Eastman Kodak's DCS 330 isn't for everyone, which its relatively high price ensures. Instead, it's aimed at professionals seeking Nikon-lens compatibility and Kodak's digital-imaging technology at a cost lower than Kodak's pro models.
Kodak Professional's DCS 330 is a 3-megapixel SLR constructed around a Nikon Pronea body and aimed at event photographers and other professionals wanting to get into the digital game without spending big bucks -- without lens, storage media, or batteries included in the purchase price, this is definitely not a camera for the point-and-shoot audience. The Nikon body lets it use AF Nikkor and other Nikon lenses as well as Nikon Speedlites (flash units). Additionally, the camera incorporates an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) CCD and other digital-imaging technology found in Kodak's higher-end cameras, making its price a relative bargain.
The choice of Nikon's Pronea as the starting point for the 330 helped keep the price down, but also means the 330 isn't as rugged as a professional camera body. It's intended for shooting weddings, team pictures, graduations, and the like, as well as for studio work. If you need the durability of a true pro camera, you will have to look to Kodak's DCS 620 series (based on Nikon's F5). This translates to a spending another couple of thousand dollars -- not a choice you'll make lightly.
Getting used to the heavy black mask in the viewfinder took a while. Because the Pronea's viewfinder was designed with APS film in mind, rather than the 330's smaller (18.1mm by 13.5mm) CCD, the image captured is smaller than that shown in the full frame of the viewfinder. Hence, the mask. A pro-style, full-frame viewfinder means moving up to the 620 or 620x.
Our review unit included an AF Nikkor 28mm f2.8 lens -- the equivalent of a normal lens for the 330, which has a multiplier of 1.9. We liked the resulting sharpness and image quality that the 10-bit/pixel raw TIFF files provided. In their raw format, they are 3MB apiece, but once acquired via Kodak's DCS TWAIN Data Source software into Adobe Photoshop, they grow to around 9 MB. The camera can also save images as JPGs, if desired.
In our use, the 330 did a fairly good job rendering skin tones. While many of our shots weren't perfectly exposed, they were easily corrected using Kodak's TWAIN module or Photoshop. The pop-up flash generally wasn't adequate as the main light source for an image. Its use often required some fiddling with flash and/or exposure compensation, depending on the scene and ambient light. Kodak recommends using an outboard Nikon Speedlite instead.
