With a salute to Jeff Turner, my personal choice for cameras wouldn't be the Kodak 705. I agree with him on many points, and for a point and click wide angle, it's good. I have 2 problems with it (and probably LOTS of problems if I disagree with Jeff....).
To understand the 2 problems, you need to understand my point of view. I've used 35mm cameras for years. Started with a Leica Rangefinder focus, moved into SLRs. Used Canon almost exclusively. Developed my own B&W, and color prints. Every time I refer to a lens focal length, I need to figure it's 35mm equivalent. It's a language I understand. Focal lengths change on digital. 35mm film ALWAYS uses 35mm film. Digital camera's have different recording media, with different sizes. As the size changes, so does the focal length. For the purposes of this posting, all focal lengths have been converted to 35mm camera equivalent.
The Kodak has a 23mm wide angle lens. It's a fixed 23mm (according to Kodak). At 23mm, destortion is quite visible. It throws the room visually off. You may have heard of "Fish Eye" effect. It does have a 2nd lens that zooms, but it only goes down to 39mm. As a photographer, this distortion bothers me. I can see it in a photo and I think it (slightly) misrepresents the room. My preference is a good 28mm wide angle. In a 35mm camera, the 50mm lens is considered standard. To see the difference, I've included photos of a 10' x 12' room:
I took these from a tripod. Only changing my lens zoom (Canon Rebel Digital with 18 - 55mm lens, or 28 to 88mm equivalent). Now look at the stacked photos:
You can see that 28 will cover a 10 x 12 room very well. While we sometimes take pictures of bathrooms (tho, I wonder about some I see), I believe a 28 mm gives good coverage, with minimal distortion.
Now my other problem. Look at the photo above for shadows, and wash out. By wash out I mean that the objects in front will be too bright. Look at these 2 photos:
The Bounce Flash picture is done using a Canon Digital Rebel with a 550 EX flash. The fully integrate, and become point and shoot. When I use an external flash, I tilt the head up to 60 degrees. The flash is pointing at the ceiling. But the difference betreen the Left photo, and the Right photo using the small - on camera flash. On the Left, the table is much more consistant in color. I don't have the glare on the corner of the table. The chairs are more true, and consistant in color. The chairs have a very natural shadow as they are being lit from above - same with the computer stand. On the Right - Heavy - dark shadow under table, around chairs on the wall. Under the computer is very bright. Not like one would view normally, the table color is much darker, and the wall paper appears much brighter - direct very whit light hitting it.
I will always use, and reccomend a camera with 28mm minimum wide angle, and prefer not to go much past that. You will have to ask for the 35mm Camera equivalent to know this number. I look for flashes with a hot shoe for an external flash. My reccomendations (priced from Adorama, but you should shop around):
Nikon D40, Zooms to 27mm, has a hotshoe and built in flash - $524
Refurbished Rebel XT, Zooms to 28mm, has a hotshoe and built in flash - $469
Fuji S9100, Zooms from 28mm to 300mm (GOOD range), Hotshoe & builtin flash - $399
For those that want to zoom to 28mm, but don't want to mess with the flash, Canon SD800 is new is $299, refurbished is $265. The Ricoh RS is $199.
And Jeff, please don't ban me from any further posts.... After all, I love The Real Estate Show VT's...
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Interesting! You know much more about cameras than I do. Thanks for posting.