A Review of the Kodak Zi8 as a Cheap YouTube Digital Camcorder

Of the three cheap digital camcorders reviewed in this series, the Kodak Zi8 is the best choice for creating and uploading videos to YouTube. Read this review to find out what you’ll be missing if you don’t choose the Kodak Zi8.

The Kodak Zi8 Camcorder

In the first article in this series, we discussed the ideal features a cheap, digital camcorder would need to be a good choice for creating and uploading videos to YouTube. In that article, we identified four attributes: portability, video quality, audio quality, and the features that make uploading to YouTube easy.

In this final review of the series, we uncover the features of the Kodak Zi8 digital camcorder. Among other cheap digital camcorders, the Zi8 stands out as a the best choice for those YouTubers who want to step their videos up and out of the amateur level and into a more professional production.

Portability
Rating

What sets the Flip UltraHD apart from the SONY Bloggie was 8GB of memory that allowed for 2 hours of record time. The Kodak Zi8 takes a middle-of-the-road approach to memory shipping with just enough to shoot a few test shots. Still, this memory is not enough to shoot any length of video that would allow the owner to avoid having to buy an SD/SDHC card. Impressively, however, a 32 SD/SDHC card will allow you to shoot up to 10 hours of video.

A relatively inexpensive Li-Ion battery powers the Kodak Zi8. The inexpensive part is important allowing you to buy several if needed to satisfy your camcorder’s thirst for power as you shoot extended videos in the field.

Finally, being able to shoot 5MP still images eliminates the need to carry other equipment around. Compact, lightweight, and easy to handle, Kodak made the Zi8 for ultra portability.

Video Quality
Rating

The video quality of a cheap digital camcorder in this class can hardly be expected to compete with the video quality of a larger, more expensive camcorder solution. Still, the Kodak Zi8’s video quality is a bit above average for a portable camcorder of this kind.

Capable of shooting up to 1080p High Definition video, the Kodak Zi8 camcorder outclasses the Flip UltraHD, the number one selling ultra portable camcorder. Unfortunately, the Zi8 does save videos in MOV rather than the MP4 format such as with the Flip UltraHD and the SONY Bloggie. Luckily, however, the MOV is still compressed with the H.264 standard, the same standard used by YouTube. By compressing in YouTube’s native format, you can be assured that what you get from the camera is what you will see when uploaded to YouTube.