Kodak Step Touch 13MP Scrapbook Bundle Kodak - Review 🏆

Kodak has a long history of producing quality cameras for the consumer market. Founded by George Eastman in 1888, the company pioneered easy-to-use cameras and roll film, making photography accessible to the masses. Kodak was known for its iconic Brownie cameras and dominated the photography market for much of the 20th century.

While digital photography disrupted Kodak's business model in the 1990s and 2000s, the company has reemerged with a focus on digital cameras, photo printing, and imaging services. Kodak aims to bring back the simplicity and joy of photography with user-friendly cameras packed with the latest features.

The Kodak Step Touch camera exemplifies this approach with its blend of nostalgic style and modern technology. As a hybrid digital camera and instant photo printer, it aims to deliver the best of both worlds.

Overview

The Kodak Step Touch is a unique combination of a digital camera and instant photo printer in one compact device. It features a 13 megapixel sensor to capture high-quality photos that can be instantly printed from the 3x2" integrated Zink printer. This allows you to snap photos and print them on the go without the need for ink cartridges. The camera itself is designed to be slim and portable with a large 3.5" LCD touchscreen on the back. Overall, the Kodak Step Touch makes it fun and easy to shoot photos and immediately print physical keepsake prints to share or scrapbook.

Design

The Kodak Step Touch has a stylish retro design that harkens back to old-school film cameras. Despite the vintage look, it has a slim and lightweight body that easily fits into a pocket or bag.

The Step Touch comes in three color options - black, red, and yellow. The black model has a clean, classic appearance, while the red and yellow versions add a fun pop of color. All three color options feature a glossy finish with a raised diamond pattern on the front and back of the camera. This textured design provides a nice grip while maintaining the sleek aesthetics.

The relatively compact size, rounded edges, and nostalgic design give the Step Touch an approachable and user-friendly look and feel. It's a camera that looks as good as the photos it takes. The vintage styling is part of the charm of this hybrid instant print and digital camera.

Display

The Kodak Step Touch has a 3.5 inch LCD touchscreen display. This is a decent sized screen that makes it easy to view and compose your shots. The touchscreen interface allows for intuitive menu navigation and settings adjustments. Simply tap the screen to change modes, access options, and swipe through photos.

The display is bright and vibrant, with good color reproduction. Images appear sharp with sufficient detail for previewing and reviewing shots. The screen is easy to see even in bright daylight thanks to its high brightness levels.

Overall, the 3.5 inch touchscreen is responsive and provides a good live view when shooting. It's sufficient for basic shot composition and image review. The touch controls make changing settings quick and convenient.

Photo Quality

The Kodak Step Touch camera captures decent quality photos, especially considering its small compact size. It has a 13MP sensor which can produce images up to 4160 x 3120 pixels. This allows for printing crisp 4 x 6 inch prints directly from the camera.

While 13MP isn't the highest resolution available, it's sufficient for casual photographers and those wanting instant prints. The level of detail is good enough for small prints and social media sharing.

Image quality does depend on lighting conditions. Photos taken outdoors in daylight tend to have better detail and dynamic range. Low light photos can look soft and show some noise, but this is expected for a camera in this class. The built-in flash helps in dim conditions.

Color reproduction is generally pleasing in most shots. The camera produces images with saturated, vibrant colors when there is ample lighting. Colors may look more muted in low light. Overall the photo quality is quite good for a compact point and shoot camera geared towards instant printing.

Printing

The Kodak Step Touch camera features instant photo printing technology, allowing you to print photos directly from the camera. It uses Zink Zero Ink printing paper, which has layers of dye crystals embedded in the paper. When heat is applied, the crystals change color to form the image. This means no ink cartridges are required.

The camera comes bundled with a pack of 10 sheets of 2x3" Zink photo paper. Just snap a photo, select print on the touchscreen, and in less than a minute you'll have a smudge-proof, water-resistant print. The printer can produce lab quality photos with rich color.

One of the best features is the adhesive backing on the Zink paper, allowing you to easily stick your photos anywhere. It's great for scrapbooking or making personalized gifts. The only downside is the photo paper is a bit expensive at around €1 per print. But the convenience of instant printing from a digital camera makes it worthwhile.

Ease of Use

The Kodak Step Touch camera is designed to be very easy and intuitive to use, especially for beginners. It has a simple, user-friendly interface that allows you to easily navigate between shooting, viewing, and printing photos.

The large 3.5" LCD touchscreen display makes operation a breeze. You can easily access and change camera settings by tapping on icons and menus on the screen. Things like flash mode, self-timer, and photo effects can all be adjusted with just a tap.

The camera also features several pre-set modes like Portrait, Landscape, and Night that optimize the camera settings with just a single button press. This makes it effortless to get properly exposed photos without having to understand manual settings.

Photos can be instantly printed right from the camera with just a button press. There are also options to add fun frames, filters, and stickers to your prints.

Overall, the simplicity of the interface and touchscreen operation really makes the Kodak Step Touch an easy-to-use camera for capturing photos and printing on-the-go. It's a great choice for casual users, beginners, kids, or anyone that wants a fuss-free photography experience.

Connectivity

The Kodak Step Touch has several connectivity options that allow you to transfer photos and videos from the camera.

For Wi-Fi, the camera has built-in WLAN that lets you connect to wireless networks and transfer media over Wi-Fi. Setting up the Wi-Fi connection is straightforward using the camera's settings menu. Once connected, you can use the free Kodak app to browse, view and transfer photos from the Step Touch to your smartphone or tablet.

Bluetooth is also available for wirelessly pairing the camera with smartphones and tablets. This provides another convenient way to transfer photos without having to connect any cables. Bluetooth pairing works smoothly and allows quick sharing of photos to mobile devices.

For wired transfer, the Step Touch has a micro USB 2.0 port. This lets you connect the camera directly to a computer using the included USB cable to offload media. The old-school method of plugging in a cable is still a reliable way to transfer large batches of high-resolution photos and videos.

Overall, the array of wireless and wired connectivity options on the Kodak Step Touch make it easy to get photos off the camera and shared with other devices. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are simple to set up and use, while the USB port provides a tried-and-true hardline connection.

Battery Life

The Kodak Step Touch has a rechargeable lithium ion battery that provides enough power for approximately 40 prints per charge. This is decent battery life for a camera with an integrated printer. You can expect to print quite a few photos before needing to recharge.

Charging the battery is easy with the included micro USB cable. A full charge takes around 2-3 hours. There is a battery life indicator on the LCD screen so you can monitor the remaining charge.

Overall, the battery should last for a typical day of casual shooting and printing photos. Just be sure to recharge it fully overnight so it's ready for the next day. The battery is not removable, so you'll need to recharge the camera itself when the battery gets low. But the sufficient battery life means you likely won't run into issues with the battery dying halfway through the day.

Pros and Cons

The Kodak Step Touch 13MP camera has a number of strengths as well as some weaknesses to consider.

Pros

• Prints photos instantly with Zink paper, so no ink required
• Large 3.5" touchscreen makes taking photos and reviewing them easy
• Simple interface good for kids and beginners
• Decent 13MP sensor provides good quality prints up to 3.5 x 4.5 inches
• Fun editing features like filters and frames for creative prints
• MicroSD card slot for memory expansion
• Rechargeable battery means you don't need disposables
• Compact size for portability

Cons

• Image quality not as good as regular digital cameras
• Slow photo printing process
• No ability to print from smartphone
• Minimal optical zoom
• Few manual controls for experienced photographers
• Short battery life, less than 100 prints per charge
• Prints are expensive at around €1 each

So in summary, the Kodak Step Touch offers the unique ability to instantly print photos with no ink, in a simple point-and-shoot package. But image quality and battery life are limited, and the proprietary Zink prints can get costly over time. It's a fun instant camera overall but has some tradeoffs to consider.