Left Over GREY MATTER

Kodak Zi6

It’s about two weeks ago I bought the Kodak Zi6 HD with the view of using this little gem of a camera to shoot video for this blog and other areas on the internet.

I was considering the Flip Meno and also I thought about purchasing much more professional devices, but decided the Zi6 was the one for me. After a bit of research I purchased the Zi6 from Argos and immediately unpacked it. The Zi6 is an incredibly well built, solid hunk of technology compared to the plastic Flip or the bulky Vado.

In every way that the Flip feels cheap, the Zi6 feels expensive. It has a gripable rubberised body, compared with the Flip’s smooth plastic shell. It has a little toggle-style joystick for operating the menus, the kind you used to find on cell-phones before the iPhone changed the mobile world. With a few buttons on the right and left of the little toggle-style joystick which allow you to control things like playback.

Anybody who’s been following or interacting with Kodak over Twitter, Facebook, will know they are working hard to put the Kodak moment back into photography and consumer electronics, which they were once the main innovators; and if recent experiences can be anything to go by they are indeed leading the way in connecting with their consumer and innovating once again.

However long before I bought the Zi6 I had entertained a few considerations that determined my final choice (1) Quality (2) Cost (3) Size (4) Longevity and (5) Spec

Quality

When I considered what I intended to use it for, I knew I needed something that would be worth watching yet would not be difficult to share on the net. After all I’m not making movies or television. However it is important I would able to add HD video to my blog posts from events, conferences and other things of interest without any hassle. With the Zi6 importing into iTunes, then editing in iMovie or Final Cut is a snap. Posting from iMovie 09 to MobileMe, Facebook, YouTube is as simple as clicking of a button.

Cost

Since I intend to use the Zi6 for personal use and corporate social media, so I didn’t see the point of paying for the more expensive video camcorders. Yet until the Flip came out there has not been the option of a real handheld, in your pocket camcorder. Certainly nothing with the ease of use and quality to boot  like the Zi6 for this kinda money.

Size

This was a really big consideration to me. Sure I could get a handheld device, but if you wanted to quietly film a speaker or event, you couldn’t really do this as you would draw too much attention to yourself. Plus it meant another bag for storage and carry around with the accessories. With the pocket type camcorder you can just drop it into your pocket and it weights no more than your mobile phone ever did. So if your wear a suit jacket it fits nicely into your inside pocket and no one is thinking here comes the camera man.

Longevity

This was a difficult one as technology does not stay still for long and I for one like the knowledge that better technology is coming along all the time, even if I can’t afford it all. But with pocket cameras there is no way of knowing how fast the next evolution will be available. But with the Flip and Vado having no slot for memory expansion, that was a major draw back for me. While on the other hand the Kodak Zi6 and Zx1 can have a SDHC 32GB card inserted, although to date I have only used a 4GB as it has been more than enough, but the option is there and so I believe Kodak has been given these two products more longevity than the others.

Spec

I have to say I was drawn to the Zi6 over the Zx1 because it looked more like a camera and not a plastic mobile phone. Also I felt there was no real benefit to me in having it weather proof, so why opt to pay more for that and a smaller screen on the Zx1. The Flip Mino and Creative Vado worked out more expensive with no memory expansion, and they both felt bulky and awkward in the hand. Plus Kodak supply both their pocket cameras with rechargable AA batteries and a battery charger in the box. So if your out of power you can pop in two new AA standard batteries and keep shooting, no waiting on a charge.  Everything I needed was supplied except a SDHC card, however  else including all the cables for connecting to the television came in the box.

Final thoughts

Many people have asked me more questions about the video quality than any other aspect of the device. I have to say if your looking for a professional HD 1080i camera then this is not it, nor are the other pocket camcorders. The reason this works for me, is that I wanted to have a pocket HD camcorder that is not a burden to carry around. Shoots good quality, and is easy to work with afterwards for MobileMe, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitvids, Facebook and of course here at Left Over Grey Matter. In my opinion, with the Zi6 from Kodak available from £90 in the UK for a camera that will record at HD60 720i and works smoothly with iTunes on the Mac, this is the camera worth spending your hard earn cash on.

So if my consideration are similar to your own I highly recommend the Zi6 from Kodak. In fact there is little I can say bad about this little device. In my opinion its great value for money and does exactly what it claims to do. You could say like my iPhone I am a fan of the Zi6. In fact the only thing that would be better is if Apple stuck the Zi6 camera into the iPhone and produced the iPhone HD. Then I would bust a nut trying to get my hands on that perfect marriage of a device. Until then I’m very happy to carry my iPhone 3G and Zi6 everywhere I go.

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