I recently got another new/old camera -- a Kodak Easyshare P880.

I had wandered into a Kodak forum on the net and saw that people were raving about this camera, while mourning its passing. So, with my curiosity sufficiently piqued, I did some research on this model. And the more I read, the more I became convinced that I had to have one.

The P880 belongs to the same class as the Sony H-series, and the ultrazooms from other manufacturers. It differs in that it has a much wider standard lens - 24mm equivalent - than other cameras in its class. My Sony DSC-H2 and my Panasonic DMC-FZ5 are about 35mm equivalent at their widest. The Kodak is about 50% wider. Very interesting.

The P880 was one of three high-end cameras that Kodak introduced in 2005. The other two models in the "P" series were similar to the offerings from other manufacturers, but the P880 had a number of unique features. Aside from its wide-angle lens, it had a manual, rather than a motorized zoom, making it easier to frame a picture. It had an 8 megapixel sensor which, in concert with a very sharp lens, gave results with excellent image quality. And the color fidelity, well it was from Kodak so there's not much more to say.

That's the good news. The bad news is that Kodak recently moved the P880 to its list of discontinued models. You can still find them sitting on the shelf or in the back room of a few camera stores, or you might find a refurbished one on Ebay. I was lucky enough to get my hands on one just before they became extinct.

At first, I found the camera's interface a little bit confusing. The camera seems to be covered with buttons and controls. But, with a little practice, this interface lets you change almost any camera setting very quickly. The large LCD viewfinder on the back of the camera has an anti-glare coating and works very well in most daylight conditions, unlike the other digital cameras that I have used. In addition, there is an intelligent external flash gun that couples to the P880's hot shoe, for indoor use.

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Update: I was going to write about some of the more interesting aspects of the Easyshare P880, but soon after posting this, Kodak added this camera to its list of recently discontinued models.