Description

Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera Aqua

Customer Reviews

 Sweet Little Pocket Video Camera! - Aug 29, 2010

I am loving my refurbished Kodak zi8! I took it to the Grand Canyon where I used it for the first time. Admittedly, I hadn't read the instructions prior to use (I received it and got on the plane), I found it somewhat difficult to navigate upon first use. I suggest reading the instruction manual to learn how to use it first! However, once I grasped the concept, I was able to easily use it to take fantastic video pictures. It also takes stills. It has its own USB cable tucked away, so it's simple to upload video. The quality, even on the low settings, is excellent! It has image stabilization, too, a great feature to prevent shaky video. I bought my camera refurbished for well under $100 and it's the way to go! My biggest complaint is that, as CNET review states, it shows fingerprints all over the camera, leaves smudges. But that's a very minor con. It's light weight, great battery life, and well worth the purchase (does HDMI, too)!! Love it. It is just what I wanted in a small, portable, hand held video camera.

 just what I needed - Aug 29, 2010

I was looking for a pocket HD video recorder and this was the best value for money currently out in the market.I wish it had a little more zoom. But this meets my need.

 I love my Zi8! - Aug 28, 2010

I ordered this video camera based on recommendations from other Internet marketers. They were right! The picture quality is absolutely fantastic! I wanted to have the camera before I went on a short vacation to Pagosa Springs, CO. We were taking the Toltec-Chamas train ride in breath taking mountain country. The camera arrived in time and I was able to get beautiful short videos all along the train route. The camera hardly weighs anything. It's easy to use. I am totally delighted with the results. Later I will add a video review so others can see the results.

 Only good for very few situations - Aug 28, 2010

The only use for camera is a portable means to film interviews with people in well lighted areas. The camera is a poor fit for any other event. Do not buy a large SD card. The camera only films ~30 min. The zoom moves in short punchy spurts rather than one smooth constant speed. The camera lens requires you be right up on your subject. "Across the table in a restaurant booth" is a distance that would fill the screen with your subject's face.

 Nice Camera - Aug 27, 2010

This is a nice compact camera for shooting video, or still shots. We did purchase an external mic for better sound quality and it works great. I would recommend this camera, especially for parents on the go.

 Kodak pocket cam Z18 - Aug 26, 2010

I love my zi8 Pocket cam, I bought the Rasberry one for my self as a Christmas gift, I liked it so much
that I recenly bought my Daughter the teal one for her Birthday in July, and she is just as happy with it,
is is small enough to fit in my purse, it is light weight, its around the size of a cell phone. the strap
is vey handy.. I am not impressd with the zoom, pictures do get darker as you zoom all the way out, so I avoid useing
that feature when possiabe. ITs built in usb port is easy to use, I face book and utube alot, so this is quick and easy,
and I don't have to search for chords, l love it and it's worth the money.. and the scren is bigger than the flip pocket cams, which is a pluss..

 I have THREE of these Cameras - Aug 25, 2010

This will be an oddball review. I apologize for it in advance but it is all true.

I am an electrical engineer that designed automotive, handheld & aviation GPS systems for consumer electronics for over 20 years. I'm sure a number of you reading this will own products I designed. So I guess you could say I am a technical user.

I initially ordered one camera. You can get all the pros and cons from other reviews. In my opinion, the Zi8 is great for what it is. The external Mic was a must for my applications. The original camera worked fine. I was happy enough to order more.

I ordered two more cameras from Amazon because I wanted one for my wife and one for a teleprompter. (I am now a full time internet marketer and use the Zi8 for online videos.)

My order was for 4 items. Two cameras, a battery and an SDHC card. The cameras came in the battery and the SDHC card never did. Strike one for Amazon.

Of the two Zi8s that came in 1 was defective upon arrival. One was fine. I saw a picture on the defective one for about 2 seconds...literally. I got a replacement sent from Amazon immediately no problem and the defective camera is replaced. Kudos to Amazon for such quick turn around.

Unfortunately, it took a MONTH to get the battery. The SDHC card never came in. It still shows in route from 2 months ago from the tracking info on them. I called the battery company (Thememstore) & was told "nothing they could/would do about it." Great customer service. Amazon did resend the SDHC card, overnighted it and I got it. As I said the original SDHC card NEVER came in.

Next I got billed for never returning the defective camera. Only problem is I did and have all the tracking info to prove it.

I call customer service to straighten it out and get someone from who knows where (India?) and she didn't even know how the return policy worked & I could hardly understand her. Good grief! Strike two and three. I got off the phone and still don't know what she said. I will wait to see if my credit card got charges reversed.

Happy with the Zi8s. Not totally happy with Amazon. I am a prime customer and have MANY orders with them. So I MUST say this is the first order they have messed up and they TOTALLY messed this up front to back. Hopefully this is not a new trend because I love Amazon and have always gotten fantastic products at fantastic prices with fantastic service.

So don't be scared of the Zi8. It is a fantastic camera and anybody can have a defective product. I know. I am satisfied with all three cameras ESPECIALLY for the fantastic price!

Rex

 Kodak Zi8 - Aug 25, 2010

The Kodak Zi8 is a portable HD camcorder. IT gives you the ability to film 1080p films in the palm of your hand. You can also select 720p video at 60fps (frames per second), or 30fps, and you can also take pictures as well.
--The picture quality is pretty good all things considered, It is by no means on par with a DSLR camera or something in the 12+ mp range, but it is fine if you just wanna take some quick snapshots with your friends.
-You may also record videos in standard definition if you want to, I'm not sure of the fps, but it does a decent job, especially if you have a smaller memory card, and you are wanting to conserve space.
--The 720p/30fps mode is a nice addition for those looking for the slower framerate, but I personally don't get much use out it.
--The 720p/60fps option is, in my opinion, the best mode of them all. You get the high resolution 720p picture, with the smooth 60fps look. The picture quality is wonderful. Much better than the Flip hd in my opinion. That's not to say that the Flip hd is bad, I just feel that the Kodak Zi8 is a better buy.
--The 1080p/30fps option is also a good option on this camera, and is one of the selling points of this camera. While the framerate will not be the super smooth 60fps, 30fps still provides stunning video quality.
--The image stabilization on this camera is not the best, actually its really not that helpful. It's really not necessary when you're using a tripod or when you have a steady hand.
--The usb out is nicely tucked away into the camera's side. While the cord itself is VERY short, a USB extender cord will be VERY helpful, if not necessary for this. Luckily, they are cheap and easy to come by.

-- Really this camera is just about everything I could ask for in a mini hd camcorder. Wonderful video quality, Great Audio quality.
*IT DOES WELL IN CONCERTS* For proof of that, I took it to a CYNIC concert recently and filmed a couple of songs. There was very low light, and it was quite loud. here is the link [...] If any of you out there have any questions about the Zi8, feel free to send me a message, and I'll try my best to help you out.

 Best video camera I've ever owned - Aug 24, 2010

This is the best video camera I've ever owned. I've owned several video cameras over the past couple of decades and none function as well or as easily as this one. It's a simple turn-it-on and press the red button and you're filming. The high resolution is great and even the built-in microphone is quite adequate. We've filmed some videos of our band, and the sound quality is okay. My biggest disappointment, aside from the vague responses I got from the Kodak support, is the fact that even filming in the lowest 720 mode, which is the one recommended by Kodak, the files are too large to post to YouTube, which was the whole reason I bought the camera in the first place. There is really no editing software that comes with it, but for the low, low price for the camera, $128 (and I paid $625 for my last Sony, and it doesn't compare, in my opinion), I wouldn't expect editing software to be included. I can carry this little thing in my shirt pocket, and it's always ready to take shots wherever I am. My wife loves it because there's no complicated process to go through to take pictures. As I said, turn it on (and it comes to life quickly) and press the red button, and you are shooting high res videos.

 Awesome little Cam for the money !! - Aug 24, 2010

I've been using The Camera for a few weeks .. My main reason for buying it was that it had the external mic jack. The internal mic was ok, but with high def picture I needed good stereo sound .. I purchased the Sony ECM-DS70P Electret Condenser Stereo Microphone, and it works great. No complaints yet ..

 Good but... - Aug 24, 2010

Bought Refurbished. Great little camera, but not a great refurbish job. Locks up, and I have to remove the battery to get it started again. If battery gets low, or card gets full, there is no warning, it just stops working. Great little camera for the money, but frustrating when you are told it is in perfect, like new working order when it obviously is not.

 Great for making political videos - Aug 23, 2010

Set Zi8 on pedestal--connect up lapel mic--and make perfect videos with great sound. Had more expensive camcorder but bad audio and it had no mic connection--so choose Zi8 which has mic connection. Great picture. Only small camcorder that had the mic connection--definitely needed.

 redefined the camera experience - Aug 23, 2010

Best camera purchase ever. Completely replaced our Cannon PowerShot G5, Sony Handycamcorder, and Phone cameras. Both video and still image quality is very good. The colours in particular are quite sharp. No issues with sound. Transfer to computer is fast. We purchased an additional battery, carrying case, tripod, and class 6 32GB memory card. Using both batteries, we can pretty much record all we want during a day of traveling/vacation/etc and then recharge at night. A week of vacation resulted in ~25GB of mpeg4/quicktime video. The only drawbacks to the camera is a relatively limited user interface, the need to be careful keeping it clean, 2-3 second delay when taking still pictures, and that the exported video files are in .mov format which may need some extra conversion/processing by software when creating a dvd/blu-ray disk. In general, these are all minor points. Going forward, the only thing I would have done different is get a class 10 memory card in hopes of reducing the delay between still image snapshots. The quality of the stills are amazingly good though.

 a terrific small movie camera - Aug 23, 2010

I needed a smaller camera to make films to publicize where I work. this worked perfectly and was very easy to download onto my computer. I also took it to a class reunion and had a lot of fun with it. Light and easy to work, somewhat like a smart phone. I am still learning about it.

 Kodak zi8 - Aug 23, 2010

I got this flip-style camera because my other one did not have an external microphone port. I love this one, though I have to sit down and figure out all the ways to use it. I got a Sony mike, as I felt I had to shout at my other camera in order to be heard and with this camera, I can speak in my natural voice. I like the picture quality and the fact that it's HD. I have only done 4-5 videos with this camera and shall do many more, so perhaps my review will be updated. Much prefer it to my other flip-style camera. Plus, the monitor to view the videos is much larger and easier to see.

 WOW, what a great little camera - Aug 23, 2010

WOW, what a great little camera. I have to be honest, I had my doubts about this camera when I bought it. I couldn't imagine such a small camera being able to deliver the kind of video I was looking for. I was wrong. This camera puts out amazing video. The HD video has to be seen to believe. I was shopping for a camera for months. I couldn't find a camera with the features that this camera has for under $500. You will be amazed at the sound and the image stabilization. I highly recomend this camera.

My only complaints are that I wish the viewing angle was a little bit wider and I wish there was a way to put a wind screen on the built in mic. It would also be nice to pick what kind of video output this device gives but even high priced cameras don't provide this option. It would just be nice to be able to switch from .MOV to .AVI. These are very minor issues that would in no way stop me from buying this camera again.

 Not Bad but Not Perfect - Aug 20, 2010

The performance of the Kodak Zi8 is just OK. A couple of gripes. First, the sound recording is very sensitive. If you zoom in/out or touch any buttons while recording, you hear click noises during playback. I also do not think that it records sound all that well. Some of the still pictures I have taken are grainy (could be my lack of understanding the more advanced settings). As for the good, I love the portability of it. The video is pretty good but not as good as I expected. Admittedly, I don't really have a good point of reference as to what to expect from similar products. I would recommend trying out several competing models if you can get your hands on them before buying from Amazon since you cannot return it once opened. Or, just buy from Walmart and use their return policy if needed.

 Great HD results with key features that set it appart from crowd - Aug 19, 2010

The balance of features in this camera is very nice, better than the low cost HD pocket cam alternatives to date. I'm using these cameras in research, which requires a few key features:

+External mic input - essential for getting understandable voices in many environments. I use the Olympus ME52 voice mic and a mono-stereo adapter and it works very well, slighly emphasizing the spoken word and de-emphasizing background noise. A good cheap mic that also works well is the jWIN stereo computer mic.
+Range of video resolutions including 1080p, 720p, and, importantly, a wide SD mode (WVGA). I shoot mostly WVGA as this balances quality of the video with manageable file sizes. Much of our research and video work is fast cycle, so the speed and ease with which we can manipulate and edit the long WVGA video files is a big plus. Editing MOV files is also easier than some of the other encoding alternatives chosen by other camera manufacturers, for example, AVCHD with high bit rates.
+Wide angle lens option - essential for many indoor shots. Using the Kodak Zi8 0.45x Wide Angle With Macro (Modification Style) Magnetic Lens + Cronies Micro-Fiber Cleaning Cloth which fits perfectly and does the job at .45x magnification.
+Records to SD cards vs. internal memory - essential for managing multiple days of research back to back. To enhance speed of download and just to ensure smoothest possible recording, I'm using the SanDisk 16gb Extreme 30MB/s Edition SDHC High Performance Card.
+Removable battery - again, needed for shooting long research hours over multiple days. Nice that this battery is also the Fuji NP50, making for broader availability and more charger options. I'm getting 100+ minutes of recording on a full charge and fresh battery.
+VERY easy to use! Menus, controls, ports, all easy to find, intuitive to figure out and use. Essential when introducing new folks to the camera under the pressure of field research.

What I wish for in the next version:

-USB/webcam live video out - would make capturing live video directly to computer much easier.
-Model with Optical image stabilization - Electronic helps, but there is really no comparison to OIS.
-Model with Optical zoom, say 27 (wide) to 100 mm (35 mm equivalent).
-Separate start/stop button from the zoom controller/joystick. Too easy to accidentally start or stop a recording when you don't mean to.
-Option to disable the red tally light - distracting
-Model with Bluetooth audio in/AV out - take in a BlueTooth mic like the Sony ECM-AW3 for even better audio, monitor live audio via bluetooth headphones or headsets, and stream AV to a computer.
-Small clip on external battery to extend run time (without making any ports or the tripod connector unusable).
-Less finicky about which SD cards work for extended recording.
-Headphone jack to monitor audio if the BT bandwidth is taken up with input.

I'd pony up another 50% increase in the price for these improvements!

Additional key accessories besides those above:
+Kodak 1047398 Pocket Video Case - very compact, but fits camera, extra batteries, the external mic and the wide angle lens.
+Kodak Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery/KLIC 7004 10x Kodak Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery/KLIC 7004 or Fuji NP50 and a good, compact travel charger.
+TrekTech TrekPod mono/tri pod - most versatile pod there is, and carrying it with your camera mounted stabilizes shots to a remarkable degree, sort of like a poor person's steadycam

But all in all, a great product for the price, with critically important (to me) features that set it apart. Nicely done! Now lets see the Zi8 *Pro* added to the product line with all the above :-)

 Great Pocket Camera...a must have if you have little kids - Aug 19, 2010

It properly happen to every parent...you wish you can capture different moment your kid has. Yes, you will never forgot the first time they walk...etc. But, with this little camera, I can carry it with me all the time and capture many things that I will normally missed. Yes, Indoor/low night quality is not that good, but I don't need the picture to be perfect to enjoy footage of my kids.

When my first child was born, I already have a Sony Hi8 camcorder sitting around, so I use it to capture his birth and a few special trips. But, the Sony Hi8 camcorder was too big to carry around with me all the time. I got the Zi6 over one years ago, it was wonderful, I am able to capture many moment about my kids. I heard that the indoor/low light get a lot better with Zi8, so I got it last week. It was great. The picture quality improved (a lot) for indoor and outdoor over Zi6.

These are what I love the most...
- small and proable, I have it on me everyday...
- take good quality video for the camera of it size
- removeable SDHC card

These are what I have issue/concern

- I love Zi6 that use AA batteries to power. I use rechargeable AA and I can prechage ton's of them before trips. Also rechargeable AA is relative low cost and record time are very good as well. I can record 2 hour of 720p 60fps in 1 set of 2700mA AA batteries. The AA charger and batteries can be use for other electrics as well. But Zi8 use Li-ion, I end up need to spend an extra $40 for extra KLIC-7004 batteries and charger.

- I have a little concern about the heat, I continues recorded for about 1 hours, the camera was on a tri-pod. When recording was finish and I try to remove the camera from the tripod, I feel the camera was quite warm/hot. Normally I only do shot clips, so this should not be an issue for me. But this is something to keep an eye on.

 It takes amazing HD videos BUT... - Aug 18, 2010

The Kodak Zi8 takes amazing HD videos... if you're getting this device to shoot videos. Don't look elsewhere cuz the picture on this camcorder is smooth and the colors are brilliant. It's better than a gunstyle camcorder like the Sanyo because the device looks like a cellphone and it won't make people around you nervous when you are filming.

That being said, if you are getting this camcorder to also take photos, don't expect much because the photo quality is pretty poor. Because the lens for the camcorder has no real focusing abilities, your photos will come out blurrier than a digital camera. It does have a facial recognition feature so that when you are taking portrait shots, it will attempt to focus on the person of interest. But it will still be blurry. I think for landscape shots in good lighting, you can get away with the photo quality but if you going to take pictures of people, you will be disappointed with it.

I still think this is a great camcorder and people should get it, but the Zi8 is for people who shoot videos who want to be able to take pictures as well. If you're a person who takes pictures and want video shooting capabilities on the side, look for a different device.

 Does what it said it would - Aug 18, 2010

Have used this for some time now and am quite happy with it in proper light.
That means not too dark and preferably no light source behind the subject.

My biggest annoyance is the uncertain overall colour of pictures. Even a hint of a light wall to the side of the subject, may change the tone of the picture
Another weirdness is proportions of the subject change dependent on angle or orientation of the camera. However the speed of the picture taking (down to the hi-speed memory card I purchased too I imagine) makes it possible to take many many photos of the subject and choose the best.

Overall good value for money

 Impressive - Aug 17, 2010

Very easy to use and makes great photos. The video capability a great feature. highly recommend it.

 ok video for the money - Aug 16, 2010

It's a little on the flimsy side, but for the money that is to be expected. I find the center piece hard to use to zoom in/out. When I try to zoom in/out, I either turn it on or off, so that is frustrating. I think the key is not to tap the center button, but rather to hold it. Regardless, the center button is a bit tricky to use to zoom in/out. The positive side is that this little camera takes great quality video in HD 1080 and it is super easy to upload them to your computer.
For so little money it isn't bad.

 Not worth it - Aug 16, 2010

This camera was a gift to us, and while we use it occasionally I would not purchase with my own money. The positives are that it is very portable and it has an external mic plugin, and the USB cable is built in so it makes it easy to connect up to the computer.

The cons are big though. There is no (meaningful) image stabilization, if you are not going to use a tripod all the time the images will be VERY shaky even with your steadiest hand. Second, image quality is terrible in low light, and most videos indoors are terrible. The only setting that creates anything close to quality image is the 1080p. Our five year old Cannon Powershot does much better than this camera at video, so except for being slightly more portable its worse video than most digital cameras. Also the features are limited. It makes the camera easy to use, but it also means it is not much more advanced than a cell phone camera - no zoom, the only real options are four kinds of video quality (which again, you will only use 1080p). Last, if you have a windows machine you can't use any photo editing software (Windows Movie Maker, etc) until you first convert the format - it saves natively to Quicktime format (.MOV). Which means if we take a video with the camera rotated, just to rotate the video 90 degrees takes an hour through a conversion software first, then we can use Windows movie maker. Yes, we could buy software for $100 to edit the Quicktime format - but for that extra $$ you could probably buy a better video camera that supports .AVI or similar.

Save your money on this one, not worth it.

 great product - Aug 15, 2010

its a great camera, records in 1080p at 30 fps and at 720p at 60 fps (my personal fav setting, its great for recording fast motion. its standby battery life is really good and lasts over a month. fits a tri-pod in the bottom. its really easy to use, you dont even need to look at the directions and you will figure out how to work it right away.