Kyocera Finecam L4v Digital Camera Review

The Kyocera Finecam L4v is lean and long with its rectangular profile. It is compact and lightweight, which make it very easy for the users to simply put it in shirt pockets, coat pockets, purses and bags. It measures 4.44 x 2.16 x 1.38 inches (113 x 55 35 mm) and weighs 8.0 oz (226 grams). It is equipped with an optical viewfinder and an LCD viewfinder. It also uses the SD data storage card type and lithium batteries.

The L4v has an LCD size of 2.5 inches with image resolution of 2304x1728, 1600x1200, 1280x960 and 640x480. Its movie resolution is 320x240, 160x120. The LCD is easy to be viewed in low light. Its lens has 3.00x zoom equal to 35 – 105 mm lens on 35 mm camera. Its max aperture is f / 2.8 (wide angle) and f / 4.7 (telephoto).

This camera has different modes to offer such as:

The Record Mode Display enables the monitor to report some camera information. The displayed information includes size setting, quality settings, aperture selection, flash mode, etc.

The Playback Mode Display enables the monitor to show the image that has been recorded.

The Movie Mode enables the user to capture moving images and is capable to capture it with sound or with out sound.

The Setup Mode enables the user to change the following settings:

• Bright Control
• Date
• Insert Date
• Format
• Power Save
• Mode Lock
• Beep
• Shutter Screen
• Record Review
• Language
• File Number
• Mode Reset

Accessories
The L4v arrives with the following items:

• Hand strap
• Lithium battery
• USB cable
• 16MB SD memory card
• Software CD
• Instruction manual, Quick Start Guide, and registration kit

Recommended Accessories

• Large capacity SD memory card.
• Rechargeable AA batteries and charger
• AC adapter
• Soft case for travel

Basic Features

• 4.03 megapixel CCD (image resolutions as high as 2,304 x 1,728 pixels)
• 3x, 5.8-17.4mm lens (equivalent to a 35-105mm lens on a 35mm camera)
• Maximum aperture: f/2.8 (wide angle) and f/4.7 (telephoto)
• Intelligent Video AF focusing system
• Up to 4x digital enlargement
• Real-image optical viewfinder and large, 2.5 inch color LCD monitor
• Program AE, Aperture Priority, and Long Shutter exposure modes
• Shutter speeds from 1/2,000 to eight seconds
• Built-in flash with six operating modes
• Adjustable White Balance with six settings, including a custom setting
• Multi-Segment, Center-Weighted, and Spot metering modes
• Sensitivity equivalents of 80, 160, and 320 ISO, plus an Auto setting.
• JPEG format
• SD memory card
• Powered by: AA NiMH / alkaline batteries / one CRV3 Li battery
• AC adapter (optional)

Special Features

• Movie with sound recording mode
• Adjustable Color mode
• Two and 10 second Self Timer
• Manual focus option
• Wide and Spot AF area options
• Landscape (infinity) and Macro focus modes
• Chroma and Sharpness adjustments
• DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compatibility
• USB cable for connection to a computer
• Software CD with Adobe Photoshop Album

Pros: The L4v can produce good color with an accurate hue and an appropriate saturation in some instances. It requires less exposure compensation than other cameras. It has an image noise that is higher than average image noise. Its night shots are pretty good because of its capability of shooting under city lights at night. Its LCD viewfinder has a very good accuracy. It has very little chromatic aberration.

Cons: It’s difficult to use when it comes to capturing images indoors because of the incandescent lighting. It’s also difficult to use when it comes to capturing outdoor shots. Its resolution is slightly disappointing even though it is a 4 Mp camera. It does not perform well under ISO 320. It has a low average performance in its macro mode. This is because of the falloff in the corners when the flash aims downward. It has limited performance when using autofocus. It has a narrow optical viewfinder. It has a high barrel distortion when its wide angle is used and a low distortion when its telephoto is used. Its performance is rather slow. It has a short battery life of 70 min (worst-case).

Overall: The Kyocera Finecam L4v shows good color. It produces quite pleasing images under a lot of shooting conditions. However, it has a resolution that does not rank up to a 4 Mp camera. It has slow lag time, short battery life and above average noise accumulation. Despite all these, Finecam L4v still produces quit good images.

Attached Images

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