Kodak DC260 (1998)

The Kodak DC260 was one of the first megapixel digital cameras aimed at consumers. It arrived in 1998, during what one owner called "the initial boom of the mega pixel digital movement." It sat in Kodak's DC series, the company's pioneering consumer-grade digital line, which was separate from the far more expensive professional DCS series. The New York Times, surveying the new megapixel class in 1998, grouped the DC260 with the Fuji MX-700, Olympus D-600L, and Nikon Coolpix 900. It said they offered resolutions previously found only in high-end digitals costing $2,500 to $15,000 or more.

The core specs are solid for the era. You get a 1.5-megapixel CCD capturing 1536 x 1024 images, a 3x autofocus zoom (38-115mm equivalent), and a 2.0" TFT color LCD for review and preview, plus a real-image optical viewfinder. Images go on removable CompactFlash cards. An 8 MB KODAK Picture Card was included, holding up to 95 pictures. The feature list is surprisingly full: manual exposure control (±2 EV in 0.5-EV steps), shutter speeds from 1/4 to 1/400 second, burst capture up to 3 frames per second, time-lapse, in-camera albums, an orientation sensor, and audio record/playback. It also had a USB port for desktop connection, still a novelty in 1998, along with serial, IrDA, and PC Card interfaces. Power came from four AA batteries.

Kodak built the DC260 around a firmware environment, sort of like an operating system, so owners could download updates from Kodak's website. They needed to. The factory firmware had a problem with red color, and Kodak soon posted a correction. One owner also reported that the USB port had compatibility problems talking with desktop PCs. Kodak sent him a CompactFlash card reader free of charge as a workaround.

The same long-term owner shot the majority of his website's pictures with the DC260. He praised its "amazing 'film' quality pictures" and ease of use, but listed real shortcomings. The body felt slightly loose around the lens area, letting dirt and lint in. Shutter lag made action shots difficult, and boot-up and shut-down took forever. The 3x optical zoom was considered limiting, and the 2x digital zoom was dismissed as useless. Autofocus used a visible-light ranging system. A red LED matrix projected a spot-and-ring pattern, and sensors measured the size of the projected target to determine distance.

A 2024 forum post from an owner of roughly thirty years reports the lens sometimes sticking, which suggests the DC260's moving parts are now showing their age. Beyond that, little is documented about long-term reliability or current collectibility.