First Impressions: Kodak EasyShare Sport C123

The Kodak EasyShare Sport c123.

I had purchased this cheap little camera last week to take with me on my Kashmir trip. I got my first chance to test its waterproof capabilities when I went out for an early morning run in heavy rains. I wanted to see if it could stand the test of the heavy Goa Monsoons.


The camera has almost no manual settings, and it has no zoom or auto-focus. It's the very definition of point and shoot. I took my first picture of the wet and gloomy road as I started my run.

Shutter 1/100, f4.5, ISO 360.

The image is horribly noisy as the camera automatically pushed the ISO to compensate for the low lights.

Shutter 1/200, f4.5, ISO 80.

In this picture, there was sufficient light for the camera to switch to its base ISO of 80 with a relatively fast shutter speed. The difference is immediately obvious. The picture is nice and crisp.

In essence, that is the end of the review of the camera. If you have good lighting, you will get decent results. Poor lighting will yield poor results.

A fisherman casting his net.

Reasonably decent response from the shutter to capture action scenes.

The dark rain filled clouds.

Up to now, I had managed to get some nice shots but not exactly what I had in mind. The promise of rain was in the sky, but so far, no actual rain was falling for me to test its waterproof abilities. I finished my rain and was about to go home when I saw some local fishermen pushing their boat in the water to cast their net. I asked them if I could hop on the boat and they let me. In exchange for getting the privilege of shooting pictures from the boat, I had to do my part in rowing the boat. That seemed like a fair exchange. Also, I had not done any resistance workouts for nearly a week, so this would give  my body a nice workout.

Fishermen pushing the boat in the rough Arabian sea.

Heavy rains.

At last, the promised rain came pouring down as we were rowing the boat, and I quickly took out the camera and took a few shots with one hand - while rowing with the other. The lens had fogged a bit due to the moisture, but the pictures still came out reasonably decent.

In the deep sea now.

We finally reached the shore, after casting the net. Now it was time to pull it towards the shore. The rains had disappeared, and the dark clouds were suddenly replaced by clear skies.

Pulling the fishing net in.

This is hard work.

The net finally rolls in.

Pulling the net now.

The circling birds is a good indication that the catch will be good.

Lots of fish trapped in the net.

Trapped fish.

Pulling the fish ashore.

As expected, a good catch.

Fresh catch of the day.

All in all, a good early morning adventure. I got to enjoy a lovely run on the beach, got a good full-body workout with boat rowing, and pulling the net, and was also rewarded for my efforts with some fresh fish.

And of course, took some pictures.

On the way back, I passed by some lovely scenery of rain-filled puddles and tiny lakes with lush greenery everywhere - something we don't see in Kuwait.

Tiny lakes formed by the monsoon rains.

Lush greenery everywhere.

The ubiquitous Holy cross.

In summary, the Kodak EasyShare Sport c123 is a useful and affordable camera for situations where you would never dream of taking your expensive dSLR.

I have yet to test its under-water capabilities and I leave that for another post - once I get some opportunity to shoot under-water.