Kodak Zi8 Pocket Camcorder / Black

Off the bat I was impressed with the fact it had 1080p video. I've played with the Zi6 and it was very cool, but lacked in the resolution department, only being 720p (man, what a snob I am!) I've had a Sanyo camera for a few months now which does 1080p so understand just how much better it looks on my 46" LCD. The Zi8 only has a mono microphone, but something new for this release over the previous Zi range is that option to plug in a stero mic. So, the device just got that much better for sound, meaning it opens up new doors for those looking to do adhoc interviews and man on the street kind of things, in a decent resolution without having to carry around anything bigger than a cigarette packet.

This brings me onto the size, it's TINY, I carry it around with me everywhere in my pocket it's so small. In fact, it sits right next to my iPhone and I hardly notice it's there. But having it on me all the time means I can capture things on video that I'd normally have to remember,… more »

Off the bat I was impressed with the fact it had 1080p video. I've played with the Zi6 and it was very cool, but lacked in the resolution department, only being 720p (man, what a snob I am!) I've had a Sanyo camera for a few months now which does 1080p so understand just how much better it looks on my 46" LCD. The Zi8 only has a mono microphone, but something new for this release over the previous Zi range is that option to plug in a stero mic. So, the device just got that much better for sound, meaning it opens up new doors for those looking to do adhoc interviews and man on the street kind of things, in a decent resolution without having to carry around anything bigger than a cigarette packet.

This brings me onto the size, it's TINY, I carry it around with me everywhere in my pocket it's so small. In fact, it sits right next to my iPhone and I hardly notice it's there. But having it on me all the time means I can capture things on video that I'd normally have to remember, little things, like my son spinning round till he falls over, or my other son smearing yoghurt in his hair. Or even the argument in the supermarket that I posted on YouTube because it was funny. Anything now becomes a possible target for recording onto a chip in my pocket and the fact that the startup time is around 3-4 seconds is also a boon.

The filesize is fairly OK as well. With a 4gb SDHC card inserted, I get about 40mins of 1080p.You can only capture about 30 seconds of video on the device without a memory card, so make sure you pick one up in a bundle or buy a SDHC card with it. Which is nothing to sneer it. I've found though (especially with the Sanyo, which has 8gb) I leave it until it's full up and then have to spend ages copying all the video off, trawling through each one trying to remember which clips were what, renaming etc. I still have to do that with the Zi8, but less often, so it's less of an arduous task. Made especially easier by it having a ping-out USB connection.

If you slide a little doodad at the bottom of the camera, the USB connection pops out of the side, it's really been redesigned well, as now, instead of being a hard plastic stick with a USB pin on the end, it's now a rubbery, wobbly thing with a USB pin on the end, meaning that you don't have to worry about anything snapping, especially when you've got your laptop on your lap and the camera hanging out of the side. I also makes it easier if you've got your USB ports in odd, or cramped places.

Copying the files off on an Apple is a breeze; plug it in, the drive mounts and there are your videos. Easy, fuss free. On a PC, it's not so good (or on a mac if you install the dire software). On the Zi8 is all the software you need to perform its many publishing functions, (DVD, YouTube etc). On Windows, the software is clunky and horrible and I'd much rather use explorer to navigate my movies, then pull them into Picasa for my various publishing options. You can do that afterwards, but you still need to use the proprietary software to get them off in the first place, yuk.

The videos themselves a pretty good. The quality is above average for a device of this size and price point. The camera does, however, suffer in low light situations and is practically useless in a restaurant which is lit soley by candles and my winning smile. When it can be used in less than ideal conditions, the video is very blocky and grainy and not on a par with other devices of it's ilk (I've not tried the flip, but I've heard it's OK in low-light).

Another gripe I have about the camera is it's extremely useless zoom. It's a digital zoom, which is bad enough, but don't try zooming in while recording, you'll look like an idiot film-maker. It doesn

I spent a long time checking out the other pocketable HD camcorders, like the Flip and none of them came close to the compliment of featuresthe Zi8 posesses: the removeable battery (so you can carry a couple of spares for when you're not near a PC/plug); the external mic option; the external storage (SDHC) (unlike the built-in storage of the Flips) and image stabilization (which is fair).

The negatives were the sound quality recorded from the internal mic and the zoom that only worked in 'lurches' or blocks. Both of these issues have been improved (sound) or eliminated (zoom is now smooth) with the updated firmware (which was easy to install after following the instructions on the Kodak website).

The awesome thing about this is that I carry it everywhere in my jacket pocket, and when I see something I want to record, I can just take it out and a couple of seconds later I'm recording in HD.
The system navigation is easy with a big button for recording/zooming/changing… more »

I spent a long time checking out the other pocketable HD camcorders, like the Flip and none of them came close to the compliment of featuresthe Zi8 posesses: the removeable battery (so you can carry a couple of spares for when you're not near a PC/plug); the external mic option; the external storage (SDHC) (unlike the built-in storage of the Flips) and image stabilization (which is fair).

The negatives were the sound quality recorded from the internal mic and the zoom that only worked in 'lurches' or blocks. Both of these issues have been improved (sound) or eliminated (zoom is now smooth) with the updated firmware (which was easy to install after following the instructions on the Kodak website).

The awesome thing about this is that I carry it everywhere in my jacket pocket, and when I see something I want to record, I can just take it out and a couple of seconds later I'm recording in HD.
The system navigation is easy with a big button for recording/zooming/changing mode and a few extra ones for playback and deleting and so on. Mastering it was not a great challenge.

The camera comes with bundled software (on the device - you carry it with you and can install it on whatever PC you have access to) that operates as both a library (tags and so on), editing suite (quite simple but effective) and player (motion previews and full screen playback etc). (tested and working on Vista 32bit and Windows 7 64bit).

The camera outputs h264 MOV files, which are quite handy (especially now Win7 has native support with thumbnails, etc) and also plays back flawlessly on both HD and SD TVs (via bundled HDMI & Composite cables).

The image quality is very good and performs quite well in lower-light conditions. It has its limitations (zoom is digital and so pointless - better to do it in editing) and obviously it's not going to perform quite as well as a proper HD camcorder (that you're going to pay loads more for) but with this thing, you can keep on you all the time and never miss an opportunity.

If you accept its minor limitations I can't think of any better HD camcorder on the market at the moment for this price.

I'm delighted with it.

For the price, you get more than you should. Brilliant moving picture quality, even in wgva mode.. this mode is great for youtube as well as for your pc monitor. WVGA looks like HD.

However, for proper HD, it's best to go for 720p @ 30fps - playing recordings back in full screen on your pc monitor looks glorious.

You can screen capture from your movies, but it doesn't look too hot tbh. I wouldn't recommend the camera for taking photo's either.. stick to a dedicated camera, or good camera phone with a good lens.

But for movies, it's astonishing.. point and record and playback.

I use play.com 8gb sd hc (class 6) memory cards, and these store around an hour of movies in 720p@30fps mode. The battery lasts around an hour as well, but you need to switch the camera off to preserve power.. leave it on and it lasts less.

So, buy this camera, buy a couple of 8gb sd hc (class 6) memory cards (or the 4gb triple packs), and get a couple of extra batteries. These will… more »

For the price, you get more than you should. Brilliant moving picture quality, even in wgva mode.. this mode is great for youtube as well as for your pc monitor. WVGA looks like HD.

However, for proper HD, it's best to go for 720p @ 30fps - playing recordings back in full screen on your pc monitor looks glorious.

You can screen capture from your movies, but it doesn't look too hot tbh. I wouldn't recommend the camera for taking photo's either.. stick to a dedicated camera, or good camera phone with a good lens.

But for movies, it's astonishing.. point and record and playback.

I use play.com 8gb sd hc (class 6) memory cards, and these store around an hour of movies in 720p@30fps mode. The battery lasts around an hour as well, but you need to switch the camera off to preserve power.. leave it on and it lasts less.

So, buy this camera, buy a couple of 8gb sd hc (class 6) memory cards (or the 4gb triple packs), and get a couple of extra batteries. These will last you all day when you're out and about and you can playback and delete when needed, to free up space for more recording.