Just when we thought the megapixel race was slowing down, Kodak has kicked it up another notch with their latest advanced camera, the Easyshare Z1275. Sporting a massive 12 megapixel sensor in a relatively compact body, this unit will satisfy users looking to make massive prints while not having to carry around a bulky SLR body.

For most picture taking needs, a 12 megapixel sensor is fundamentally a waste. These days any good 7 megapixel camera will create brilliant prints at small and medium print sizes. It isn't until you want to make A3 or poster sized prints that you really feel the benefits of more megapixels, and it is here the Z1275 shines.

We ran it through our test software Imatest, and it performed nicely. In the sharpness test it scored 1933 which is an excellent result and satisfied our expectations of the 12 megapixel sensor. Our pictures were mostly crisp and detailed although there was some fringing noticeable in our motherboard test shots which could prove problematic. Chromatic aberration was minimal, with only marginal haloing present and little blurring towards the edges of the frame. Imatest gave the Z1275 a score of 0.069, which is a strong performance.

Colour performance was good for the most part, although the camera's automatic and program modes did tend to underexpose the shots a little. Imatest gave the unit a score of 9.29 in this area, which is a decent but not outstanding result. It showed that the primary colours were the major sources of error, but even so the colour balance was more than acceptable.

Image noise levels were similar, acceptable but not outstanding. At ISO 100 Imatest gave the Z1275 a score of 0.81%. At this sensitivity our shots were a little grainy, but this was only noticeable at high magnifications. Noise scaled quite well as we increased the sensitivity, and our shots up to ISO 400 were perfectly usable for most size prints.

Many of the features you'd expect are present, although there are some notable omissions. The 2.8fps burst mode is nice and there are program and manual shooting modes (although no aperture or shutter priorty), but the lack of manual white balance was disappointing. ISO sensitivities extend to ISO 1600 and there is the usual array of metering and AF options.

Despite the decent burst mode, the Z1275 exhibited a relatively slow shutter speed of 0.1 of a second. It was equally slow to boot up, making us wait 2.7 seconds till we could take our first snap. It was somewhat quicker between shots though, taking just 1.1 seconds.

Aesthetically this camera follows the standard Kodak design. Largely constructed of plastic, it has a gunmetal colour scheme that is fairly smooth, but the design is a little boxy and isn't likely to stand out from the crowd. It is fairly sturdy, however not as solid as its metal counterparts from other companies.

Considering the 12 megapixel sensor it is quite small, which is one of its key benefits. Typically, to capture such high resolution images you need an SLR or at least a top of the range ultra-zoom - the Z1275 is barely larger than your average compact camera, so it will safely fit in your pocket or bag.