Camcorder HDR

Heads up, adrenaline junkies. The KODAK PLAYSPORT has as much appetite for adventure as you do. And it’s not afraid to get wet. This audacious little camera can plunge up to 10 ft under water and capture the entire experience in full 1080p HD. And you don’t need to worry about blurry footage when things get a little shaky. With built-in image stabilization, the KODAK PLAYSPORT will stay steady as a rock. From the waves, to the slopes, to the mud-soaked trails, this baby was made for the extremes.

Show them what you’re made ofin HD

• Take the plunge with the waterproof digital video camera capable of shooting up to 10 ft under water
• Go anywhere rugged design enables full 1080p HD video recording in just about any environment
• Start bragging with amazing 5 MP, 16:9 widescreen HD still pictures

  Make a colorful statement
  

• The KODAK PLAYSPORT Video Camera was designed with you in mind, right down to the colors it comes in. We took cues from the environment—from nature, to climate, to the adrenaline rush it provides—and transformed it into attention-grabbing colors that help you stand out from the crowd.

  Don’t let sun glare ruin your recording
  

• Simply use your camera settings to turn on the LCD Glare Shield feature
• LCD Glare Shield feature gives you two filters to choose from that help you see your subject on the display screen in reflective outdoor situations
• These filters are only applied to your display screen, not your footage, so everything you record will look as great as the moment you shot it

  Smooth, stable, and always able
  

• Get sharper videos and less blur thanks to built-in electronic image stabilization
• Accidents happen luckily the PLAYSPORT isn’t afraid of a little fall, it can take it
• Capture your friends in all their glory with smart face tracking technology
• See more details and accurate colors with incredible low-light perform
  

  Technical Details

  -Waterproof up to 10 ft. (3 m)
  -Full 1080p HD video
  -Electronic image stabilization
  -Brilliant 2.0 in. color display
  -Capture 5 megapixel HD stills (16:9)
  See more technical details

 "Great for Special Vacations!" 2010-09-03
By jl1
I bought this for my new husband to take on our honeymoon to Hawaii for our wet/underwater adventures. It worked great! But first, the bad/needs improvement issues: There was only one problem that we had, after shooting some video, the system locked up and the recording seemed as if it wouldn't stop. After a hard reboot (removing the battery to turn off, then restarting it), it worked fine and all the pics and video were still there. Of course, if you were underwater at the time something like this happened, it would be a much bigger problem. But, we used this device for the entire trip, and that was the only problem we had. The other thing that Kodak could improve upon is to add a tightener to the strap for the camera. It's great they included a strap, but it is still quite loose, and if you are using the camera on a boat or while snorkeling like we were, it is most likely going to slip off your wrist at some point. We solved this problem by creating our own strap tightener with a hair band, however it would be nice if Kodak would address this easy to fix (and most likely extremely cheap to fix) issue.
That being said, the video quality is fantastic with this little guy. You DO have to be aware of how fast you are moving the camera while shooting a video, you have to keep it at a pretty slow, steady motion, but that is really to be expected, not sure why anyone would be surprised about that. The camera also takes really great outdoor and underwater still pictures. I would highly recommend this purchase to anyone who wants to capture really special trips. This is not a camera for every day usage (unless you happen to be underwater every day), but it is a must have for wet or underwater adventures!!!


 "Man, gee, wow! I really love this camera." 2010-09-03
By Richard (fl, usa)
This camera is just great fun. So portable. Clean videos. Light and easy to carry. Why, I can't say enough about it. Just popped the SDHC card into my Mac and Iphoto picked it right up. What fun! Video on the run. I haven't tested the waterproof feature yet, but that's going to happen soon. At this price, it's a very worthy and fun thing to have. Go get one. Have a nice time. :)


 "Sometimes, you don't even get what you pay for" 2010-09-02
By Colin S
The firmware that currently comes with these cameras, version 1.03, is broken and will not record more than 4GB of data to at least some SDHC cards even if more space is available. (Not 4GB per video which is a normal filesystem limitation, but 4GB TOTAL.) In fact, not only will it refuse to record more than 4GB, once you reach this limit the controls lock up and the only way to reset the camera is to remove the battery. This defective firmware has been available for over 4 months, and there is no way to downgrade to 1.02 (which did not have this issue). I use a Transcend 8GB Class 6 card which works fine in other devices; others have reported issues with 16GB and 32GB cards.

Trying to contact Kodak technical support for this camera is also next to impossible unless you are living in the past. Their live chat only works on old versions of Firefox or IE (no Safari, no Chrome, no Firefox 4). Several of the links on their site to the Contact Us page are broken. Once you finally find their feedback form, it too is busted and will only display a list of their non-video digital cameras when you select "Digital Video Camera", so you can't get help there unless you intentionally choose the wrong camera model.

Beyond that, the waterproofing works as advertised, and picture quality is about what you would expect from a really cheap pocket cam--which is to say, extremely over-compressed. At an average bitrate of just 12Mbps (Main@L4.2), you will experience substantial loss of picture detail. There is no way to change the bitrate the camera uses. The same bitrate is used for all shooting modes, so you might think to switch to 720p to improve the picture quality, but the built-in resizer is so horrible that it makes the video look WORSE (like badly upconverted SD footage). That said, at 1080p, I doubt the picture quality is any worse than other cameras in the price range, especially since they all seem to use the same Ambarella AVC encoder.

The CMOS sensor is slow even when set to 60fps mode, so there is a fair amount of wobble caused by the rolling shutter. Low light performance is decent given the sensor size. There is no macro focus, so pay attention to the minimum focal length. The camera gets warm when it is on for more than about 10 minutes. The digital zoom cannot be disabled, but thanks to the waterproofing it is harder to activate than on a Flip.

If Kodak releases a newer firmware that fixes the 4GB recording issue, this would be a solid four-star budget HD video camera. With no ability to record more than an hour at a time, however, I would strongly recommend finding a less buggy alternative (or expect to change cards a lot and plan accordingly).


 "just ok" 2010-09-02
By ivan
Overall the camera takes decent videos at full wide only. If you zoom in color and contrast drops drastically the more you use it. Photos are not what this is meant for at all so dont plan on anything great in that area. I was happy with the video quality at full wide until it started randomly loosing footage. It happened on a few occasions with multiple cards so i know that it was the camera. Also on a few occasions the camera would completely lock and since there is no reset button the only way to fix the problem is to take out the battery. That issue alone is unexceptable on a waterproof camera due to the fact if you are taking video in the water you can not fix it until it is all dry. I returned my camera due to these issues of locking up and occasional loss of footage.


 "Good HD at a Good Price" 2010-09-01
By James M Munson (Portland, OR USA)
purchased this in advance of a Hawaii vacation. Filmed a friends wedding - they were "amazed" by the picture quality. Have also tried shooting under water in a swimming pool, again very good quality pictures. Strapped it to my motorcycle and shot some video at 60 MPH - smooth and again very good quality video - software easy easy to use. All videos shot thus far have been on the 720 - 60 fps setting would assume 1080 setting would be even better quality video although not as well suited for "action" shooting. Still pictures are very acceptable (5MP) and make good quality 5x7 prints. All-in-all best camera for the money I've owned - and I owned over a dozen digital cameras over the years.


Read more Kodak PlaySport (Zx3) HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera (Black) NEWEST MODEL

Kodak Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery/KLIC 7004
A-DATA 8 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card 8GSDHC6 (Blue)
Kodak Remote Control for Zx1, Zi8 and PlaySport Pocket Video Cameras
Kodak 1706290 Resilient 1 Camera Case (Black)
Caselogic TBC-312 Pocket Video Camcorder Case with Storage (Black)