Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Video Camera

Review by Adam Dachis for Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Video Camera
Rating:
The Zi6 is a clear competitor for the Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder (and now the Flip Video Mino Series Camcorder). It has a USB arm that swings out, just as the Flip Video pioneered. It uses two AA batteries and has a very similar form factor. But along with the copycat vibe, Kodak’s managed to do what other competitors (such as RCA) have pretty much failed to do. That is, they took a great idea like the Flip Video and made some excellent improvements.

The most notable improvement is the addition of HD video. It’s not Full HD (1080p), but my opinion is that people only want that because it’s advertised as better. And to be honest, a 1080p picture is very capable of being a much better picture, however when it comes to consumer camcorders (especially cheap ones like this) it’s more of a bother than anything. Most computers, even some of the newest, have some difficult playing back, or at least importing, 1080p video. It’s a lot of data and if you don’t have a 23 or 24 inch monitor you probably don’t have the adequate resolution to even watch it on your machine. Your TV may be able to handle it, but remember that these small camcorders must have small sensors. Packing a huge HD picture into a small sensor is tough. Even 720p doesn’t look that good when the sensors are tiny. Here, my point is, don’t discard the Zi6 because it records 720p video. It’s a blessing, I promise.

That said, the picture quality still isn’t great. It isn’t bad either. It’s better than what you’d expect from a device this tiny but it does suffer from some other issues that make the better-than-expected picture quality lose it’s edge. For example, there is no stabilizer on this camcorder. That’s not the sort of thing you come to expect with a cheap handheld, but it can be a problem when walking around or recording while on a moving vehicle. Generally it wouldn’t be all that bad, but the Zi6 uses a sensor reminiscent of cell phone cameras. Along with other drawbacks I’ll get to shortly, the picture wobbles the way many a cheap CMOS sensor does. Heavy motion recorded with this device can be a little hard to watch. Additionally, low light performance is bad. It never gets all too grainy but it does get blurry. In addition to the blur I can guess is due to a wide aperture and a poor auto-focus unit, the Zi6 reduces it’s shutter speed greatly to compensate for the lack of light. This produces an exceptional amount of motion blur that is very undesirable and pretty much makes the device useless in such spaces. All the other drawbacks are tolerable for a camcorder of this class, but the motion blur makes me think iPhone camera. In fact, the video the Zi6 produces looks very much like photos from the iPhone.

But enough bad news. I don’t want to give the Zi6 a bad reputation because there is a lot it does very well. When you’re not wobbling around in the dark, the picture quality is surprisingly sharp. Highlights get blown out at times, but for the most part you can get a pretty nice picture from the device. Compression artifacts are to be expected and are certainly present, but they’re not as bad as you may think. They’re certainly more significant than, say, what you’d get with a Sanyo Xacti, but it’s nothing too bad. Chances are home videographers won’t even know. If you’d like to see for yourself, however, I’ve taken some samples and posted them in a link at the end of this review.

The feature set on the Zi6 is where the device really shines. HD video is certainly the selling point, but there are some delightful little surprises I wasn’t aware of until the camcorder arrived. I’ll start with the most useless so we can end on a good note. The camcorder actually sports a small zoom. It’s digital zoom, though, and therefore completely useless in my book. I would have preferred they left it out entirely. The biggest surprise for me was macro focus. I’m not sure why Kodak thought to put it in a camcorder of this class, but it’s certainly welcome. You have to get very close for it to work, but it’s as easy as flipping a switch and getting yourself too close for comfort. While this isn’t really a feature, Kodak’s USB arm release is a button rather than a sliding switch (which you’ll find on the Flip). I didn’t think I’d ever have a preference for a USB arm-activating button but Kodak made it so comfortable and easy that I’ve been won over. Another wonderful feature is Kodak’s approach to batteries with the Zi6. AA batteries are great because you can take a bunch and pick them up just about anywhere. The problem is that they’re disposable. You could buy rechargeable batteries, but most people don’t. Kodak saves you the trouble by providing you with two rechargeable AA batteries and a miniature charging station that plugs directly into the wall without a cord. It’s smaller than most charging options, doesn’t ruin your vacation if you leave it at home, and is environmentally friendly. The only thing that could make things any better would be the option to charge the batteries in the camcorder via USB. Of course, you can always pick up a pair of USB Cell AA Batteries and really make things easy for yourself.

While Kodak gives you a miniscule amount of internal memory (128MB), even that memory is mostly eaten up by the included software leaving you only 30MB of recording space (which translates to about 30 seconds of video). Clearly this isn’t enough and you’ll need to buy an SD or SDHC memory card to cope. Personally, I prefer the option to use external media because it’s endlessly expandable and easy to replace. Nonetheless, when you get the camcorder out of the box and you can’t record it’s a little disappointing. Luckily I have an SD card graveyard, and I believe most people are used to buying additional cards, but with the Flip (and it’s other competitors) setting a precedent for built-in memory I believe Kodak made the wrong choice. What would I have done? I would have included a 2GB SD card. It’s cheap, gives you approximately 30 minutes of recording time and you’re all set to go out of the box. Nonetheless, this is a small oversight and hopefully most people will either have a spare SD/SDHC card or know to order one when purchasing the camcorder.

One other nice little feature is the mode selection. The Zi6 is capable of not only standard 720p recording but also 720p at 60 frames per second. In addition, you can record in VGA (480p) as well as take photos. While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the photo mode, as the quality is pretty bad and there is option for using a flash in low light situations, it’s nice to know it’s there if needed. VGA is also nice if you need space or you just don’t care about HD resolution for the moment. While I don’t ever see myself using anything but the standard 720p mode, the other options are welcome additions as they could very well come in handy in certain situations.

Once you get down to recording, however, the camcorder is a breeze to use. If you’re actually planning on using digital zoom it’s very simple. You can simply push up or down to move forward or back (respectively). Changing modes is also very easy. Left or right shifts between HD, HD at 60 frames per second, VGA and photo modes. One of the unfortunate realities of the Zi6 is the inability to use the camcorder’s playback features without tethering it to a television. Playback is very simple as well, but it must be plugged into a TV with one of the included cables. This doesn’t bother me at all, as I could care less about watching videos on the camcorder, but I think I may be alone there. Many people like to see what they just shot, or their subjects do, and it’s just not possible with the Zi6 as far as I can tell. Getting back to recording, however, there is really only one drawback and that is the screen. It’s a decent screen and does fine indoors, but in heavy sunlight it’s very difficult to see. The reflective plastic over it doesn’t help matters as you may end up unable to even look at the dim screen in the first place if the sun catches the wrong spot and hits you in the eye. Nonetheless, with this sort of camcorder you generally understand what you’re capturing without seeing the screen. It tends to record just about everything in front of itself as the lens is fairly wide.

Another minor but understandable drawback brings us to post production, if you will. The video you take with this camcorder doesn’t work with Kodak’s own multimedia digital frames. While this seems kind of silly and a bit of an oversight, the frames weren’t designed to handle HD video. They top out at 480p. The unfortunate part is that the video specifications (in detail) for these frames are very hard to come by and many people with a frame and the Zi6 might expect a good partnership. You can put your video on the frame, but you’ll have to convert it first. This will be, for most people, too much effort. Converting video isn’t exactly the easiest and fastest thing, but Kodak’s video codec support on the frame is limited and highly specific so you may find yourself trying again and again to get it just right.

Being a Mac user I haven’t had a chance to try the included software. If I ran Windows I would appreciate how Kodak created a separate partition on the Zi6′s flash storage to hold the software installation. Software being included on the camcorder isn’t new to Flip owners, but the partition is. It’s a welcome addition as it separates your ephemeral videos and photos from the software that you’ll probably want to keep. To me, it’s a nuisance as it’s another drive I have to eject before removing the camcorder and I won’t ever use the software, but nonetheless I can appreciate Kodak’s intentions and believe it was the right move to make. While I haven’t used the included software it seems fairly simple in that it helps you upload to YouTube and make minor edits. I would expect major similarities to the software included with the Flip. On a PC this may be welcome but on a Mac I would imagine people will be using this camcorder with iMovie. Unlike the Flip, the clips will just import and that is something Flip owners have wanted since the camcorder’s introduction.

While I was impressed with Kodak’s inclusion of rechargeable batteries and charging station, they’re not particularly generous with accessories. For the price you can’t really expect to much, but along with an included SD card they could have included a software installation disc in case you did, in fact, delete the software off the camcorder or simply want a backup. These are both trivial things and minor criticisms, but they’re also both very cheap and wouldn’t have affected Kodak’s margins terribly. Nonetheless, you do get most of what you need. Though not for long, you can use the camcorder out of the box and the software is easily accessible. You get both kinds of AV cables (standard and HD), the batteries and charging station, a very simple and easy but overly brief manual, and a carrying case. It’s a little bit above satisfactory.

In fact, that’s what I’d call the Zi6 as a whole: “a little bit above satisfactory.” Either that or a glorified cell phone camcorder on steroids. It’s a great little device for the money, but I’d rather see it priced at $200 and see a nicer sensor in the device. If you’re in the YouTube demographic and are interested in HD (which is almost a contradiction, but I won’t go there), this camera is for you. Kodak’s betting on it.

I’ve put together some sample footage and photos you can download here (go to the bottom of the page for the link):

http://honestbydesign.com/2008/8/16/kodak-zi6-stops-in-early-and-gets-reviewed