The Kodak EasyShare M1093 IS is an easy to use digital compact camera that is very much suited for the casual crowd.

Featuring a slim and ultra-compact design, the M1093 IS is easy to carry around and small enough to fit into a handbag or pouch for pictures on the go and ideal for travel.

The downside though, is that the camera lives off lithium ion batteries that must be charged, and it consumes juice faster than I would've liked it to.

Part of the reason for the M1093 IS's power consumption problem might be due to its very generous screen - the 3 inch display is clear and bright, excellent for viewing photos and reviewing shots.

The EasyShare M1093 IS can shoot still captures up to 10 megapixels and video capture in HD. Picture and video quality are both good - though the zoom takes a while to react and it's thus slightly tricky to use in video mode.

The M1093 IS is essentially a point and shoot camera designed for ease of use and for casual use.

The camera features more than a dozen present scene modes from the everyday "portrait" and night scene modes to ones that users will probably not use often like "snow" and a surprising "text/document" mode tailored for scans on the go.

Most scene modes here are on the practical side and should serve a user well in lieu of manual controls. Though my only gripe was that the high-ISO low light mode still didn't quite deliver - pictures contained lots of noise and looked too grainy for use.

I like the camera's face detection feature, which was very effective and practical for a compact camera likely used for taking snapshots of people and events.

Videos shot in HD on the M1093 IS are saved in MP4 format. Image quality is good, and definitely a notch above those of other non-HD camera, but the downside is that the files take up a lot of space. Get SD memory cards of at least 4GB and above if you plan to shoot a lot of videos with this camera.

The Verdict

The M1093 really excels as a camera for good-looking photos taken with minimal fuss. It's many automatic functions ensure that any user will be able to get the photos they want, even without much technical knowledge and know-how.

For those looking for a point and shoot camera that is almost klutz-proof, the M1093 might just be it.