New York, NY -- For nearly 120 years, Eastman Kodak has been almost synonymous with photography. It's not the only company to make film, cameras and developing supplies but it was the most prominent during most of the 20th century.

Things have changed in the world of photography. Digital cameras now outsell film cameras and the business of making money on film and developing is not what is used to be. Kodak furthermore has a lot more competition now, not only from traditional camera companies like Canon, Pentax, Nikon and Konica Minolta, but also from technology companies like Hewlett Packard, Sony and Casio.

Kodak is not sitting still. The company was relatively quick to make the transition from film to digital (though it's still very much in the film business) and has been steadily innovating.

This week I had a chance to play with two of Kodak's cameras: its newest state-of-the-art WiFi camera and a more mundane and much less expensive camera which, frankly, I like a lot more.

The system will work with any WiFi network. Also, Kodak has cut a deal with T-Mobile, which operates hotspots at many Starbucks and other locations, to offer access to its network for $4.99 a month. Unlike T-Mobile's regular $40 a month service, the Kodak offer lets you access the network only to send photos from the camera.

One big advantage to having a Net-connected camera is that once you upload your photos to the Internet, you can then erase the memory and keep taking pictures with no limitations. That could be very handy for someone lucky enough to be on an extended vacation.

Kodak is at the leading edge of what will eventually be commonplace. With the rise of high-speed cellular networks, I expect to someday see high-end cameras with built-in technology to immediately speed your photos to their destination via the emerging broadband cellular networks.

First, it has an impressive amount of internal memory. 256 megabytes lets you store hundreds of digital photos and, if that isn't enough, you can also insert SD memory cards to add up to a gigabyte additional memory. It also has a large 3-inch LCD screen, which gives you a very nice preview of photos you're about to take as well as a nice way to review and show off pictures in the camera.

But, like many new digital cameras, it lacks an optical viewfinder that lets you hold the camera up to your eye to frame the photo like those old-fashioned film cameras. Admittedly, this is a matter of taste and, I suspect, a matter of age as well.

Accordingly, I've fallen in love with Kodak's C360 pocket-sized camera. This $250 five megapixel camera with a 3X optical zoom lens is quite small (3.3 × 2.5 × 1.4 in.) and light (5.3 oz without batteries) and can run on a variety of battery types, including a Kodak rechargeable battery pack, a standard lithium digital camera battery and regular AA rechargeables.

What's more, the camera has an excellent optical viewfinder as well as a big-enough 2-inch LCD screen. It also has a very easy to use interface that makes picture taking a snap. The 360 comes with 32 megabytes of internal memory but internal memory is irrelevant if you buy an optional (but highly desired) SD memory card. Kodak makes less expensive versions that are very similar including the $199 5 MP C340 with 16 megabytes of internal memory and - the best value - the $129 four-megapixel C310.

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