Kodak Zx1 – High Definition Pocket Video Camera – Red

A. P. Deeks

at 1:17 am

In the beginning, because I was going on holiday to the lake district, I thought I would hire a high definition camera for a week, to get some great pictures. All I ever wanted it for was for landscape shots,and outdoor scenery, so I knew that lowlight conditions was not important, and that I am not using it for sport, or any fast moving activity. In brightly lit conditions outside this, camera for £48, which is nothing, had performed brilliantly, it does not have but a crappy digital zoom, which, I , to be fair don’t need. It cant handle shaking too much, as it has no stabilisation control.

I was simply going to pan around, slowly and get a shot of the terrain. I searched on youtube for footage of the ZX1, and was very delighted with the results of some. This hammers my Sony DCR8800 for clarity, and when used purely for good lighted conditions, the colour rendering and the picture looks stunning, Its does all I need it to, and it is rugged, well built. And I now find myself filming anything, as it looks so good on an LCD television I have.

Yes it has its foibles, you need to be still to get good pictures without shakiness, no time on the screen for how much of the memory card has been used. It looks like on the HD60 mode, (which is also a great feature as opposed to other expensive HD camcorders, ive seen that do 720p 30fps, this being 60fps), that you get about 6 minutes per GB, at 720 60 frames per second. considering I was going to take a big semi professional HD video camera at great expense, with all the heavy lenses, this thing if used properly, I can take like a phone. And it will give you really great pictures. I am over 40 so, growing up with 8 mm, then Hi 8 and then DI 8, this is a substantial improvement.

Its not the pinnacle of its kind, but for me, and for what I will use it for, it will make everything I film in the right conditions, more stunning than I had before.

I cant understand some of the bitching about quality, knowing that it is a very cheap camcorder. That said I would be doing a disservice to this great little camera, for moving pictures, where you don’t need a zoom, and your subject is relatively static, and not in lowlight conditions, you could convince your friends, this little camera cost a lot lot more.

Word to the good also, to have a the facility of AA batteries means that when the usual inbuilt battery’s in other equipment, have long died, you can replace the batteries in this. I was initially disappointed when I bought some energiser lithium double AA,s, these are excellent and last ages. In this camera, I have found that if you put 2 brand new energiser lithium batteries, that exceed a total of 3.6 volts, it will reject them as though the power level is empty and turns off, to protect itself.

Sometimes to save the finer electronics, a limiter of current will kick in to save the board from damage. Worry not, I think Kodak have rated their cut off point over zealously. The energiser lithium’s will work, you just need to charge the Kodak batteries fully, put one energiser, and one Kodak battery in together, inside the camera.

Turn it on leave it on for about 3 minutes, take them out, then take another energiser lithium, place that in the camera with the rechargeable Kodak battery, and this will drain a little off the energiser. So that when you take the 2 energisers and put them into the camera they will accept them, because the current has gone down, now your free to use these very strong batteries.

Its simply a case of draining them a little., you could put them temporarily in anything, remote control, radio, toy car. This is only for the energisers, im not too sure if they are good with duracell, but if you do have this problem, try to do the same thing. As rechargeable batteries, are 1.2 volts, and normal batteries are 1.5. but fully charged, 1.2 goes to 1.4, and 1.5 aa batteries, can be as high as 1.7.

I hope this helps someone else, as its so handy for an emergency pair when you are out, sometimes rechargeable, can be so hit or miss, depending on a batch. To sum up, I love this little camera, I hope it lasts a while, for the price these cameras are excellent, I love mine.
Rating: 5 / 5