Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camcorder Review
KODAK Zi6 HD Pocket Camcorder
Kodak has joined the list of the ultra small and ultra budget camcorders that are developed basically for loading your favourite clips over the internet. Some of the most famous of this variety is the flip ultra which was a massive success and Creative‘s Vado, which enjoyed mediocre success. There are a lot of camcorders developed by the other companies to copy them, and have failed to produce quality products. Here, we review the Kodak Zi6 which also is an ultra small and ultra budget camcorder but has come up as a quality product.
Kodak has taken an extra step by making it not only a normal camcorder but also a one that can record in HD. The results seem to be surprisingly good and when played TV or PC, the results seem to beat that of the flip. Initially youtube did not support HD formats, but now that it supports, this is going to be real fun.
Petite camcorder:
Form-factor of the device is very important as we all know. This Digital Camcorder is very much portable, having dimensions as just 114 x 64 x 23.5mm and weighs just 107 grams.
Front design:
The front of the device looks like the back of any camera mobile phone, with just the fixed f/2.8lens, release trigger button and a speaker. The picture below might make you also think the same way. The absence of a filter thread for wide angle lens was not a wise move by Kodak. When the release trigger button for the USB is pressed, the USB pops from the left of the device. Below the lens, there is a very tiny grill that covers the microphone and further down, towards the right end is a playback speaker. Right on the top of the camcorder is the power switch. The camcorder is very slim and sleek but it does not have a very good built quality as it might break on mishandling.
Blackberry-like rear design:
Talking about the rear, it looks just like the front of a Blackberry mobile phone, with just the keyboard missing, which has an infamous form-factor. Kodak Zi6 Pocket Sized Camcorder has an 2.4” LCD display whose resolution is not known. This display size is small, but you cannot expect a larger screen for such a small ultra portable camcorder. For the sake of navigation, there is a wheel pad with a centre joystick. It is well placed for easy reach of the thumb. This Mini camcorder has no manual control or interfaces, apart from the main navigational pad, there are only two buttons on the either side. The one on the left is used to stop the playback or delete any clip and the one on the right is used to toggle between the record and playback modes.
Sides with ports for connectivity and storage:
The sides of the Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camera feels very cheap. The top of the right side has a sliding switch that is used to swap the lens between the tele and macro focal settings. Right below that is the SD/SDHD memory card slot, which is covered by a strip of hard plastic, and next to that is the place where the battery sits. The good news is that this port feels a bit sturdy and not like the memory card slot which you will have to handle extremely carefully. The left side of the Kodak Zi6 has all the connectivity stuff. On the top is the pop-out USB arm. This primary connection has two movements, the USB pops out in 90 degree angle and when you try to push it back, the USB‘s connection point first tucks into the surrounding sleeve and then embeds itself fully into the camcorder.
An incredibly useful feature that Kodak Zi6 High Definition Camcorder has is that you can place the camcorder to be placed on a flat surface and made to stand straight. This was one of the features that all the other camcorders of this type were missing. The joystick is of good quality but the ports are really of awful quality.
No menu and no manual controls:
There is no menu in Kodak Zi6 to talk about. To toggle between the video and the still camera mode, you should move the joystick left and right. that’s it!
Since everything seems to be automatic, there are simply no options for you if you do not like the way your picture looks. In short, there is no manual control except for the 2x digital zoom. Zooming can be done by moving the joystick to and fro. The smoothness with which the cam Zooms has a very substantial effect over the quality of the video. The quality of zoom increases with the decrease in the frame rate ie, best in VGA, good in HD and just satisfactory in HD60. Since the lens does not move, there is no optical zoom available. The zoom scale appears on the right edge of the screen.
There is no manual focus for the above mentioned reason, no manual exposure or aperture setting, no shutter speed control, no gain control and there are no other manual controls in Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Camcorder. Especially the Zi6 suffers a lot without manual control for white balance.
Press that button in the right and press the one on the left to delete. Fast forward and rewind is done by pressing the joystick towards the left or right fully. There are no options for you to delete the clip within the camera.
Compression formats:
The videos of Kodak Zi6 are compressed with H.264, which is being the choice of the current trend of budget camcorders, and is outputted as .MOV file. You will not be having any issues if you are owning a MAC PC as the Quick-Time is pre-installed. But, if you own a windows PC, you might have to download one to watch your videos. Kodak has three quality settings from which you can set yours, the first being the HD setting, that records at 1280X720 pixels at a rate of 30 frames per second, the second one is HD60 which operates at the same resolution but has a higher rate of 60 fps and the other is the ordinary VGA video.
Memory:
The internal memory is just 128MB, hence, the requirement for an extra SD/SDHC memory card has become a must. The capacity of these memory cards can be up to 32GB. The internal memory is completely useless for any storage, as this 128MB can hold only either 1min 48sec of VGA video or 30sec of HD or just 22sec of HD60 video. If you have good amount of memory card you can very well shoot in HD quality which is the wisest option because, HD video can always be down-converted to a smaller size, but when the video is of standard definition, it cannot be up-converted.
Editing and uploading:
Since the process of editing and uploading was dead simple in pure digital’s flip, its followers are also expected to follow the same path. The Kodak Zi6 comes with a software bundle known as ArcSoft MediaImpression Light. This software aids you in importing the video clips, uploading it into the youtube website and also does some basic editing. This software offers no other video hosting websites other than you tube ?.
Working of the software:
Lets just have a brief look on how this software actually works. The welcome screen asks you to choose a media type or action, with the options being “browse my videos”, “import” and “upload to youtube”.
If you had chosen “browse my videos”, a window with all your clippings as thumbnails will appear. If you want to upload, then first you will be prompted for the login. The next step is that, you will have to fill in the information about your video clip which includes, title, category and description which you will not be able to skip. The last step is to hit upload, which re-compresses your video, decreasing the quality of your video. So, we advice that if you shoot with the highest possible quality, it would be better.
The other task that the ArcSoft MediaImpression software can do is the creation of home movies. It has limited options for this operation. You will be able to select the clips, place them in a specific order, apply some pre-set transition effects and give some background music. This is all that you will be able to do at the maximum. There are no specific options for you to edit the clips individually. If you are looking for extras, then you can invest a little on more powerful softwares that are available for cheap prices.
The CMOS sensor and resolutions:
The Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Video Camcorder uses a 1/4.5″ CMOS sensor. This sensor is having a gross pixel count of 1,600,000 and has a HD output resolution of 1280X720. There is also an option for the standard definition, as mentioned earlier, which is of the resolution 640 X 480. The flip and vado use the 1/4” CMOS sensor, which allows more surface area, a benefit in the low-light areas, but again, both of them are of standard definition type.
Performance factors:
The out-door performance of Kodak Zi6 Mini Camcorder was incredible. Since Kodak shoots in HD, the camcorder delivers more colours with much more of details involved in it. Considering the video on motion, Kodak Zi6 looked a bit stuttery, in this case the performance of flip was better and smoother as it had less pressure of data load over the processor. As, we know compression had always been a problem in the budget camcorders. Heavy compression leads to ugly colours and low sharpness, but Kodak Zi6 has avoided most of these problems that were predominantly evident in flip.
The difference in the quality of video between the HD mode and HD60 mode was very less. The HD60 mode is said to offer more smoother motion which cannot be seen. The VGA quality represented the same colour but at a different resolution. In the low-light areas, Kodak Zi6 produced brighter colours bur lacked some detail, whereas, the flip and Vado produced more details but lacked much of colours. Kodak Zi6 does not have any stabilization system. This ultra-portable camcorder performed badly when it comes to the wide angle shots too.
The auto exposure was good. Strangely, adjustment from dark to bright was done faster than the adjustment from dark to bright. The auto focus cannot be an issue as Kodak Zi6 has fixed focus lens, you can always swap between the macro and tele mode with the side switch mentioned earlier.
Still camera functionalities:
Kodak Zi6 Compact Camcorder as a still camera has nothing much to offer us. It captures JPEG images in same size and quality. The images are of 3 Megapixels, courtesy, 1.6 mega pixel CMOS sensor. The still images are also stores either in the pitiful 128MB of internal memory or x-MB of your memory card. Performance wise, the colour error was extremely poor, noise was decent and saturation being very high.
Audio performance:
The audio of Kodak Zi6 has nothing much to offer us. The included mic has a very small range and is meant to record audio only in limited manner. The audio results are definitely disappointing.
Batteries:
The Kodak Zi6 runs on AA batteries, which is not used in the camcorders of this generation. But, the advantages of this kind of battery are that they can be found in any normal store unlike the branded ones which are much expensive and since there are not actually much of moving parts in the camcorder, it will not consume much of your battery. Kodak provides a wall charger that can charge your batteries. The battery actually lasts for a little over than two hours.
Kodak Zi6 HD Digital Camcorder comes with one year warranty.
Box contents:
The box contents include two rechargeable AA Ni-MH batteries, battery charger, component (HD) cable, composite (A/V )cable, wrist strap, camera pouch, a user guide and the ArcSoft MediaImpression software. With just 128MB of internal memory, you might be expecting Kodak to provide you with a memory card, but sorry! You are NOT! We can hear you saying “ridiculous”. never mind!
Verdict:
Kodak Zi6 Video Camera is an adequate camcorder that would perform more than your youtube needs. If you are looking for something very small and cheap, this is your option. The HD quality option is certainly appealing. It has showed a better performance than pure digital’s flip and creative’s vado. We at camcorder-reviews.org.uk certainly recommend Kodak Zi6 camcorder.
KODAK Zi6 Digital Camcorder – Technical Specifications, Features
| Manufacturer | Kodak |
| Model Name | Kodak Zi6 |
| Type | Pocket video camera |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 64 × 114 × 23.5 mm |
| Weight | 107 g |
| Colours | Black, pink, red |
| Screen type | LCD |
| Screen size | 2.4″ |
| Sensor | 1 / 4.5–type 1.6 MP CMOS |
| Low-light sensitivity | Good |
| Video compression | compressed with H.264, outputted as .MOV |
| Frame rate | HD: 30 frames per second HD60: 60 frames per second |
| Lens | 4.1 mm, f/2.8, fixed focus |
| Zoom | 2X digital |
| Internal memory | 128MB |
| Expansion slots | SD/SDHC card expansion slot |
| Focus modes | Tele
Macro m |
| Focus range | normal: 27.6 in. (70 cm)–infinity close-up: 2 in. (5 cm) |
| Image Stabilization | None |
| White balance | Auto |
| Still image format | JPEG |
| Still picture quality | 3 MP |
| Ports | USB, Composite (RCA) Out, Component Out |
| Recording Quality Options | HD, HD60, VGA |
| Microphone | mono |
| Speaker | Yes |
| Included Software | ARCSOFT MEDIA IMPRESSION Software for Kodak |
| Included Battery | AA |
| Battery Life | 2 hours |
| Box contents | AA Ni-MH batteries battery charger component (HD) cable composite (A/V) cable wrist strap camera pouch a user guide the ArcSoft MediaImpression software |
| Warranty | One year |
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