1:00 AM
Paul B
I am a cheap bastard. You guys all know that! That is why I have been using my crappy little Kodak Easy Share camera to film all of the Bauer-Power videos. Since I have been getting a lot of complaints on the quality of the videos, I decided I should get a better camera.
I was thinking about saving up about $500-$600 to purchase a Canon HV20 HD camera, but then I thought better of it. Besides the awesome video quality, the HV20 comes with a mic jack. The only problem is that my Bauer-Power video co-host and I have two microphones, and there is only one mic jack. I figured since I will have to record audio separately anyway for both mics to take care of our audio complaints, and dub it back in later, I might as well save a few hundo, and buy something less expensive.
Enter the Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket video camera. I have seen them all over the internet at various prices, almost all of them for under $150. I got mine refurbished from Geeks.com for under $99 after shipping and handling, but since last weekend, their price for the refurbished model went up to $99 before shipping.
Here are some of the camera's specs:
I decided to shoot a quick video in HD at 30FPS. The reason I didn't do 60 FPS was that my video editor only outputs to 30 FPS, and Youtube converts to 30 FPS, so I figured I was wasting my time shooting a video at 60 FPS if I was just going to edit it and upload it to the internet anyway. Here is my video review so you can get an idea of the video and sound quality:
Final verdict? I love it! For under $100, I just don't think you can beat the quality. The only things I don't like are the 2X zoom because it is too jerky for me, and I don't like that there is no image stabilization. Neither of those things are deal breakers in my opinion though.
If you are trying to figure out whether or not to buy this thing, I say go for it! If you have any more questions about the Zi6, hit me up in the comments!
I was thinking about saving up about $500-$600 to purchase a Canon HV20 HD camera, but then I thought better of it. Besides the awesome video quality, the HV20 comes with a mic jack. The only problem is that my Bauer-Power video co-host and I have two microphones, and there is only one mic jack. I figured since I will have to record audio separately anyway for both mics to take care of our audio complaints, and dub it back in later, I might as well save a few hundo, and buy something less expensive.
Enter the Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket video camera. I have seen them all over the internet at various prices, almost all of them for under $150. I got mine refurbished from Geeks.com for under $99 after shipping and handling, but since last weekend, their price for the refurbished model went up to $99 before shipping.
Here are some of the camera's specs:
Shoots in 720P HD at 60 FPS or 30 FPS
- Has a VGA mode to save space
- Has a 2X digital zoom
- Uses 2 AA Batteries
- Uses SDHC card storage up to 32GB
- Can take 3MP picture snap shots
I decided to shoot a quick video in HD at 30FPS. The reason I didn't do 60 FPS was that my video editor only outputs to 30 FPS, and Youtube converts to 30 FPS, so I figured I was wasting my time shooting a video at 60 FPS if I was just going to edit it and upload it to the internet anyway. Here is my video review so you can get an idea of the video and sound quality:
Final verdict? I love it! For under $100, I just don't think you can beat the quality. The only things I don't like are the 2X zoom because it is too jerky for me, and I don't like that there is no image stabilization. Neither of those things are deal breakers in my opinion though.
If you are trying to figure out whether or not to buy this thing, I say go for it! If you have any more questions about the Zi6, hit me up in the comments!
