We reviewed the 52x optical zoom incorporating Kodak Pixpro AZ528 a while ago – an all-in-one point-and-shoot that was something of an anomaly amidst high-ticket-price mirrorless camera launches. The latest Kodak-branded addition to our test bench similarly feels like an exception in the present climate. The Kodak Pixpro AZ425 offers a more modest 42x optical reach compared with its sibling snapper.
Rather than offering updated innovations, both cameras are throwbacks to the bridge cameras and superzooms of the early 2000. At the time these plastic-y leviathans plugged a gap between pocket snapshots with 3x optical zooms and more fully featured digital SLRs. But now nobody except Kodak, or rather its current license holder JK Imaging, is making models like the AZ425 any more. Rather grandly the ‘AZ’ stands for ‘Astro Zoom’. Equipped with a steady tripod, there is the potential to frame the moon, for sure.
