Positioned in the mid-range, the Kodak EasyShare M863 (roughly 150 Euros) has an 8 million pixel sensor, classic 3x optical zoom  (35-105 mm), 2.7 inch LCD screen and a few additional technologies such as face detection, assistance in making panoramic shots and red eye digital reduction.  So is this compact a real deal?

Handling

The EasyShare M863 has a relatively classic design which is both sober and simple.  The only originality is the possibility to choose the color: red, black or silver.  On the back, the 2.7 inch screen takes up a lot of room and this means that all the small buttons are placed on the right side of the camera.  Display is fluid and viewing angles are quite good (except from below).  In use, ergonomics prove to be a bit imprecise.  On the top of the camera, the startup button can be confused with the flash (they are identical and placed next to each other) and the index finger has the tendency to fall (at least in the beginning) on the selection dial rather than the shooting button.  On the other hand, menus are quick to learn and the camera can be configured easily.  In terms of reactivity, the EasyShare M863 is not the best challenger with an autofocus that isn’t the fastest, face detection proves to be somewhat erratic, the zoom is slow, burst mode a bit short and there is a rather long delay between two consecutive photos.

Image quality

Of course, it’s unfortunate there is no wide angle especially for family shots (indoors or when shooting group photos) and the 34-102 mm zoom is both too long and classic.  However, the most disappointing is the noise control.  Smoothing is already perceptible starting at 100 ISO and becomes more and more significant as we go up in sensitivity.  Outdoors, colors are good though there is a slight red dominance.   Finally, under artificial lighting (filtered daylight tungsten) white balance seems to lose its bearings.