Very basic, underperforming. Not true HD.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Very small, portable and travel friendly. Weatherproof.

Cons: Poor quality, washed out and grainy video.

The Bottom Line: 

Wait until something better comes along unless you don't mind shakey pans and washed out video.

Author's Review
Okay ... so this was not an easy call deciding whether to buy this or not. The price is right for a digital camera that supposedly shoots in HD. This retails for between $100 - $149. I found it at Staples for $119 + $25 gift card. It was at Macy's for $149. Amazon had it for $100. This doesn't seem like a bad price when you consider what they say you will be getting ... a weatherproof camera that shoots HD Video that looks good on a large TV onto SD video cards, which can hold hours of video for under $10. Another great feature is that it uses AA batteries, which can be recharged. So, if you are using this while traveling, you don't have to worry about running out of batteries and plugging it in to recharge. Sounds good until you use this. What you will get is a washed out, grainy video with a lot of shaking and pixilating and a microphone that sounds like Darth Vader because it picks up so much wind sounds.

In actuality, you won't get much better quality than an iphone's video camera, the videos can be extremely shakey when you are in motion, it is useless in indoor environments that are low lighting and perhaps the biggest downside is that it plays files in quicktime format that some versions of Media Player won't recognise. This won't record to mpeg, wmv or other formats that would make transferring it to your computer easier. The software that is included (like most Kodak software included with their digital cameras) takes up a lot of space, slows down your computer and isn't very good.

For those who don't have decent video recorders on their cell phone, this might be a good thing to have because of the size. It is small enough to fit into your pocket and the design is not like a traditional video camera because you hold it sort of in front of you like a handheld video camera. This can add to the shakiness of the video, which has one of the worst image stabilization I have seen on a video camera. If I was going to be doing some traveling internationally ... tourist travel ... I would buy this if I just wanted something basic. However, it will wash out the colors making even the nicest days with bright sun and blue skies look grey and overcast. It also tends to wash out colors like blue or green oceans. I took video of the ocean on a picture perfect day and it came out looking so washed out and almost dreary looking that nobody believed it was shot on a nice day. But for everyday use, I don't know if I can see myself getting enough out of it with all the limitations it has.

Pluses:

-Direct recording to SD cards make it easy to record while traveling because a 4 GB card will take about 2 hours of video, so says the packaging. I find that it will actually hold much less in HD mode. However, this also could be a downside if you consider a 4 GB card will cost around $10 - $15. So it will cost you that much to record yourself walking around a city, unless you reuse the cards.

- Weatherproof ... this is perhaps the biggest plus because digital cameras and cell phones can't be used at the beach because of sand, suntan lotions, water. This camera cannot be submerged ... so you won't be shooting any underwater videos. But, in the rain, it performs pretty well and you can pretty much throw this in your pocket and not worry about getting it wet. Especially if you are going to an amusement park like Disneyworld where you will be going on rides that might get you wet. I will say that the screen being on the back of this and being exposed ... if you put this in your pocket, you will get a lot of scratches, etc. on the screen.

- Durability. To go along with the weatherproof plus, this camera is supposed to be very durable. Obviously, I am not going to intentionally drop this or throw it around ... but it feels solid enough where if you do drop it or throw it somewhere that it will get knocked around a little or put it in your pocket, it will not be too much of an issue. I do notice that the battery cover does slide off a little easy.

- Batteries are a plus for me ... I know for some, the fact that this does not use a battery pack might be a negative, however I look at this as the only reason why I bought this unit instead of the Flip. The advertisements say that you will get 12 hours of record time on 2 AA batteries that are fully charged. I absolutely don't think this is the case. In fact, this might be one of the biggest bold face lies out of any marketing I have seen. Everytime you turn this off and on ... it will take battery power to do so. So, I find its more like 45 minutes in HD mode before you have to recharge or replace the batteries ... if you are turning it off and on a lot. However, you can bring a bunch of AA rechargable batteries with you on a trip, or buy packs of AA in case you run out unexpectedly. With rechargable battery packs, if you run out ... you are pretty much going to have to plug the camera in for hours to charge the battery before you can use it again, which is very hard to do during travel, especially international travel. Don't believe that this will last longer than an hour on new batteries ... because it won't.

-The video quality is good for something hand held like this. The advertising says HD quality but that really would be exaggerating things. This records about the same quality as an iPhone camera would, in my opinion. More on that later in the review. This is NOT, in my opinion HD in any way, shape or form.

- Ease of use ... there are only a few buttons. You don't have to read a lot of manuals to figure out how to use this. It is pretty much point and shoot. However, editing your videos and figuring out how to transfer them to your computer is a whole other story. If you don't have much technological savy, this will be the biggest challenge. More on that later in the review.

Minuses:

- The video comes out shakey. Any movement of the camera will come out exaggerated. This is especially true if you are panning quickly ... or at night. When you are shooting things like buildings with straight lines ... when you move the camera even slightly, it will distort straight lines. You will notice the 'cuts' in the video ... meaning that it is not a smooth pan but a series of little 'cuts' depending on what you are taking video of. Things with patterns or multiple objects like people in a crowd tend to make this more noticeable ... but also things like walking make this more visable. This is probably the biggest minus of this camera. If there was image stabilization, I'd be more likely to say this is a great deal. Also, if you are walking with this, the video looks like it was taken in an earthquake. I seriously have not seen anything like this even on much less expensive videocameras. Each step will make the image shake so you literally cannot use this while walking or it will be unwatchable.

- Images come out washed out. On a clear, sunny day the sky will look grey. I took video of some bright pink flowers against an ocean background on a picture perfect day and everything looks washed out. The images are NOT HD! In fact, I took some video of seagulls on a beach and they looked almost blurry. It also has a tough time keeping an item in the foreground and one in the background in focus. This is the most dissapointing HD images I've seen.

- LOTS of microphone noise ... especially even with a slight wind. I used this on a beach and the wind is so overwhelming I had to turn the sound off on the TV because the wind sounds were so loud.

- The camera doesn't save videos in a simple format that Windows Media Player will recognise. Most Kodak digital cameras that have video don't do this. It is an issue because you may have to download certain programs or convert the files into a mpeg or wmv format in order to play them on computers.

- Lack of USB. As this is a second generation (the first offering was not weatherproof) product ... another change from the previous model is that the previous model had a pop out USB that made connecting it to a computer easy. This one has a slot for a HDMI chord, which can be connected easily to a newer television set. (mine is still fairly old, so this doesn't work with mine as it has a coaxle cable still.) I would much prefer a USB connection connected to the unit.

- Battery life. This, like many Kodak digital cameras takes battery consumption to a new level. You will need to buy rechargable batteries or you'd easily spend more in AA batteries than you paid for the camera in a couple months of use. Kodak cameras are known for this ... but it is complete false advertising to expect anything under an hour's worth of use on new batteries.

- Software is not good. Like many Kodak digital cameras, this comes with software that is huge and will take up a lot of memory and slow down your computer while you are running it. For all the memory it takes and how slow it makes your computer run, you'd think it would be decent, but the software is very limited in what it can do. Most people go on websites and download other software that is better for editing. Kodak is way off the mark with most of their software.

- The design is good because it is small and pretty pocketsized but at the same time, they should have included a bottom that was flatter, so you could prop the camera up on something and take videos of yourself. You will need to buy a tripod for this. Also, if there was a neck strap, it might make it easier than to hold it while walking or driving.

- Forget about taking clear videos in even slightly dark rooms or situations. This camera is terrible at recording in anything other than bright sunlight. Indoors at museums, this will be useless.

- 2X zoom. You may as well not even have a zoom feature. This is a very weak feature. You can hardly notice a difference when zooming in on far away objects. When the camera does zoom, it is blurry.

-No macro lense. Close up of videos are blurry.

- Sometimes when zooming and when background noise is present, there is a snapping sound from microphone. Also, unless you are a few feet away from the person speaking, you won't get good audio. If you are videoing someone speaking in a quiet room, if you are 10 feet away, it will be so soft, you won't be able to hear well.

- No manual focus. Also, you won't be able to adjust lighting and other areas easily.

- 3 megapixel photos aren't very good at all. This isn't a camera you want to take still pictures with, even though this feature allows you to do it.

Overall:

I'd really enjoy using one of these on a vacation to take some videos, however I am not sure about everyday usage. It would be much better if there was a better still camera combination. If you want to take still pictures, you will need to carry a good digital camera and this device for videos. Also, this really could use digital image stabilization and/or night vision or improved performance in dark conditions because the picture is terrible to be considered HD.

For around $100 ... it might be a good way to have a video camera you can use if you don't want to carry a bigger unit. 5 years ago, something like this would have cost $450+ but given the new technology ... it is a fairly good buy. However, I wonder if in a few months or in a year, a better model with more features will come out making this obselete. This is a second generation and improved upon (except for the USB thing) model ... better quality picture than the old model and also smaller screen and weatherproof. Kodak has since come out with an improved model.

This is fun to play around with but unless you are buying it for a specific purpose, like a trip ... you may want to wait a little until one with some better features comes out. A lot of the advertising is, in my opinion, misleading. I don't find it gets 12 hours of battery life on 2 good, full-charged AAs. I don't find it is HD quality ... even though it is better of many of the similar hand held video cameras in the $50 price range. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have bought this unless I was going on a trip and needed a small video camera to put in my pocket.