I recently bought a Kodak Zi8 pocket video camera and used it seriously for the first time today.
It’s small and light, about the size of a mobile phone, but slightly thicker.
Compared with other cameras I’ve used, the integrated image stabilisation is an excellent feature, making the image quality much sharper.
There are different video quality settings: 720p HD at 60 fps or 1080p HD at 30 fps.
It comes with 128MB internal memory, which is nothing really, so I inserted a 16GB SD card. The camera records about 20 minutes per 1 GB at 720p HD at 30 fps.
Features include an external microphone jack and built-in USB arm.
The price was about A$250, which along with the compact size makes it very attractive for web video in particular.
I found the setup and usage very intuitive, especially for someone like me who has limited experience with video cameras.
I’m experimenting with this for its multimedia news reporting potential.
Today I recorded part of the fire services parade in Mount Gambier and uploaded the clip to YouTube.
I then embedded the clip into The Border Watch website.
Here’s how it looks and sounds on YouTube, including commentary by James, aged 5:
These articles might be of interest:
Excellent picture quality. I’m impressed.
The camera does an incredible job.
(I clicked the video before reading the full text. For the first five seconds or so I thought you were shooting emergency vehicles on the way to what must have been a horrific accident … that nobody was in a particular hurry to get to.)