Affordable HD Camera Review: Kodak Zi6

[jdiddy27]

Flip Mino HD dude.. best picture for youtube. its what the partners use, and its $229 the new Min HD model.

Best price, best quality.....check it out..you will be surprise

[Gimmeabreakman]

@jdiddy27

The zi6 is now $99.

The new Zi8 is $189 on Amazon is better rated.

[jdiddy27]

@Gimmeabreakman hmmm... i still think the Flip Mino will turn out to be better... i mean i dont even have it. but judging from your video quality looks like Mino Wins...

[Gimmeabreakman]

jdiddy27, So you're basically admitting you're talking out of your ass. My mom has a Mino. My brother and I both have Kodaks. It's bette rated. Read the reviews or get one yourself or STFU.

[jdiddy27]

gimme a break man....LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[singhername]

@Gimmeabreakman wow....if that's how your gonna treat your viewers then don't make videos because they should have the right to speak their opinion freely!

[Gimmeabreakman]

@singhername

Amazing! You must be joking. You support free speech by telling me to stop making videos! LOL!

Yes, you're right. Morons have every right to speak their opinion freely and I have every right to tell them they are idiots. Hypocritical idiots are not immune from my opinion.

FYI, free speech on my videos does not exist. You are here only because I put up with your stupidity.

[sideshow45]

@jdiddy27 partners also have a specific perk from youtube that makes youtube pay specific attention to give partners the best quality out of anyone's video's lets say you have a mino HD and Shaycarl has a mino HD you both have take then same video you both didnt edit and have camera settings the same Shaycarl will have higher quality than you. Zi6 is the BEST HD pocketcam ever.

[liamscott2005]

this Vido cam is gr8t for wht i use it for on the road just slap it it on my motor bike

[bobbybob3680]

regular, and macro. also, you are way to rough with that camera lol

[mugen1225]

Flip Mino HDとかKodak Zx1なんかと迷いましたが一番安く買えたZi6 チョッと、でかいですがいい感じです。

[martinegabo]

i bought this camera today for 100$ and pay for 25$ for the 8 gig memory card.and before i did i do some research and review and it all paid off. this camera was so good in my tv and in my laptop. this is one of the video that helps me to decide which camcorder should i bought.

[Gimmeabreakman]

I tell you in the video.

[hulkbuster1026]

I dont like that it uses batteries. how much are replacements and how long do they last

[Gimmeabreakman]

They are double A batteries. Anyway the new version has lithium batteries so....

[Gimmeabreakman]

Well, I love the camera. And for the price you can't beat it. But I hear there are some other models that are almost the same in price, etc. Thanks for the feedback!

[wassup986]

Yes there are other models suck as Zi8, but the Zi6, in my opinion, is the best one of all price-wise and overall quality

[Gimmeabreakman]

But this is a bit old. I'd look around. There may be some other good models around.

[Yo0T0oB]

Anyone notices my 8hour in motion video gets blurry when in autofocus mode? I used kodak hd camera...

[rockstar351311]

What's your opinion on the Sanyo xacti cg10? it looks pretty good. it has 5x optical zoom, 10 mp pictures, and 720p video

[Gimmeabreakman]

It's great ... but over twice the price. This is a good cheap answer to people who want HD.

[MattieCooper]

Wow~! Thanks for making this video!

[baydriver7]

Just ordered one on Amazon....this is the best vid review I've seen on the Zi6 so far and I've looked at many. thanks!

[Gimmeabreakman]

Thanks!

[NbaLive4ever]

How can u maximize the battery life? is there a way? just got it yesterday.

[Gimmeabreakman]

I have had no problems. They work up to 3 or 4 hours straight for me.

[NbaLive4ever]

Thank u sir!

[ninjaxvanish]

the Zi6 service manual say is best to charge the battery up to 12 hours before use

[luke9771]

should i buy it?

[EroksRandomJournal]

Just bought this cam on amazon. Cant wait to get it!

[Elainerocks12]

umm im confused of wht a SD card is like if u just the camera for about $140 how long can u take videos and do u hav to buy a SD card to make ur videos longer if so, how much r they?

[Gimmeabreakman]

SD cards are about $10 for 2 gigs and $30 for 16gigs here in Japan. You can make tons of vids on that.

[TastesLikeChicken24]

thanks im getting one tomorrow ..you were a big help thanks alot :D

[HotrodUS]

You can probably download it online or use another editing software like Adobe Premiere or Ulead.

[08blanca]

Your HOT!!!!

[CECompany1029384756]

It's Kodak not Zodak. Duh. HAHA! 1:15

[Jones0da]

Hmm that is pretty cool,

GREAT! price to if i hear you right saying 150 dollars.

I m just wandering if it works outside pretty well?

I live in canada so you might be able to get an idea of the lighting and so forth.

[thesmartpod]

Great review.

You and your viewers may want to visit the smart pod channel to check out a unique video and camera mount accessory that attaches anywhere and can be a stand-alonge mount as well. Please check it out.

Also, we're looking for product reviewers.

Thanks.

[jadecatazn]

he said Zodak around 1:20...

[TheONEmanShow12]

its called a zodak.

[powerplantnl]

its so cheap, i think iam gonna buy one

[GamesWorldTTF]

hey man, great vid.This ALSO talked me into buying this. Its my bday tmmrw so I'll probably grab one.I have one quick question though. How much room would a video take up? To be more detailed, a video around 5 minutes and 10 minutes,both recording at 30 FPS.just out of curiosity, how much mb or gb would that take ?

Im going on a roadtrip soon and I think this would be great. But a roadtrip for 1 week..I dont think a 8gb SD card will be enough. What do you think?

Let me know asap man.

Thanks :)

[Gimmeabreakman]

300 mb = about 4 minutes

[dccoletrain]

You talked me into getting one yesterday. It was late so I couldn't really test it out yet. Not the best in low light as you know. Later.

[Gimmeabreakman]

Best of luck!

[KimDonesia]

Heyyy. Does it take photos?

I'm serious considering getting one!!

In pink, of course. ^__^

[Gimmeabreakman]

Yes. But the pics are not impressive.

[rufflesworld]

i just got that last week. i love the camera... but the "hd" picture leaves a bit to be desired. also the sound is a bit garbled. i have only used in hd60... youtube does not seem to recognize it as hd. do you think reg hd would be better?

[Gimmeabreakman]

Check my video response. It's HD 60 and regular mixed. On my response channel, gimmeaflakeman. BTW, this is what I use. Great HD Export Settings Use Quicktime conversion Compression type: H.264 Frame rate: current Size: 1280x720 Deinterlace source video Key frames: automatic Compressor quality high Encoding: faster encoding, single pass Data Rate: restrict to 5000/kbits/second Optimized for streaming Your file size should be around 50mb/second.

[Gimmeabreakman]

?? I have it. Love it.

[dominoize]

I just bought this for my trip to Japan in a few weeks (yay) due to your review. Thanks much! This camera is waaay light. You really cant tell by looking at it on video, but it is. And for those who have purchased/will purchase one of these: buy a 4 pack of lithium AA batteries for when you think you'll record more than 3-4 hours in one day. BTW look for deals on memory cards... they're out there and you WILL need them.

(-_-)

[vincentdolbydigital]

35 mm does very well at low light situations and also red r3d files from the red camera are also very clean at that.

[Statik1482]

what sd card should i pick up? The SDHC?

[Gimmeabreakman]

That is what I use.

[rshelper5]

the only thing this camara don't have is that, you can't pause videos -.-

[Gimmeabreakman]

Yep. It will break the video into 2 parts or more.

[Gimmeabreakman]

My friend has the flip. It's good too. But it has a small hard drive built in.

[Gimmeabreakman]

Flip has a set size Harddrive. I like this one better. My friend has the flilp. It's OK, too. Kodak is cheaper too. And no need to recharge it everytime.... just have extra batteries.

[Gimmeabreakman]

No pause. You'll have to edit them together.

[barrettsalive]

the only thing that bothers me is the backround noise

[renthal971]

Scooby Do!!!!

[kodakcameragirl]

Very Nicely DONE! T Y

[Gimmeabreakman]

Thanks!

[geeman1976]

Question for Gimmeabreakman:

Is it possible to turn the LCD screen off while recording to save battery power?

[Gimmeabreakman]

Don't think so... but I can use batteries for 3 hours. That's enough for me. And if I run out, just pop in another couple of Double AAs!

[MrMontagne]

What is the batter life like. I got a £50 HD camera (worth $100 at the time I think) but it just destroys battery life. How much footage would you say you could get in HD before having to recharge the batteries?

And does it work with a tripod/mount? Would you recommend any tripods?

[Gimmeabreakman]

I used 2 double A rechargables -- the ones that came with it -- for about 3 hours in the cold. I was impressed.

It will work with any regular tripod.

[fueldbybeans]

I got the sony HDR 12, I checked online and it said english spanish language, but I got it in japan so it only has japanese! I can not use all the cool stuff! , now I have to learn kanji! I can read hiragana katakana and speak japanese but never got interested in kanji! any ways any good kanji book out there? also is it possible to i dont know like upgrade the camera so i can add english or spanish, it will take me 10 years to learn all the kanji! by that time this toy will be in the 100en shop.

[ATHODrew]

Is the framerate smooth? because in this video its choppy, but that could just be my computer.

[Gimmeabreakman]

Smooth. But a lot of folks tell me their computers can't handle HD. My older computer -- I have a few -- can't really handle HD either.

[ATHODrew]

Okay, ill look into it more- system specs and what not. Thanks for the response, and for the video.

[TheBasketballGuru]

quality is pretty good man

[starwart1]

I have this camera. It does wonders.

[tripios]

can u upload hd videos with this phone??

[Gimmeabreakman]

NOT a phone.

[coaxis314]

wow its so... buffer to load:P

seems to glitch at the end

[hen555]

lol youtube hd requires higher broadband speed

[kansaiPJ]

My brother got me a Flip Mio HD and it is good for carrying around for spontaneous filming, but it is not very good for zoom or light, so I am thinking of upgrading from my Sanyo Xacti CS6, to the CS9 HD, but money is always an issue.

Let us know how the camera is after you've used it for a few weeks. Hope it works out for you.

- PJ

[kansaiPJ]

BTW, you mentioned in the video that the Xacti HD was over a thousand dollars, but the new Xacti CS9 HD is only about 50,000 yen if you shop around...

[Gimmeabreakman]

I did see that! The price came WAY down! I think you can even get it for less than 30,000!

V

[hilarioustuff]

Yeah I totally understand. And that would be awesome if I was mentioned in a video.

[hilarioustuff]

I watched the video yesterday, bought the camera today. Thanks for the great review!

[Gimmeabreakman]

Congrats! Enjoy!

[hilarioustuff]

Alright I will, I was wondering if when I make the first videoing explaining that I am going to be in HD, and thanking you. If you would accept the video response that I make on the video ?

[Gimmeabreakman]

I don't do vid responses on this channel. Only very rarely.

I MIGHT make on my response channel gimmeaflakeman but don't count on it. I'm busy at my day job you know. No offense! I'll try to mention you in a later follow up vid.

V

[AndrewXAnarchy]

Terrible quality!

[Gimmeabreakman]

Did you watch it in HD?

[AndrewXAnarchy]

No ._.'

[Gimmeabreakman]

That's why! Watch it in HD and watch the test clips. Of course the quality is terrible if you don't clip on that!

[AndrewXAnarchy]

It looks awesome in HD. But it was shaky. Better on a Tri-Pod

[Gimmeabreakman]

True. Check out the attached video on my gimmeaflakeman channel. It has more shots under different conditions.

But you're right. Should have used a tripod.

[deepdepth]

Good review but I don't appreciate you manhandling and throwing MY camera up and don't like that! (just kidding)

[Gimmeabreakman]

Hey, Little Bro. You use it yet?

[deepdepth]

No. Busy till Friday. Then I might have time to buy memory.

[fightprejudice]

You should be paid by kodak. The quality, for the price, just amazing! Better than the flip and the flip with no HD is more expensive.

[QueenKattz]

^..^ Seems fine now...and you looooooooook

mmaarrrrrrrrrrvellous ^..^

[novanine]

Great review.

I can watch normal 'watch in high quality' vids on YT but when it says 'watch in HD' and expands up to a bigger size my computer can't seem to handle it! =(

[boojwahz]

there should be a high quality option for these videos as normal mode looks like crap and hd mode just lags like crazy. my advice is to maybe stick with normal vids.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

I agree. On my older computer I cannot play HD and ditto for what you said.

[mochirama1]

awesome! Does it easily go onto the computer?

[WildRebecca]

I found it for $179 but, still a good price! i want one!

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Check on AMAZON!

[DoggBisket]

Very cool Victor. I've kinda been eyeing up the Flip Mino HD, but this one is 50 bux cheaper. I'm not quite ready for HD yet as my PC can't handle it and needs to be upgraded.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Good point. I have 5 macs. Only 2 can really handle it. The new ones.

[Relyt22]

The only thing I don't like about YouTube HD is that, well... is it just me or does the HD option on YT go slower than fuck and make everything lag?

[boojwahz]

i agree. when i try to play videos in hd mode they play like crap, super laggy, and if i try to play an hd vid in normal mode it just looks shitty.

[qiranger]

Great find. The Xacti models are all over the place. Usually at Wal-Mart.

[speedyconkiwi]

PS: since when is an exact 500 character comment TOO LONG? wtf..

[speedyconkiwi]

...The only thing I don't like about it is that the mic is at the back, which is NOT a good thing for YouTubers, but as long as the volume is high enough, things work.

Your camera is sexy though!

[speedyconkiwi]

I saw you had a little Aiptek discussion going on earlier in the comments. I recently got an Aiptek pocketcam as well, it was super cheap (77€) but does great HD videos, can do 60f/s (which I love, but unfortunately YT seems to compress the video down to 30f/s) and is all together a decent camera, I'd say. ...

[LeSaMilano]

I need to upgrade my computer so it can handle HD! first....I have a great panasonic camera but hell if I know whether or not it does HD! LOL

[lundyncanada]

Thanks for sharing.....

[ItalianStallionette]

I like it.

On ebay right now.

;D

[BusanKevin]

Sweet little camera. I have yet to move to the world of HD. I plan to buy my first Mac this year and then I'll upgrade my camera :)

[geofg]

How much did Kodak and YouTube pay you for this plug? Ha ha.

[evilbrainproductions]

not bad camera for that price!

[quincy451]

video camera...heck that looks about the size of a cell phone. I guess things are truely converging.

[tattooedgeek79]

Ahh, I see we have the same movie collection.

[skarcrow1991]

i'm ok using my flip ultra for making my vids

[TandemFuri]

nice review, you should be on G4TV

[chimera15]

Wow, a tech review. Not bad for $150.

[P00P0STER0US]

That's a very nice breakdown of the camera. It certainly is a new era of publicly generated video, and those cameras have quality sufficient for a wide variety of artistic and journalistic uses.

[v0lt35v]

best bang for the buck! kodak zi6 lookin forward for more hd goodness from now on!

[thequantumflux]

Quality is OK but I have an aiptek 1080P HD camera and it was $180 and a much better picture quality as well as the ability to do 60FPS which is great for action shots.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

This can do 60FPS too.

I considered the AIPTEK but it's bigger. I like the fact the KODAK is tiny and I didn't trust the AIPTEK brand name. Lastly, I checked sample vids. They look the same to me.

[thequantumflux]

Not knocking your camera bro. I agree I was a little hesitant but I had an aiptek from before and its a tough little camera. It survived a trip to puerto rico (including the rain forest) and numerous road trips and none the worse for wear.

The one complaint I did have is that the low light night shot sucked. but for an HD camera for under $200 I really couldn't balk at it. Thoughwith fairly decent lighting the photos and video were really great.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

I'm glad to hear the aiptek is good. It is cheap and has a 1 gig internal. Like I said, I wanted small!

I already have a tough waterproof Sanyo so....

I hear sony has a good one for $199 too!

[roccafellarecords]

My god this is too funny lol, everyone wants to be carlos these days.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Who is Carlos?

[DynaCatlovesme]

I'd say it needs stabilization--you're jumping around a lot.

[primerabbit]

due the the bandwidth cap from the big name internet providers in Canada, im not gonna be steaming anything on HD..luv ur vids but i dont wanna start payin to watch them

[mikma]

mikma was here

[akaso405]

Now youtube just has to get the HD function working well

[Ido013]

Oh for only 150 I think it's worth it, any higher would've been a steal, since the quality isn't that great. Thanks for telling us about it~

[TheRagingBeaverCo]

Recheargable AA batteries is the best damn move you can make with a video camera. Their cheap(10$/pair), so you can buy as many sets as you need and never run out. Pretty sweet and unexpensive. Digital cams are terrible in low level light. Nice review man.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Thanks, man.

[redmuzam]

I work @ Staples. I sold a couple of these cameras, however I personally didnt think that it was that good.

I bought a SONY dvd camcorder from japan. however the only problem with that is I need to finalize the dvd first and then convert the video file, before I can edit or put it on youtube. Which is kind off an inconvenience.

[Gimmeaflakeman]

I'm not saying this is the best camera. I'm saying it is a damn good camera for the price. Course Sony HD cams are sweeeeet! But cost a lot more!

[TheFamousStacie]

Can you plug in an external mic????

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Nope! You would have to tape audio separately... but I've seen some music vids. Not bad for mono!

[dannye60]

how many mega pixels?

[kidblood1]

Nice..thanks

[UpDownMostly]

Nice review. Thanks for doing that

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Thank, Tim. More sample clips on gimmeaflakeman. Processing now.

[psychomelody]

I love my xacti... When they make an HD waterproof one I will definitely buy it. Also, if you toy with the settings, I can get pretty damn good low light video with mine, but I also have the newest model.

I have a prosumer HD Sony, but High Quality widescreen is good enough for me right now for most of my videos.

Though I can't wait until Apples starts putting 720p in their iSights...

[Gimmeabreakman]

Me too! Isight quality rocks... btw, any idea when that will happen?

[psychomelody]

No clue :) It's been in the rumor mill for over a year now. Apple might not be interested at all in doing it for all we know.

I'd be happy with 480p on my iPhone :(

[frontporsche]

Does it have regular 1/4-20 tripod-mount threads?

[Gimmeabreakman]

I have mounted it on 3 completely different tripods. No problems.

[QueenKattz]

It's $179.99 in Canada

Why didn't you buy the pink one ??lol....

Does it have a set min time for recording??My cannon G3 only lets me make 3 min movies at a time :)

[Gimmeaflakeman]

LOL! I THOUGHT about it! This cam can go for as long as the batteries last!

[QueenKattz]

So I can do a 10 min video then??? I think that's the max for my acct. :)

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Yes!

[UpDownMostly]

xacti on amazon (waterproof) for $555.

[UpDownMostly]

You say waterproof -- can I use that cam of yours to photograph underwater at the pool? I'm starting to swim again and I need my coach to see my strokes and kicking?

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Yes....up to 1.5 meters.

[Gimmeabreakman]

Um, the SANYO is waterproof. The Kodak is NOT!

[ElevenColors]

150 bucks!?!

Dayamn. I'm happy with the Canon HF10 I have now, given how and where I use it, but the Zi6 has more bang for the buck.

[DopeSpace9]

the cnet review you link to says only 1.6 megapixels...

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Mine is 3 megapixels... maybe that is a review of the first one.

[fozkey]

Oh and one other thing, how small can you generally compress the video but still retain the HD quality (in regards to youtube uploading) and other video upload restrictions :) any advice would be great (or recommended software) sorry for the large comments :P (im a windows user btw)

[fozkey]

Hey Victor, thanks for the review as i was thinking of purchasing one myself. Was just wondering if it is a standard SD card (as i have a 1gb one in my phone which i could possibly put into the zi6) I was interested about the Flip cameras aswell with a built in memory storage, but i dont think you can expand upon they're total memory.

Just out of interest also how much will the 32gb chip set you back (financially)

regards

Nick

[Gimmeaflakeman]

I got a 16 gig for $30. But you'll have to check local prices.

Also some SD chips do not work on some cams. I would take my camera to the store and put it in in front of the salesman. If it doesn't work. Don't buy it.

[ournationalspace]

Good Video, Victor. I look forward to seeing the HD. 5 stars :-)

[NapalmXD]

Cool.

[chicago85bearz]

looking forward to gimmeabreakman in hd.

[commodore256]

What about the battery life?

[Gimmeaflakeman]

The rechargeable 2AA batteries last 2 to 3 hours a charge EVEN in the freezing cold... but regular 2AA die in 30 min!

[SoffyOoO]

nice cam and not that expensive :) I wanted to buy a new one, maybe I'll get the Kodak Zi6.

Thanks for sharing.

[frontporsche]

Thanks for the interesting video. Are you going to upload the HD version of your test footage?

[Gimmeaflakeman]

Uploading now...

[NragedXX]

thanks for the info man

[MSWmson]

Hey, appreciate the tip--handy for us strapped for cash.. Thanks.

[d3mboyz91]

sweet