I received a suite of Kodak products to try: the Easyshare M532, Pulse digital frame, along with an Eye-Fi card. Since there are three products involved, this review may get a little lengthy. Bear with me :).
KODAK Easyshare M532
At first glance, the KODAK Easyshare M532 camera is a slim little camera with a pretty large display. It’s easy to handle and can be slipped into your pocket. Its share button allows for endless photo sharing on popular social networks.
When I first started using the camera, it took me some getting used to since I have been shooting with a DSLR for years now. After my first few shots, I actually expected the quality to be slightly better. I’ve owned an EasyShare 5 years ago and the photos it produced were stunning. After getting my first few shots out of the way, I was able to start getting better shots playing with the settings.
So here are my very first photos straight out of the camera.
Sepia
Normal
And some photos after doing some more customizing. These are also straight out of the camera.
The photos started getting much better after playing with the settings a bit, but I still believe that the quality isn’t as great as my old Easyshare. Getting the camera to focus on detail seems to be a challenge. The Easyshare that I had 5 years ago didn’t give me that problem. So I suppose Kodak paid more attention to social sharing capabilities in this model and not image quality.
The Easyshare M532 has quite a few modes shooting different situations and film effects to enhance colors. Some of those modes are portrait, close-up, night scene, children, and panorama. Some of the color enhancing modes include Sepia (as seen above), Kodachrome (seen below), and Tri-X (dramatic black and white).
The Easyshare M532 is touted for its online sharing capabilities. It has a “share” button which allows users to send their photos straight to popular social sites like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter; email, and Kodak Pulse frames. Using this function is not automatic though. The camera comes with software that you must install on your computer and sync with your wireless network. This will upload the photos straight to your computer and then the social networks and email addresses of your choice. If you are out and about and looking to share your photos instantly, that’s where Eye-Fi comes in.
Eye-Fi Wifi Card
The Eye-Fi card is an SD card that uploads photos/videos to your computer and then to sharing sites of your choice. BUT… with a hotspot subscription, you can upload photos from any location with a hotspot. This is ideal for chronicling events live as they happen. Eye-Fi also offers an iPhone/iPad and Android app that will allow you to upload the photos from your camera straight to iPhone or Android device and then send them out without having to subscribe to Eye-Fi’s hotspot access. Since I don’t use iAnything or Android, I opted for the hotspot subscription. You can control Eye-Fi’s automatic uploading just in case someone gets a hold of your camera and does naughty things with it *hehehe*.
KODAK PULSE Digital Frame
I am loving our Kodak Pulse frame. I actually want to buy one for my mother because it’s an easy way of sending photos to loved ones without them having any tech experience. You pretty much sync the frame to your wireless network (touchscreen makes it easy!) and sign up for a Kodak Pulse account which will allow you to upload photos from your computer to the frame. Kodak Pulse assigns a custom email address to send photos through email as well. The Kodak Pulse also has slots for SD card and USB drive for instant viewing.
From my Kodak Pulse account, I programmed the frame to turn on at 7PM and turn off at 10PM. When the frame comes on, it’s an indicator of needing to settle down for the day and when it shuts off we (Jayden at least) need to be in the bed. We currently have a collection of our favorite photos taken this spring and will be displaying photos according to season to go with our seasonal decor. The photos look amazing on the LED back lit display!
Buy Them
Kodak Easyshare M532: $89.00
4GB Eye-Fi Card: $39.88
Eye-Fi Hotspot Access: $29.99/year
Kodak Pulse 7-inch Frame: $114.00
I am a voluntary participant in the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has provided me with compensation to share my experience with these products with you. All opinions (if expressed) are my own.
