Lightsurgery

Photo by John Biehler

Around November, in readiness for Christmas, I had been looking at purchasing a new video camera.
I had decided that although my Panasonic Mini DV was perfectly adequate both in terms of quality and portability, I really wanted something that would go everywhere with me, without compromising on video quality – but on a tight budget.
I was also interested in making the upload of footage to video editing software, and on to the internet as smooth a journey as possible.

After considering various hand held devices, and focusing on the idea that the newer-style handleld you-tube ready cameras like the Flip (with built in USB connection) was ideal and at about the right price, I found the Kodak Zi6.

Normally I’d stay clear of brands like Kodak and focus more on either well established camera companies like Canon – for quality. Or go completely the other way, and have a punt on some unknown brand, perhaps better established in South East Asia – for price, and features.

Video quality and memory

The Kodak Zi6 is well built, shoots in HD60 as well as HD720, 640, and still image.
No inbuilt memory means spending extra on SD card (but they are cheap as chips anyway), and a 4gig SD will give about an hour of HD.

Batteries

The 2 batteries that come with the Zi6 are standard recharchable AA (a recharger is provided). The batteries on the one hand increase the weight of the unit, but do mean no matter where you are, if you run out of juice, you have a good chance of getting hold of something to power up again very soon. Batteries lasted me, on a complete journey from Switzerland to the UK – capuring just under an hour of footage – without showing signs of running out fully.