Product Review:

Kodak Zx1 Portable HD Video Camera

By Jason Gillard

Today I will be reviewing the Kodak ZX1.  The Kodak ZX1 is a pocket video camera that can record in HD. First let's take a look at the specs.  The Kodak ZX1 can record 720p HD video at 60fps.  It is also splash and dirt resistant so it's perfect at the beach or pretty much anywhere you want to take it.  It has a built in HDMI slot so you can connect it directly to your HD TV.  It has an SD card slot so you could potentially record up to 10 hours of HD video with a 32g SD card.  The camera has some built in memory but really not enough to record anything longer than 30 seconds.  The built in memory also houses the software for editing your creations.  This software is windows only, but if you're on a mac you can import the videos directly into iMovie since the recording format is H.264.  The camera has a 2.0 inch LCD on the back for viewing your video.  The camera can also take still shots at 3.0 mega pixels.  The camera takes 2 AA batteries.  Kodak includes 2 Pre-Charged Ni-MH batteries with a charger, an HDMI cable, an AV cable, a USB cable in the box (which is a nice bonus) and a camera pouch.

With this review I intend to give you my impressions of the camera.  I will also be taking some HD video in a variety of light conditions to give you an idea of the quality of picture.  My first impressions of the camera was how tiny it was.  It reminded me a lot of cell phone with it's design.  On the front of the camera you can see the lens and the batteries are accessible from here as well.  In the top left hand corner is a mic and beside that is a red light to show you it's recording.  On the rear of the camera it feels like a brushed aluminum finish with rubber buttons that are raised so you can feel them. This will be useful if you can't see what you're pressing, since each button as a distinct feel.  There is a button for deleting something you have captured, and there is a button for stopping playback or recording.  There is also a button for reviewing what you have captured and this button also allows you to watch it back in slow motion.  There is a dedicated button to switch you back to record mode after you have been reviewing your captures.  In the middle there is a 4-way control button that allows you to control a number of features such as changing the recording mode or cycling through videos.  This also allows you to adjust the volume while in the review mode.

After opening the box and taking out all the accessories, I headed to the store to buy an SDHC card.  I purchased a 8gig card from Adata.  The SD card slot is located on the side of the camera.  I mentioned that the camera is splash and dirt resistant.  Each port on the camera is covered by a rubber plug that keeps foreign materials out of the ports.  After turning on the camera I was read to shoot some video.  I took a short video of my daughters playing inside.  The camera is so simple to use, all you do is press the middle button to start recording and press it again to stop recording.  It's that simple!  I hooked the camera up to the USB port on my Macbook and once the camera showed up on the desktop I pulled the video off to view it.  When I played the video I was not that impressed.  It looked soft and slightly pixalated in sections.  After going back and looking at the manual I realized the camera was in VGA mode.  After realizing that I switched it to the HD mode at 60fps and proceeded to shoot a similar video.  Boy was I shocked! The quality was 100 times better.  So just be aware that the camera seems to default to the VGA recording mode when shipped from the factory.

Later that day I took the camera with me as we took our kids to the Maple Sugar Bush.  While there I proceeded to take a variety of videos.  It was a sunny day with lots of light.  The camera did a great job capturing images with great clarity.  Detail was also superb.  There was a small petting zoo there and I took some videos of the animals.  I could easily make out individual hairs on the animals.  Camera shake is going to be a problem as there seems to be no type of image stabilization on the camera.  I found that if I was careful with what I was filming it wasn't too bad.  But you have to keep in mind that you have to be steady with the camera or use software that will allow you to stabilize the image.

Kodak claims that the camera can take good video in low light.  I wish I could report that this is the case.  In my tests with the camera, low light shots were ok.  But they tend to lose the sharpness that is present in outdoor shots with sufficient lighting.  I took the camera with me to the Toronto Zoo.  While I was there I took some video of some Jelly Fish.  These were in a dark case with light illuminating just the Jelly Fish.  The video of this will be posted below.  You can see that there is grain and artifacts that are introduced into the picture.   I also took some video of a Salt Water aquarium while I was there.  This video will be posted below as well.  This video was shot through glass, but again was taken with low light.  The video almost looks washed out.  So in my tests low light performance was not good.