Deftly balancing marketing, engineering and design objectives, Bluemap Design has delivered an attractive form with positive handling ergonomics to render a fun yet serious "world camera." Embracing broad, potentially conflicting objectives, Bluemap Design's solution is appealing to all demographics and is just right for any use, anywhere. Providing a form factor of unique proportion, scale and detail in the camera industry, Bluemap Design has defined Kodak's distinct market approach. The coveted 2011 Red Dot Design Award - Germany has already recognized these qualities. Given design, performance, versatility and price, this camera could become a digital age "camera standard" as its appeal transcends age, gender, income or application.
The Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 is more than a "sports" camera. While the name aptly implies outdoor use where it's wet and sandy, it is actually an all purpose camera that's appropriate for any use or demographic - work or play. Bluemap Design's comfortable styling and appropriate design and ergonomics provides it's appeal to any mindset, attitude or location.
Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 is the first waterproof digital camera at an affordable price. This is achieved by utilizing a high megapixel chipset and a fixed lens with digital zoom, which addresses today's photo requirement realities. Without moving lenses and servos, mechanical complexity, battery consumption and production cost are reduced. Additionally, without the need to seal moving lens parts, a waterproof and dust proof camera is economically achieved. Today, digital zoom makes sense because most photos are being shared via the Internet where high megapixel image and large photo files aren't necessary or desired. Most snap shot size prints can be produced at 4 or 5 MP's with great results. Using some of Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 available megapixels to create a digital zoom still leaves ample megapixels for photographic needs. By contrast, high megapixel, optical zoom cameras provide more pixels than required in most instances at higher product cost without the waterproof and dustproof capability required to ensure camera durability or to capture water based images or videos.
Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 has soft rubber grips to enhance use in fair weather as well as in wet and dusty environments. Easy to use interface and well-designed controls augment a 2.4" LCD color display to make this camera a pleasure to handle. Video capture adds to the possibilities. Powered by two "AA" batteries available everywhere, even in remote locations, the Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 has a broad geographic range of use and market potential.
Incorporating technology, engineering, marketing and design in a thoughtful and realistic manner allow Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 to be "all" the camera consumers will ever need. In first world markets this camera will be purchased for use at the beach, pool or on the boat to augment other cameras that "can't handle" the environment or which are too "precious." It could end up replacing them. In emerging markets, the affordable price point and camera durability has value for both amateur and business documentation.
Perhaps the subtlest thing about Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 is that it enables photographers to focus on photography. The technology is in the background to support this. Its "go anywhere" capability from ocean waters to desert storms ensures photographic moments not possible with other more expensive cameras. Given this, Kodak may just have created the base for a new world camera standard if not a new digital camera paradigm. Kodak Easyshare Sport C123 marks the transition from tech heavy feature laded expensive cameras to affordable devices that capture image anywhere. Its physical appearance and handling dynamics as tuned by Bluemap Design serve to communicate these objectives to the marketplace.