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I have found that the playsport is everything I need in a video camera. I would ignore the critics that harp on the video quality, it is very good. The 720p 60fps setting is best for action and the 1080p is best for clarity. The underwater abilities are great and for the price who can complain about recording in High Def underwater! The only downfall is the battery which so far for me has lasted only about an hour. I have ordered the charger and extra battery off Amazon since I can not find it on ebay for the same price. We also own a Flip, the Playsports screen is bigger. The Flip has better low light performance and battery life though. The Flip does not use proprietary batteries like the Playsport, it uses AA's which I think is better. The Playsport uses SDHC/SD cards that go up to 32gb which I think is better than the Flip's on-board memory. The Playsport is also thinner than the Flip making it very easy to slip in a pocket. The Playsport feels very rugged and actually very dense for its size. Supposedly it is pretty rugged but I would not put that to the test on purpose! I purchased this so that I could take a camera on the beach, boat or pool and not have to constantly protect it from the elements. It is nice to be able to free yourself from the concern of destroying your camera with water and just have fun in the water. I would highly recommend this camera but beware of the battery... EDIT 08/12- I took this camera to Mexico and I knocked open the battery door causing it to fill with water. The instructions say to open it and let it dry out, which I did. I am an electrician and pictured in my head capacitors popping and resistors burning as water rushed across them. Remarkably the camera dried out and is back to full working order! I am not sure if the circuit board has any additional protectant coatings but this is a very robust piece of electronics.Read full review
This is a great camcorder to use for trips, kids, pets, etc., to save your memories. It's relatively inexpensive and simple to run. We have not had any problems with it but do suggest buying an extra battery so if you're away from a charger, you can continue to videotape. (An extra SD card is also a good idea). We used to have a mini-DV camcorder and had it stolen last year so bought a Playsport to videotape our kids. The sound and picture quality are as good or better (if you run it on HD 1080p) as our mini-DV and the videos can be stored on an SD card or on your computer. The still photographs are also good on this camera (though you have to watch the clarity as some of our photos have come out fuzzy).
I'm new to modern video cameras. My last one 20+ years ago used film. So for me this little camera is fantastic. My decision to buy this one was the 'waterproof' feature, as I plan to use it on boating and kayaking trips, and non-waterproof cameras do not work in that environment. The 'filters' features on this unit are great. Took good videos at a recent party with no lighting set up. Very easy to use. CONS- the 'zoom' is slow and only 3X. Needs more. The Kodak software that is included is lousy, but expected that as all Kodak software is worthless. Bought a decent video editor software pack for $40, and all seems to be well now.
I decided to buy the Kodak Zx3 after reading many reviews about waterproof camcorders. I live with my family in Brazil, and during our holidays we usually go to the beach or spa resorts. As I have two very active 8 years old twin boys, recording our moments with a smartphone or non waterproof camcorders was frustrating, as I couldn't get too close to the action (they love to play in the water, as most kids do). Video quality was my first priority when looking for the camcorder. After watching many video samples on YouTube taped with the ZX3, the video quality looked good enough for my needs, including HD video. In a bright day, the video quality is better than any other portable camera that I've used. My other concern was ease of use, since my wife would also use the camera and she's not much of a tech savvy person :) Again, the ZX3 got that covered very well. The interface is intuitive and to start recording you only have to power it on and press the record button. The use underwater is quite good as well. Just search for Kodak ZX3 on YouTube to have a look. There's a design flaw with the microphone though: sometimes the tiny mic hole on the front of the camera gets stuck with water, and then the audio will get a bit sloppy. The only way to avoid that is to shake the camera a bit when taking it out of the water, or by swiping your finger over the hole to make sure there's no water covering it. The battery life is not very good, but since it's replaceable, I just bought a second one to take as a backup in my trips - they're cheap and easy to replace. Overall I'm quite happy with the Kodak ZX3. It's cheap, with exceptional video quality, very easy to use, you can get additional batteries to use as backups/spares and it's easy to expand the memory capacity with SD cards.Read full review
I bought this camera just for quick shooting and the waterproof feature. The cameras quality is EXCELLENT for the price! I would recommend the 8g memory card for it because the MOV files are large. This is a very fun camera for facebook or youtube. The Cons - For me, I like doing alot of movie editing on Photoshop Elements or Windows Movie Maker.Kodak made this camera NOT compatible with any other editing programs except the very basic Multimedia software it comes with. BUT, for an additional $70.00, you can buy their other Arcsoft editing software so you can do half the stuff you could on photoshop. You might think about getting an extra battery too if you plan on using this any longer than 35 minutes to an hour at a time. To be clear though, I do love this camera. Its built well and its the best point and shoot HD camera I have found for this price!Read full review
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