CCD Sensor Digicams and my Kodak EasyShare CX7430

With the rising popularity and price of film today, one longly forgotten gem is making a surprise comeback – Digicams. Digicams with CCD sensors to be exact. Honestly, who doesn’t love the nostalgic feel film photos give? But when factoring economy, it’s really hard to justify spending on film anymore. So as great human beings we are, we adapt. It has long been common knowledge among photographers that CCD sensors offer a unique look to their photos compared to the technologically advanced CMOS sensors used on modern cameras. Luckily for me, I found one in my parent’s cabinet. A 4-megapixel Kodak EasyShare CX7430 Digicam.

This camera is small and plastic has a 34mm-102mm zoom lens (3x optical zoom!), is silver in color screaming “Hey, I’m a tourist in 1999!”, and takes AA batteries and a maximum of 2GB SD card. Talk about a blast from the past. So how does a 4-megapixel camera compare to today? Well, it doesn’t. But it brings something else to the table – nostalgic photos that feel oddly similar to film in digital format.

Upon getting myself some fresh AA batteries, a 2GB SD card, and cleaning the camera with some good old isopropyl alcohol and cloth. I proceeded and took some photos around our house, and boy was I surprised. The photos you’ll see here are edited lightly in Lightroom using a Portra 400 preset. The photos straight out of the camera are a little saturated for my taste, but they do look like photos taken in the late ’90s and early ’20s. Adding the preset only made things even better.

Needless to say, I was very impressed and loved how the photos came out. The 4-megapixel is also not an issue especially when sharing photos online. The camera was clunky and had a lot of drawbacks, but it did make me shoot intentionally and slowed me down. Much like when I am shooting with film 😉 Using the camera and seeing the photos and what I can make out of them made me go out and take the camera on a quick bike ride. This is exactly what I needed to get moving again with my photography.

The only worry I have now is I might get into this too much that I would have to buy myself more Digicams (please don’t tell my wife). Digicams also have levels just like modern cameras. The higher the model the more features and better made they are. This Kodak by the way is a point-and-shoot which makes it easier to use but a lot more limited in terms of its capabilities.

Here are some obvious differences (without being too technical) between using the KodakShare CX7430 compared to other more expensive Digicams of its era and the more advanced cameras of today:

Dynamic Range / Exposure Metering

Dynamic range is not great on this camera, highlights are usually blown out, and bringing back details in the dark is very limited. The low resolution and small sensor size do take their toll. Also, not being able to adjust shutter speed, aperture, and iso manually makes metering how you like virtually impossible.

Lens flare

Flare is also not handled well, but to be honest, flares can always be used to your advantage. Obviously, no way to attach a lens hood to this camera.

Precise focus

Autofocus is slow but to be expected. Being used to the flexibility and advancement of the focus areas/points on modern cameras makes precise focusing on this camera burdensome. Though if you don’t need precise focus, the autofocus works absolutely fine.

Moving shots

Being made in the 2000s as an entry-level camera, this camera is slow. There is a very obvious lag between pressing the shutter button to the camera actually taking the shot and saving the photo. So no sports photography for this little thing.

If you are buying a Digicam to get the feel of shooting film, these flaws are a big part of the experience. CCD sensors and a little editing does give the images an “authentic” nostalgic look on the photos it takes. I liken it more to shooting an expired film on a point-and-shoot film camera.

I know that a lot of photographers might not understand or have strongly negative opinions about using digital cameras and making the photos look like film, some would even call it a fad or “people trying to be cool and hippie”. Well, they might be right. Though for me, photography has always been about self-expression and doing what inspires you to go out there and shoot, whatever or however that may be. So yes, I get it.