The Kodak EasyShare V570 took its place at the front of Kodak’s stylish V-line with 5 megapixels and a very distinctive look. The V570 is the world’s first digital camera with two lenses, which Kodak calls Retina technology. The dual lens system consists of an ultra-wide 23mm lens on the bottom that’s great for shooting groups of people in small spaces and a 39-117mm lens on top that offers a typical 3x zoom. The lenses do not extend from the camera body and give the 0.8-inch thick camera a total of 5x optical zoom range. Why two lenses? You simply can’t fit 5x of optical zoom power in a non-extending lens in a camera body this thin. So Kodak made two lenses that work together to achieve this. The result is the Kodak EasyShare V570, which retails for $299.

Like many Kodaks, the V570 is very user friendly. Its buttons look more organized than most digital cameras and this model includes the Share button that has become synonymous with Kodak digital cameras. It has an Automatic mode and 21 Scene modes, including a Panorama Stitch mode. The stitching mode is nicer than on most other models because it gives users a live view and lets them line up the last shot with the next on the LCD screen. Unlike other cameras, such as the Canon SD450, that require software to create panoramas. the V570 stitches panoramas together in the camera.  

This primarily automatic digital camera offers a few basic manual options. The ISO range is 64-400, with an 800 extension that can only be used in a reduced 1.8-megapixel image size. The Fujifilm Z1 offers an ISO 800 setting, but still doesn't shoot great pictures in low light. In addition to the V570's Auto white balance setting, users can manually select from four presets. The autofocus mode can be set to focus just on the center or anywhere in the frame.

The Kodak EasyShare V570 has a decent Movie mode that records either 640 x 480 pixels or 320 x 240 pixels at 30 frames per second (fps). The 5x optical zoom works in the Movie mode, which is nice, but there is an abrupt jump from the wide angle lens to the zooming lens. After videos are recorded, they can be split into two and a portion can be deleted. This can save space on the memory card and prevent massive amounts of download time.

As for its looks, the V570 is a bit strange at first glance. Its two lenses give it a unique look. It is very rectangular, with dimensions spanning 4 inches long and only 0.8 inches thick. The Kodak V550 has a more traditional form that bears resemblance to a cell phone. The V570 has an organized look to its back along with the large 2.5-inch LCD screen. The screen has 230,000 pixels of resolution and wide viewing angles, so you can take pictures over your head or at your hip and still see the composition.

The screen is also good for viewing the V570’s Favorites mode, which is a fancy slide show mode where users can quickly access the shots they want to show off. Favorite pictures can be stored in the camera's 32 MB of internal memory.

As for its performance, the V570’s colors aren’t as accurate as some of its Kodak cohorts. It also doesn’t take great pictures in low light. On the bright side, this EasyShare can take 2 pictures every second and has hardly any shutter lag, which has been a common annoyance for point-and-shooters. Surprisingly, the V570 is slower than its predecessor, the 5-megapixel V550, which took 3 frames per second.

Included with the Kodak EasyShare V570 is a Kodak EasyShare Photo Frame Dock 2 that charges the battery and transfers images to a computer. The V570 costs $299, which is a little pricy for a 5-megapixel camera, but is decent for a trendy pocket model that offers a little extra zoom and a true wide angle.