Kodak PixPro AZ521 bridge camera review
The Kodak name lives on in a 52x zoom bridge camera that offers much for the price
Kodak is (almost) dead, but Kodak is also very much alive and kicking in the form of JK Imaging, an Asian optics firm that makes cameras and components, including lenses, for a wide variety of concerns. JK Imaging is the Kodak brand licensee for cameras, among other things, and can be identified by its PixPro sub-brand. Its flagship camera is the Kodak PixPro AZ521, a 52x (equivalent to an astonishing 24-1248mm range) f/2.8-5.6 ultrazoom. The camera also employs an optical image stabiliser (OIS) and if that isn't enough there is a 4x digital zoom option. Video in 1080HD 30p maximum is supported with H.264 compression format. Video can be played from the camera via HDMI to a compatible display. SD/SDHC memory cards up to 32GB capacity are supported. 8GB of internal memory is featured for when your SD card runs out or gets lost or forgotten! 
Under the hood there is a 16.38 (effective) megapixel 1/2.3" CMOS sensor. This is fairly small sensor typical of current compact digital cameras and even smaller than Nokia's Lumia 1020 smartphone, for example. But as we shall see the sensor does an adequate job, especially for the price. ISO sensitivity ranges from 100 to 3200. The shutter speed range is 1/2000th to 30 seconds and you have the option of PASM modes as well as scene and iAuto modes. In fact there isn't anything major missing from the specification for a budget-priced ultra-zoom bridge camera.
You can't really expect RAW file support, Wi-Fi or a high resolution electronic viewfinder at this price - in fact add-on EVFs for other cameras can cost more than this entire camera. The AZ521 does without an EVF altogether and while this is a consequence of the low price, it is perhaps the one major issue with the camera overall. Using a camera at even moderate telephoto focal lengths and peering at the screen at arm's length is far from ideal. The 3 inch rear screen is adequate for the job rather than excellent with 460K dots and is non-tilting and not touch-sensitive. It's not particularly capable in bright direct sunlight. Interestingly for a low priced budget camera you get a Lithium ion rechargeable battery with smartphone-style USB charging.
Handling
Specifications aside, the PixPro AZ521 is actually quite a nice camera to look at and to hold. It's nicely finished and the controls are logically placed. With such a massive zoom lens the camera is unavoidably boxy, but the hand grip has been nicely shaped for secure handling. The lens does extend considerably according to the zoom setting but this doesn't affect handling too much. The camera itself is not overly heavy. However, I certainly hope a successor model can be produced with an EVF.
Results
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the images achieved by the AZ521 as I hope you will agree if you peruse our AZ521 sample image gallery. I generally trusted the iAuto setting on the camera without problems. White balance accuracy was pretty consistent and colour rendition, while occasionally on the warm and saturated side, was usually attractive. With such a small image sensor the camera did a commendably good job of avoiding blown highlights although sometimes this issue does show up. If you view images at 100% you will see grain at almost all ISO settings but when resized for Web viewing or when printing this is not a problem until higher ISO settings.
Optically there is no surprise that images are sharper at the wider end of the zoom range. This is likely to be because the optical characteristics of the 15 elements and 13 groups optics will naturally be better for wide angle shots, but even with OIS camera shake at the long end of this ultrazoom will be very difficult to avoid without a tripod. But in general for web and small to medium print size use the AZ521 can produce very acceptable results indeed, which is exactly what the target customer for the AZ521 will be doing with this camera.
Conclusion
For £249.99 you get an awful lot of camera for the money and if you are not too demanding then you should be very happy with the overall capabilities of the AZ521. But what JK Imaging really need to do is produce a version with an electronic viewfinder.
Pictures
Below is a picture gallery of Kodak PixPro AZ521 product shots.
To see a larger view of the the thumbnail, just click on the thumbnail image you are interested in to open a new page with the full-size view.
To return to the thumbnail gallery, click the home arrow at the bottom of the page, or navigate forwards or backwards through the gallery using the backwards/forwards arrow buttons.
Kodak PixPro AZ521 sample images
The Kodak name lives on in a 52x zoom bridge camera that offers much for the price
These sample images are from a production Kodak PixPro AZ521.
To view the photo in your browser just click on the appropriate thumbnail below. To download the image file, use the 'save target as' or equivalent function on your browser. All sample images provided here are copyrighted and made available for personal, non-commercial, evaluation only.
