that, unlike Henry Ford, they
have LOTS of competition.
Ford sold his Model T and Model A cars at a
low price, made sure that parts wore out, and charged a high price for
spare parts. That's where he really made his money, as I understand it.
So how does this apply to Kodak, and Easy-share cameras?
Batteries.
Do they use common models? No. For a while you had to use Kodak
batteries.
Now the competition has caught up for these older cameras,
and Kodak models are no longer available.
Reminds me of many of the
Agfa film cameras sold in Europe 20 - 30 years ago. The only batteries
some could use were expensive and rare special Agfa batteries.
The
Download cable. It's bad enough the Olympus uses (at least) two kinds
where one would do. One kind for the E-1 and other single digit cameras,
and another kind for the E-510 and similar cameras.
Does Kodak use
either of these? No. They supply one that looks like one of the mini-usb
cables, but it won't fit because the internals of the small end are a
mirror image in location.
And some models have lousy image-making
ability. I found it essential to check DP-Review etc before making a
bid.
In the end I bought one for $25 that will be a good, moderately
complex camera for her to learn on, and if she beaks it (likely) it
won't be the end of the world. But it also cost me another $25 for a
pair of lithium batteries and a suitable charger.
Cést la vie.
Brian
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