Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera - Black
by Eastman Kodak Company
Our Price: $399.50
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $150.00 (click here)
Category: Digital Camera
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Digital product summary information
Manufacturer: Eastman Kodak CompanyAudio: English (Original Language)
Model: 8796062
Color: Black
Product features:
- Record High Definition video (1080p at 30 fps with 16:9 aspect ratio)
- Easily upload recorded footage to YouTube with built-in USB and software
- Expandable SD/SDHC card slot up to 32 GB; Rechargeable battery and charger included
- Vibrant 2.5-inch viewfinder; Watch footage on HDTV with included cables
- Edit and share videos with included software
- Kodak Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery/KLIC 7004
- Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 [Old Version]
- AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (3.3 Feet/1.0 Meter)
- Kodak Wide Angle Lens
Digital camera reviews of Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera - Black
Digital camera Review: "Defective" unit - but still good
Summary: 3 Stars
Alright, I purchased this from Kodak directly and got a great deal on the price. It has many great features. Rated the camera as I received it, still hear about people who have the defect and some who don't, so not sure if it is a design flaw or really a defect. More on the defect at the end.
Features:
Can take SD cards. Currently using a 16GB card that runs great, even with 1080 recording.
Easy to use. Both a plus and minus. I like how easy it is to operate, but I would like some more control over exposure. The auto exposure was frustrating, especially with the face tracking turned on so I turned it off. It would go from light to dark depending on the angle of the face and it would black out everything else.
External mic option. Great option if I want to get a boom mic type thing for recording kids games.
Tripod mount. Got a mini tripod and it works great.
Image stabilization. Worked great for me. My hands can stay pretty still, even when I'm moving so I didn't notice any jitter or jaggy lines.
Connectors. HDMI port is great to connect to HDTV. Built in USB is great, used a USB extender cable like other reviewer since my USB ports are not by the floor or desk and don't want to hang the camera in mid air. Would have loved if the camera had an option to act as a webcam, or that the camera could record while connected via usb to a computer. Being able to store video on the computer hard drive or just as an unending power supply would be great. Maybe a firmware fix can add this?
Video Quality. In good light, outdoors, the camera records great video on all settings. HD looks amazing on an HDTV. As you go into bad light, or at night, or indoors, the quality starts to degrade. You notice color noise and the auto exposure starts to kick in to help but it is too unpredictable with face tracking on.
Battery. Not great. The camera is fairly big, and the battery is really thin and about half the size of a business card. They could have easily fit a battery twice the size in this. As it is, the battery doesn't last that long, maybe an hour. Get an external battery pack if you want to record, without changing batteries, for longer.
Zoom. Not great. Digital zoom would have been better if it was smooth. And any zoomed video was lower quality. Obvious I know, but was hoping for more. Wouldn't use it as it is.
Video format. Not great. The movies played fine on my computer, but my software to convert videos doesn't read .mov files. Why they would pick a mac format for a device that has software that doesn't work well on a mac is beyond me. Would have been great if they used a standard format like AVI. Needed to buy more software to convert the format in to something usable.
Software. Not great. See above about format. The software is a stripped down version and only lets you convert the movie or movies into a few types, non of which are usable by my software. Only for converting to apple formats, playstation formats, or web formats. It is really easy to use to edit and cut clips together and make movies and can even make dvds. But it will only record dvds to a disc not the hard drive which would have helped.
And now the deal breaker. I could have dealt with, or worked around all the above, but I got one of the units that has a very loud high pitched whine when using the internal mic. It was present on all recording modes, except photo. It is more obvious playing back on the camera, it lessens when played on the computer but is still there. Lowering the mic sensitivity to the lowest setting makes it almost go away, but then you lose people's voices if they aren't very close to the camera. Using an external mic eliminates the whine, but my primary use for the camera is with the internal mic.
I called Kodak and I'm within the 30 day return window so I am sending mine in for a replacement, which they assured me would be a new unit. I have to pay shipping back to them, but I got free shipping before so I'm not too bummed about that.
For what I need, this camera is near perfect. When the new camera comes in I can update the review. Also thinking about getting the external mic and power supply mentioned in another of these reviews as I want to record the kids games and think they would help out.
As for the stars. I would have rated it four stars if it wasn't for the defect, assuming it's a defect. Without the whine, if the camera had any three of these: better low light control, better battery, better zoom, better software, different format; I would have rated it five stars. It's still a nice camera and I will be happy with it if I can get one without the whine.
Summary of Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera - Black
Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera BlackCamcorders
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