One burning DC260 question that an owner may be able to answer: For shooting panoramas/VR objects, a most vital feature is the ability to expose each shot in exactly the same way. The DC260, for some unaccountable reason, lacks an exposure lock setting (half pressing the shutter button doesn't count). In external flash mode it is possible to set aperture manually, but what then happens to the shutter? I assume it goes to some default sync speed, does anyone know which and whether it can possibly be changed? And are there any issues w/ Manual Flash mode and no flash? On the same subject, what aperture is used for manual time exposure? Does the camera select one based on the shutter speed selected? I prefer the 260 to the CoolPix 900 for various reasons. I must choose one or the other within a week, and this is the sticking point. The Kodak is useless if I can't somehow force the exposure (and EV bumps are not practical for each of 1000's of shots). This is also being discussed on Apple's QTVR mailing list - I'll pass on any answers received.

-- Paul Sexton (pauls101@mindspring.com), June 20, 1998

Answers

I got my DC260 yesterday, and it's my first digital camera, so i might not know about its functions as well as most of you can. In the camera's setup menu, you can set it to "Long Time Exposure" mode and force the exposure time from 0.5s to 4.0s in 0.5s increments. Hope this answers at least one of your questions :-)

-- Whoa!!! (hurtseh@hotmail.com), June 27, 1998.

re: ::In external flash mode it is possible to set aperture manually, but what then happens to the shutter?

From the samples I have seen the aperature settings on the DC260 have little actual effect. I have seen no change in depth of field and one user reported that the info stored in the picture read the same shutter speed for all aperature settings he tried- go figure!

The CP900 has the exposure setting lock that remembers the settings and uses them for all subsequent pics until you turn it off.

-- Randy G. (frcn@cncnet.com), July 03, 1998.

We'll be re-testing the DC260 with a production unit in a couple of weeks, so should be able to shed some light (no pun intended) on these issues. Kodak has also promised us an interview with both the product manager and the principal designer of the DC260(!), so many, many questions could be answered... If the latter comes to pass, we'll probably post a whole separate page with the interview questions and answers.

Meanwhile, I'm surprised by reports that the f-stop setting didn't affect depth-of-field, as it *definitely* has an effect when shooting in flash mode: We played with this a bit when we had the Beta '260, and found exposure with an "auto" flash unit behaved exactly as you'd expect if the aperture were changing.

I *do* expect though, that the camera would select a specific shutter speed for flash sync. - Maybe it somehow defaults to auto-exposure (defeating the pre-selected f-stop) if it doesn't "see" the flash go off?

FWIW, Kodak has announced a couple of special packages built around the '260, Live Picture's PhotoVista, a Kaidan tripod head, and some custom Digita scripts that automate panorama and/or QTVR object shooting. Presumably these solutions address the constant-exposure requirement via the script software, albeit for more money.

Meanwhile, it won't help with the panoramas, but for object shooting, an inexpensive studio strobe setup would give you absolute control...

-- Dave Etchells (detchells@imaging-resource.com), July 03, 1998.