< Back to The Hood
Kodak Zi8 review / $ drop on Amazon ($149.95)
For anyone wanting to dive into HD pocket camera ownership / use, this camera is full 1080p/30fps capable, with alternative modes of 720p/60fps, 720p/30fps, plain WVGA, or stills. It has an external audio mic jack, very limited internal memory but has a 32GB SDHC card slot, basic micro/macro focus toggle switch, 2 A/V output ports ... 1 with a supplied HDMI cable.
Amazon.com Listing: Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera (Black) NEWEST MODEL
I purchased one of these (firmware 1.01) in Sept. 2009. My two chief complaints were, which seem to largely have been addressed in the 1.06 firmware upgrade:
1. It's focusing mechanism. There are/were about 15 focus settings from full in to full out. If you press(ed) and held the control button up (zoom in) / down (zoom out), you might observe it adjust to the next position, pause slightly, then move to the next one, pause, etc.
It made it all the more important if you want better footage to pick/choose/frame/shoot and/or edit your scenes such that you don't have to change/capture those changes in focus while recording.
The "jerky" zoom effect did go away post-upgrade, but I notice that it adjusts quickly and it's rate of adjustment is not changeable once the button (up/down) is "held" in place long enough. So, just be careful not to hold it too long and avoid zooming in too far and your footage should be pretty good ... which most would tell you is best anyway.
2. Pre-firmware upgrade, it was possible to hear noice / feedback (slight hum) while recording using the internal mic and slight changes in that noise when you change the zoom in/out. I assume this will not be a factor if you use the an external mic jack, but I did not test that. After the upgrade I noticed this noise was lessened/gone, but again, I didn't thoroghly test / compare it before performing the software update.
Another annoying factor is the SunPak $40 0.5X wide angle lens hack I tried using has been knocked off and reglued back on 3 times. Granted, this is not Kodak's fault, but it is something I mention as a possible caution to others. I don't think the knocks that caused mine to come off were all that hard, but given my experience so far, I very likely won't be externally mounting the camera (with wide-angle lens hack attached) to a car for the purposes of capturing driving footage, such as with example pics I've seen of a Flip Mino mounted to a vehicle's rear view mirror.
Further, other firmware upgrade documentation references improved video quality in low light conditions. It is a full AWB (auto white balance) device with only 3 fixed exposure settings. Brief pre- and post-upgrade observations on my device suggest low light capability is improved, but I think there continues to the the strong possibility of window washout on interior footage taken from this camera.
Overall, it's a nice and easy to use device and captures good footage ... taking better video than stills. And it's my sense that you might generally get better stills from an "export to frame" feature in your video editing software from the video footage itself over the native stills taken from the device.
Gary, We have done hundreds of hacks(gluing) of the Sunpak lens now and never had one fail in fact an agent dropped their camera and smashed it up pretty nicely but the lens adapter still stayed attached.
However, with that said let me go over our process......we take the lens out of the package and screw the correct adapter ring on then we take that an put it into a cheap plastic clamp from Walmart http://images.toolspot.co.uk/Clamps/2Pc%20612in%20Black%20Pastic%20Clamp.jpg then just secure the hand part in a bench vise or C clamp or whatever else you can salvage up so that now the lens adapters male threads are in a position to quickly hacksaw them off. Once this is done simply unscrew the now flat adapter ring and lightly dust off all the metal shavings. We only apply the glue on the adapter ring then lightly push down on the camera and a little twist back and forth to insure proper bonding.
Now just take "Plumbers Goop" or "Shoe Goo"(same product different branding) and attach this new flat surface to the camera......it is bombproof! I bring them caving....throw them all over the place...probaly have 3 or 4 cameras laying around here that get tossed in the caving bin or thrown in a drawer or used as a toy by the kid and never had an adapter come off.
Plumbers Goop is the wonder adhesive :)
I have some more interesting hacks to publish soon.
Mark Passerby, HDHat.com
