Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera -Black – A Great Pocket Camcorder

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

1080 p video capturing, good image quality, card slot for putting more memory, rechargeable battery, macro focus mode, smile detection feature, jack for putting external microphone.

Thumbs Down:

Doesn’t come bundled with a memory card, bundled software cannot be used with Mac.

Inside the Trunk:

Accessories Wrist strap, software – ArcSoft MediaImpression, Drivers & Utilities. Included cables – HDMI cable, A/V cable.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Zi8 is a camcorder  capable of 1080p recording, has 4x digital zoom, 5 mega pixels, with optical CMOS sensor, videos are stored in H.264 format.

Camcorder sensor resolution is 5 mega pixels, images are stored in JPEG format, the device has built in 128 MB and SD memory card slot for further expansion. The device has a 2.5 inch TFT LCD display. Connectors on the gadget are USB, Composite video/audio output, Microphone, DC power input, HDMI.

Lens of the camcorder is 6.3 mm – F/2.8, minimum focus range is 3.3 ft and macro focus range is 15cm. Additional features include built in speaker mode, USB 2.0 compatibility, YouTube capture mode. For PC connections, the OS supported is Apple Mac OS X 10.4 or later, MS Windows XP SP2, MS Windows Vista. The device runs on Kodak KLIC 7004 li-ion rechargeable battery.

Razzle Dazzle:

Kodak has revamped its looks but by no means it looks a pretty gadget but it is not that ugly either. It doesn’t have those rugged exteriors that Zx1 had but certainly looks a lot slicker than the latter. The device is 2.4 inches wide, 0.9 inch thick, 4.5 inches tall and weighs about 4.8 ounces which we thought was a bit heavy. There are three color options of raspberry, aqua and black.

Inside Dope:

Pocket camcorders have become popular now since the full fledged camcorders are big and hence a bit difficult to carry. Also these pocket camcorders have been getting better and they now have the basic features for recording video and hence great option for people who don’t want those big camcorders. Now in pocket camcorders, Flip Video managed to remain on the top till now because there were no products as good as Flip Video that was until we got Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera in our test centers. We were glad to find features like external mic support, electronic image stabilization and not to mention the great video quality.

Zi6 had AA NiMH rechargeable batteries, this device has lithium ion rechargeable battery and we think this is the reason behind its slim body. You can charge the device through AC adapter or USB cord both of which are provided. The camcorder can record full HD videos but don’t expect the quality to be anywhere near the full sized camcorders which have better lens and sensors. However, for light usage this quality is good and the quality is getting better with every installment. This device can record 1080p at 30 fps and for photo capture, there is a 5 MP camera. If you are low in disk space you can revert to the 720p at 30/60 fps video capture option. Kodak said 720p 60fps option is for ‘action and sports’ and 720p 30 fps option is for ‘video sharing’ on FaceBook or YouTube. Finally the lowest WVGA resolution is for economical usage of the memory.

The device comes with a tiny 128 MB onboard memory and you can expand it further to 32 GB through SD memory card. We would have liked Kodak to put in at least a 1 GB card but it would have increased the price. At the highest level of 1080p, a single minute will take around 110-150MB, so a 2 GB card can take up to 16-17 minutes of video. For 720p 20 minutes will take up a gigabyte. Videos are stored in MP4 format inside the device.

Such pocket camcorders are not much of a tough deal because they are extremely user friendly. Zi8 too is one of them and there is a four way navigation pad that is used to move around through the menus. The reference manual inside gives you all the details regarding the functions of the buttons.

The audio captured in the device is good as long as the subject is standing close to the gadget. You can attach an external microphone to the device for better results. We did try this and the sound quality captured was excellent. External mic is great for people like journalists.

Video quality was good as long as you don’t expect quality as good as full sized camcorders. Videos will be shaky if you shoot them keeping the device in hand. There is electronic stabilization but it eats up battery life quickly. Try using the device with a tripod, we did it, and the video quality was better. Video quality is very good considering this is just a pocket sized device. There is also face detection in the camcorder and you can choose to switch it off.

Photo quality is not that good but better than standard camera phones especially in low light conditions. You can focus on subjects which are at close range with the macro mode in the device. The default mode in the device is 720p because computers may not be able to play high quality 1080p videos smoothly. We recorded and then watched those videos on a HDTV, we were quite impressed. The bundled ArcSoft MediaImpression software lets you upload videos to sites like YouTube and you can also editing the videos with features like brightness, contrast and color at you disposal. The software cannot be used with Mac OS, for them there is iMovie.

Nitty Gritty:

As said earlier the Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera takes over from Flip Video as one of the best pocket camcorders we have ever seen to date. The option that you get for recording video as well as the photo quality of the device was quite impressive.