Kodak Zi8

Full Review

Choices are limited for those who are looking for pocket camcorders that shoot HD videos. But the latest from Kodak, the Zi8 is just what the market needs with its top of the line offerings. With so many features at an affordable price point, there is a lot to like about this miniscule HD camcorder.

Design & Features
The Kodak Zi8 has dimensions of 2.4 × 4.5 × 0.9 inches, and is compact enough to fit in your jeans pocket. Weighing just 110g, the Zi8 is light to carry around.  Looks wise, it reminds me of the old Nokia N91 which was bulky and stout. Its glossy finish will make investing in a rubber case a good move as fingerprints and smudges will be all over the Kodak Zi8's body. The build quality is decent but it’s not as sturdy as the Creative Vado HD which has a rubberized body finish. The front has a 2.5-inch LCD which is bright and sharp, and it has good viewing angles. Below the screen is a four-direction joystick flanked by narrow strips of buttons (menu, delete, recording and playback). There is also a flexible USB connector conveniently hidden at the base which also has a tripod mount. The top has a switch for changing focusing modes.

The Zi8 is the most feature-packed pocket camcorder in the current market. It shoots full HD (1080p) while its competitors are still touting their 720p recording feature. It has digital image stabilization, HDMI output so that you can directly connect it to an HDTV. It has a removable Li-ion battery and it can charge either via USB or using the bundled AC adapter. It also has external stereo microphone support for better audio recording. Unfortunately, there is only 20 MB of onboard memory and no memory card is included in the package.
Apart from shooting in full HD (1920x1080p) at 30fps, there are three other video modes to choose from (720p at 60fps, 720p at 30 fps and WVGA). It also captures still pictures using the integrated 1/2.5-inch 5MP CMOS sensor.  Apart from that, it has 5x digital zoom, Face Detection and macro modes which can easily be selected using the toggle switch at the top.

Performance
The Zi8 took 2 seconds to get ready to shoot after a restart. Loaded with our 8GB Sandisk SDHC, two minutes of video recorded in full HD filled 160MB of space while 720p at 30fps of the same length took up around 100MB. Operating speed was smooth; there was no noticeable delay--be it the video playback or menu navigation. Since it uses a fixed focus lens, the subject needs to be in the focus range which is from 100 cm to infinity in normal mode and 15cm or more for macro mode. We just wished the lens used auto-focus instead. The macro mode inclusion for close up video recording is commendable though. One problem here is the clicking sound made by the macro toggling switch which is also captured in the video footage. This is a little flaw in the hardware design but loud enough to be heard.

Videos captured in full HD look great with good color saturation, decent details and sharpness. Indoor clips weren’t devoid of noise but were still good enough for a pocket camcorder. Despite having digital image stabilization, it took a lot of effort to capture a smooth video without mounting the camera on the tripod. This is common in pocket camcorders anyway, so it is best to use either tripod or keep the hands still with a support to capture decent video footage. Clips recorded at 30fps looked a bit choppy  but thanks to the inclusion of 720p at 60fps, the Zi8 let us record many decent videos which were way better than what we captured with the Creative Vado HD.

The clips were well exposed and fine colors with just a hint of noise under good lighting. The Auto white balance also worked admirably but a manual option would have been much better. Audio captured was quite clear using the onboard mono microphone but for better audio you can opt for stereo microphone as well. Using its HDMI out, I connected the Zi8 to the 42-inch Philips LCD TV,  the full HD video looked grainy and noise in low light shots was visible. But for a pocket camcorder, it was quite decent. There were fair amount of details and colors.  Still images captured were in par with images captured from a 5MP camera phone but nothing extraordinary.

The included Arcsoft MediaImpression Software let us import the recorded clips to PC, edit the videos and upload it to sites like YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo.  convenient and handy. It is quite handy and it worked flawlessly. The setup file for this program came preloaded in the camcorder internal memory so that we can install it directly to a PC once the camcorder is plugged in. Overall, at Rs.9,999, the Kodak Zi8 is a decent pocket camcorder to own if you need to shoot full HD video but can't afford to carry anything bigger than a cellphone.

Bottom Line

A snappy pocket camcorder loaded with handful of features to let you shoot good looking full HD video.