# Kodak Playsport Video Camera



## JeffreyCH (Nov 21, 2009)

For a little more you might want to look at GoPro Official Store: Wearable Digital Cameras for Sports


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## thugit (Sep 29, 2009)

Flip Video Store?


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## Triple8Sol (Nov 24, 2008)

My buddy had one that he took to Hawaii and shot underwater, etc... It's a pretty cool little handheld HD video recorder. Like a Flip, but can handle a couple ft of water.


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## p8ntballer52 (Sep 27, 2010)

well i have one of these camaras and they are great. shoots HD which is awesome, dont get a flip..there not waterproof, unless you buy a Case for it, which is about 50bucks more, so for a great camara and great price go with the kodak


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## ecks (Oct 6, 2010)

I love the Kodak PS. I used in all summer in my pool and in the ocean when I went to the beach. The sound quality is a little sub par and the video tends to be shaky, but the ability to put it in water while its filming was quite impressive. The video quality is great, I plug it into a 60" tv and the picture is crystal clear. 

Looking forward to using it while snowboarding this season as well.


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## mtmgiants (Sep 30, 2008)

Brothers roommate just picked one up just to snowboard with this season, i tried it out around their apartment the other day and its pretty sweet and easy to use. The fact that its waterproof and pretty rugged is definitely a plus since i have had some trouble with my cameras while snowboarding.


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## lisevolution (Sep 20, 2007)

i just used this on my honeymoon in st lucia and took some very good underwater videos while snorkling. as prev stated mic is kind cheap but if your interest is in making edits your gonna overlay music anyway. definitely worth the $


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

i've been doing a lot of research on cameras/video cameras for this coming winter...

The Flip is garbage. I mean, it's not garbage, but it's not going to be very good for snowboarding. 

The GoPro looks awesome and I really want one, but I don't think it would make a good "only camera you own". No viewfinder. No zoom capability at all. Otherwise it's rugged and waterproof to 180 feet and takes sick video if you're close to the action, and the POV footage is good, they have pretty good image stabilization that the Kodak won't touch.

The Kodak Zx/Zi series (Zx3, Zi8) look to be OK for a budget cam you can find them for $100-149. The Zi8 is only marginally more expensive than the Zx3 I'd get the Zi8 if pocket cam was what I wanted. Sound is so-so. I've seen some youtube edits, they're a little shaky at speed but take good video if your stationary filming.


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## pontiuspylate (Oct 7, 2010)

I have a GoPro and made this video last year. I solidly support Go Pro! Those camera's can take a licking and keep on ticking!! I had a few pretty bad spills last year and that camera acted as if nothing happened. But the video was fun to watch! :laugh: 

I went to one of our smaller hills here in NM called Sipapu. Had 8" of fresh powder fall the night before so the riding was excellent! Last season was my first season snowboarding and this video was only the 5th or 6th time being on a snowboard EVER!!! It was all shot in 1st person because I was there by myself.






A Ride Through Sipapu


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

Hey pontiuspylate - any comment on how the GoPro handles for non-1st person/POV? I'm concerned about lack of zoom etc.


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## pontiuspylate (Oct 7, 2010)

Honestly it's best used for 1st person shots. It has a fisheye lens so if you want to shoot your friends shredding down the hill as you ride next to them you have to be fairly close. Same thing if you want to shoot somebody hitting a jump. You basically have to stand on the jump (or be very close to it) in order to get good footage.

If you're looking for a good camera to take pics and shoot video of your friends with I would look at the Olympus Tough seriesof cameras. I have one and it rocks! It's small enough to fit in your pocket comfortably. It's water proof, freeze proof, drop proof, and takes really good pics/video. 

With the Olympus and the GoPro combined you can make some pretty decent videos.


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

Thanks I don't think i've seen that Olympus yet so I'll check it out.


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## sumo28 (Nov 4, 2009)

Someone mentioned the kodak zx1/zi8/zi6 cameras and I would definitely recommend them if u can get a good deal. I got the zx1 last year for $79. it's weatherproofed and u don't have to worry about it getting in the snow or getting wet. I really abused that thing but it held up until the last day of the season... I had it dangling around my wrist during a tree run and it hit a big branch hard and the screen now has a small crack. It still works fine and the video plays back on the screen fine but I wonder how water resistant it is now... if i use some type of sealant it should be ok i guess.

quality is really decent, can get a little shaky. only real problem I had is the video format was difficult to work with. If you just want to upload your videos straight to youtube or facebook or view it off your tv through hdmi or so then it's fine, but it was a pain in the ass for me trying to edit and deshake my vids.


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

the Zi8 can be had on Amazon these days for about $115 I think which is an awesome price for a budget HD cam. 

I think the kodaks do .MOV format which yeah that can be a pain in the a$$ for anyone working with windows, in particular for people working with MovieMaker which doesn't support .MOV or .MP4 format videos. Do yourself a favor and get a better video editing package from the store or from bit torrent.


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## skatesurfsnow (Feb 3, 2010)

*Go Pro*

Hi guys,

We just got these in, they work insane, checkem out Equipment Reviews - Snowboarding Forum - Snowboard Enthusiast Forums

Mike at Surfside


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## rephreshed (Aug 21, 2010)

david_z said:


> the Zi8 can be had on Amazon these days for about $115 I think which is an awesome price for a budget HD cam.
> 
> I think the kodaks do .MOV format which yeah that can be a pain in the a$$ for anyone working with windows, in particular for people working with MovieMaker which doesn't support .MOV or .MP4 format videos. Do yourself a favor and get a better video editing package from the store or from bit torrent.


I just got a refurbished Zi8 off of amazong for $83 

What kind of video editing software would you recommend that's still user friendly?


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## earl_je (Oct 20, 2009)

Most of the reviews I read recommend the playsport. I'm thinking of getting this also


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

@reprhreshed 

If you run Windows you probably have Microsoft Movie Maker. Or it's available for free download from Microsoft if your PC didn't come with it installed. Like most MS applications, it's very user friendly to the point of being idiot-proof, but like most MS products it's prone to weird and unexplained errors 


like if you apply slow-motion to one clip, the next clip inherits that with no way to turn it off.
sometimes the project your working on will "freeze" and of course the only way out is Ctrl+Alt+Del to kill the program. Make sure your auto-save is set to save your file like every 10 minutes.
sometimes a clip will freeze like you had inserted a still image. sound still works, but the clip is wrecked usually can't be fixed.
sometimes when overlaying audio it loops a segment of the track rather than the whole track. I think this might be related to some DRM protection though and not necessarily Microsoft Movie Maker

In fairness most of these things happen very infrequently, but of course they always seem to happen at the most inopportune time or when you have put a lot of work in to a project. 

The pros: it's free, and easy to use.
The cons: prone to funky errors that you can't fix, doesn't have a ton of features

Overall it's a good enough product to get started and get a feel for putting songs & splicing video clips together with some basic transitions, effects, etc.

I recently got Corel Visual Studio Pro but have really only used it a few times. A guy I know uses Final Cut Express which can make some nice clips. Both of these are better applications, there's a bit of a learning curve (they don't work exactly like MS MovieMaker but this can be a good thing) and they have more effects and features available.

I think Final Cut might be a Mac application. Also for macs there's iMovie, but I don't have a mac so I can't really speak to either of these.


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## rephreshed (Aug 21, 2010)

thanks for the tips! maybe i'll make doubles of everything just to make sure i don't lose anything!


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

making doubles won't help unless you're literally backing up the project file twice every time.

It's hard to explain without knowing how the application works, but basically you import your raw video files and then you create a movie by cutting, splicing, splitting, editing, etc. MovieMaker holds something in memory I think, because when you start trimming/splicing them, your original, raw, unedited files are never altered. What I suspect MM does is: keeps a database of the alterations/etc. that you've done to the files, but doesn't actually do anything to the file itself.

Be careful if you move the files or re-name the folder they're in, MovieMaker won't be able to "find" them. You'll be able to point it to the right place and reset it and everything will work, but it's best to establish a "Projects" folder and use that to keep all project-related files like still pictures, videos, songs, etc. I organize mine by date, but YMMV.

So you only ever risk losing your "project", not the underlying video clips.

Another word of caution: I think the kodak shoots .MOV which will need to be converted and you lose some quality. There are a ton of freeware conversion packages that work decently enough, but you might want to get a program that can natively handle .MOV files. Also, having to convert these files (which are enormous in size) is a major pain in the ass every time.


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## rephreshed (Aug 21, 2010)

more awesome advice, thanks!! my windows movie maker actually is able to use .mov files.


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

ahhhh come to think of it I think you're right. My camcorder does MP4 and _that format_ don't work in MovieMaker (at least it doesn't work in mine). I musta had the formats mixed up.

So if the Kodak does shoot in MOV it sounds like you'll be alright with that.


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## rephreshed (Aug 21, 2010)

sure thing!! now i just need some sleep so i can concentrate on what the f i'm doing :laugh:


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## NYCboarder (Jan 26, 2008)

using the go pro as a follow cam to fim your buddies is pretty good. they have telescopic poles to attacvh it to. You have to be a lil close but not dangerously close at all. the video is excellent. 60fps is amazing for slo mos...i got it for 219 buks which is a steal when msrp = 300.. some reviews show the quality of the go pro next to top of the line hd cams. and at a quater of the price, it is better than some. I agree it is not a cam to use for everything bc no viewfinder..


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## pontiuspylate (Oct 7, 2010)

For editing programs, if I am looking to just put something together real quick and not looking to do anything fancy then I will use Windows Movie Maker. But if I want to get fancy and throw in some special effects and put more of a professional look on it then I use Adobe Primere.


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