Rating:

Here’s what’s BEST about camera:

1) Sharp pictures with that wonderful Kodak vibrant exposure — every one looks so warm and healthy.

2) 10X optical zoom is incredible

3) Camera has a “stage” scene that takes incredible photos of people on stage (I took some in off Broadway play) and camera makes no noise and no flash so no bother to the performers. If you have a kid in plays — this camera is worth the price for that alone.

4) Has a completely manual setting where you can independently set shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure and it will warn you in yellow if your settings do not jive with eachother

5) Has a “High ISO” scene that takes incredible photos indoors in low light. I took some wonderful shots at an indoor basketball game where I was sitting 20 rows up off floor and zoomed in close to the foul shooter and pictures were great. (Note disable the flash or you’ll miss an action shot – flash won’t reach that far anyway).

6) In display mode, has an “i” information button that tells you all the settings the camera chose even in scene or auto mode, so you can see what the shutter speed, aperture, iso, and exposure was for a particular shot and learn from it.

7) Takes AA batteries which is super convenient. Batteries last days as long as you use good rechargeable batteries. Alkalines will work but not last as long. I bought a 15 minute Energizer charger with batteries.

Super easy to operate. Very intuitive – you won’t need to open the manual.

9) Camera has does very well in minimizing noise. Check the online professional reviews and you will see the difference between this and the competition.

Here’s what could be better:

1) This is not a sexy camera. A little clunky looking but fits well in your hand. Size tradeoff worth it for the 10x zoom

2) Wish it had an eye finder for two reasons. Can be tough to see in bright sun. You may have to use one hand to shield the screen and the other to shoot. Also would be nice to have eye finder for the stage setting so audience at the play don’t have to be bothered by the glowing screen as you take the pic (even though no flash or noise on that setting).

3) I find putting the camera in P mode takes better photos than the smart capture mode, where the camera chooses a scene or settings based on what it sees. I took a picture of my kids playing wii video game in basement on both settings and the smart capture had some noise, whereas in the P mode where I left ISO in auto and let the camera choose everything else was noise free.

4) The camera’s find faces function is just so so, sometimes finding a few faces and not all. I found that if I want everyone pin point sharp in a group photo, hit the macro flower button on top of the camera to select Landscape (mountains icon appears), which gave me the most depth of field and everyone came out sharp – a must do for shots of people at a table where some close, some far.

Note: The Kodak Z950 is the same camera, but a little smaller in size, 12mp as opposed to 10mp, same 10x opticle zoom, but proprietary lithium battery, and Schneider lens. It is a bit more expensive so if you want smaller size and proprietary battery (plan another $30 for extra battery and $40 is you want external charger), then try that one.

Bottom line this is a great camera with stupendous optical zoom for a bargain basement price compared to the competetion. I gave it only a 3 star for portability as it is a little clunky compared to say the Panasonic Lumix with similar zoom. It’s super easy to operate, but allows you many manual controls and a stage scene I’ve never seen on another camera. Can’t wait for the kids’ plays!

Rating:

I recorded an event for about 45 minutes, and after I was through, I looked back at the camera. The record light was still on, the screen still showing a live preview, but the recorded time number had stopped at about 37 minutes. All the controls were unresponsive. Not even the power button worked. After about 5 minutes, I had no choice but to remove the battery to shut the camera off. I turned it back on, and was shown an exclamation point where the video I had just shot was. The video would not play. I removed the 8gb SD card and plugged it directly into my computer, and the file size of the last video shot was only 67MB, not nearly high enough for 37 minutes of 720p @ 60frames per second. I am still unable to get even that fragment to play.

Color me heart-broken.

As I said, I hope this is not a sign of a larger, or more common, problem. But until I hear otherwise, I wouldn’t use this camera when you really, really want to make sure you end up with a copy of the video (wedding, birthday, mat mitzvah, divorce, whatever).

Rating:

* Picture quality is fantastic. I’ve uploaded some things to Youtube, and the picture was crystal clear.

* Sound – The mic picked up a nice variety of sounds from office sounds (people typing,etc) to a loud surprise party with clarity.

* Size – It’s really small. It’s wide and flat. Fits in my jeans pocket and in my shirt pocket as well.

* Battery – I’m waiting to see how long it lasts, but it charged in around an hour and 45 minutes when plugged in to the wall.

* Software – I’m pretty impressed. It’s simple but it does pretty much what I’ll need it to do. I spent around 30 minutes messing around with it. The video uploaded quickly.It allowed for basic editing, color correction and enhancement,etc. It allows direct upload to Facebook,Youtube,Twitter,and Vimeo.

* Build Quality – It’s sturdy. Not heavy but definitely “solid”. I like the rubberized surface, I can imagine it will be easier to hold when it’s wet. I’m very excited to be able to film my daughter swimming from inside the pool!

We own a traditional video camera but it’s rarely used because it’s big and bulky, the battery life stinks, and making it work with the computer is almost impossible. The Kodak is a natural companion for the diaper bag and I look forward to recording many future memories with it.

The closest to a negative may just be due to the format itself. I used the Kodak software and burned a standard def dvd from a 1080p source and the video looked awful. Very “blocky”. I assumed it would at least be “dvd quality” but it’s barely VHS. Of course, I could just be doing something wrong. If I figure it out, I’ll revise this review!

Other than that issue, I love this thing! The other camera is going to be sold soon, this is all we need!

Rating:

This camera takes 5MP HD Stills, so now I have a camera that can take video and stills on demand wet or dry. I have other camera’s in the same category like Flip and Samsung both do not compare, even at 720p 60 frames per second. $150.00 pricetag is also very affordable.

Easy to carry, very user friendly to move files from the camera to the computer or directly to Youtube. Nightvision would be nice but most of my recordings will be in Daylight. Bottom line great camera and I have no cons to talk about.

Rating:

The 5.3MP still photos are fairly good, not to bad, but remember this is a video camera first

a dedicated 5MP still photo camera will take much better photos, but again hey these aren’t to shabby it just depends on what your trying to do. Quick shots here and there…excellent and better than any cell phone I’ve had. At a wedding where you want crystal clear and sharp photos….well not so much.

The HD video camera is pretty nice, easy to use and I was just stunned at the digital zoom.

It actually works and works well, not to blocky or grainy…more so at the extreme 4x level but at 2x to about 3x the camera compensated nicely and actually cleared up the image…not sure how they do it, but they do.

As others have noted, with rapid movement of the camera you will notice your image jumps or shakes.

Now remember what I told you to keep in mind $149. Yes it does have that little “feature”, but it’s not

a $299 video camera with a higher quality lens and CCD. Slow down, don’t go from left to right or up and

down at 100MPH and it’s not bad. Moving images within the video are fine, it’s just if you move the camera

itself very rapidly you will notice it.

I tried the 3 HD video modes, and it also has a standard resolution mode as well that I did not try.

I compared all 3 with and with out the image stabilization on which did not seem to improve or degrade the

image at all.

At 720p 30 fps – Not to bad, noticed the jumpyness or shakyness of the image as I moved left to right in my test,

but slow down and it’s not to bad.

At 720p 60 fps – Now were getting better, really not bad at all, again not $300 video camera good, but

pretty darn nice, and clearer and the shakyness of the video smoothed out a bunch, again slow down in your

movements for best quality.

At 1080p 30fps – Nice quality…really nice, but the jumpyness of the video is back, you have to take it a bit

slower but nice quality all in all.

I did not try the underwater mode, but assume it works as advertised everything else has so far.

Now I throughly loved the fact that there are no CD’s with this camera, nothing in the box to load.

You simply plug in the provided USB cable and the software…every bit of it and all the drivers you need for

the camera are built right in and install on your PC from the camera…this is an excellent feature, I always

misplace the CD’s and have to download from the website anyhow.

Speaking of downloading from the website … this camera is flash upgradeable with new firmware I went to the

Kodak website and found that there was an upgrade I could download to correct a few minor anomalies that they

found…cool so hopefully this camera gets even more corrections in the near future and maybe a feature update

someday?

I also loved the fact that ALL the cables came with the camera. HDMI, USB, and Component video cables…

All of them… they can charge you at least $10 for each individual cable, but they give them to you with

the camera for $149, now how great is that ?!?!

As at least one other reviewer has said, yes – there is no case or protective sleeve that comes with the camera,

but I would take the cables over a case anyday, you know what ever they included it wouldn’t be what you wanted.

Either they gave you a sleeve and you wanted a case for your accessories or they gave you a case and you didn’t

want to carry all the accessories so you go out and buy yourself a protective sleeve or pouch. So just go get what you want …

I myself purchased the Kodak Case that Amazon recommended to me …. also a nice purchase, perfect size not to big,

not to small and has a little accessory area that you can carry one of the cables and a spare battery if you need.

This camera feels rugged and well built. It’s easy to use, lots of features like image stabilization and face

tracking, it comes with all the cables, free software that’s always with you in the camera, and costs only $149.

So not to bad at all, and my conclusion is this if your looking for a sharp and crisp still photo camera drop the

$100 just for that and buy one, if your looking for a excellent video quality camera drop the $300 just for that

and buy one. But….If your looking for a pretty nice, simple and decent quality camera that does it all and

is rugged enough to go out in the rain or underwater drop $149 and buy this one.

I’ve included a video I compiled and edited down to show the different resolutions and the photos. Keep in mind

that while your viewing that this is an flv file and the actual quality that the camera will give you will be

much higher than what I was able to upload to Amazon, meaning you’ll get better quality than what you see on here.