| Kodak Playtouch Video Camera Black Only $81.99 @ Amazon   Rated 3 of 5 Stars by 106 Buyers!   |
Kodak Playtouch Video Camera Black
I purchased the PlayTouch and spent a few days comparing it to a borrowed Zi8. I shot a couple of hours of footage in dissimilar situations and at dissimilar resolutions with the two mounted side-by-side. I thought a quick comparison of the two may be utile for others that are looking at the PlayTouch.
There were surely galore improvements in the PlayTouch over the Zi8:
* The device itself is smaller and sleeker. I think it looks a bit better than the older model.
* The low-light performance is better on the PlayTouch. Neither camera is swell in low-light, but the PlayTouch would get a picture in a dark room when the Zi8 would only record black.
* The PlayTouch had a much wider angle lens. My kids constantly seem to come close when the camera comes out, and the wider angle of the PlayTouch was much better in these situations.
* MP4 file format (vs. MOV on the Zi8). The MP4 files from the PlayTouch played back much more comfortable on my Windows machine than the equal MOV files from the Zi8. MP4 and MOV are just the container for the h.264 video inside, but for galore reason everything works better in Windows with MP4. My editing software (Sony Vegas) chokes on the .MOVs produced by the zi8, but works marvelously with MP4s. Obviously QuickTime rocks whether or not you’re on a Mac.
* The PlayTouch has such a heap of nifty “effects” for your video. I don’t think you’d ever use them in real life, but they’re fun to play with for a few minutes and perhaps kids would like them.
There were a few key ares in which the PlayTouch lost out to the Zi8:
* The video on the PlayTouch had WAY too much contrast. In a normal outdoor shot with the sun overhead and such a heap of light shadows from trees, half of the frame was blown out from the sun while the shadowy components looked wholly black. The Zi8 handled these situations with aplomb.
* The user interface on the PlayTouch was much slower and fewer responsive than the Zi8. Everything, from the menus to the time to get started out recording after pressing the button, felt much more sluggish on the PlayTouch.
* The video displayed on the screen while recording is tiny and lagged by when it comes to 1/2 a second. You’d think with a more prominent screen, the video displayed while recording would be bigger, but you’d be incorrect incorrect PlayTouch does display the video bigger on playback in landscape mode, though). The Zi8 video display didn’t lag at all.
* The video on the PlayTouch didn’t look as good as the Zi8 at any resolution. I don’t recognise whether or not it’s due to a lower bitrate or something else in the compression, but the video from the PlayTouch had a lot more blocking and jaggy artifacts.
* In anything but bright light, the PlayTouch video was exceedingly noisy. Much worse than the Zi8.
* The PlayTouch seemed to heat up when recording 1080p video. It didn’t get burning hot, but it was hot sufficient to cause me such a heap of concern.
* The PlayTouch crashed sometimes calling for a reset.
* Battery life was around 1 hour 5 minutes on the PlayTouch, while it was when it comes to 1 hour 30 minutes on the Zi8.
To me it was no question: I returned the PlayTouch and purchased a Zi8. Perhaps galore of the shortcomings of the PlayTouch may be limited in future firmware updates, but the rudimentary effigy quality difficultnesses cannot be limited in firmware — they are intrinsic to the CMOS sensor Kodak chose to put in the PlayTouch. I could overlook the crummy user interface for the low light improvement, wider angle lens, and MP4 container format, but the severe step down in video quality makes it totally unlikely for me to the consider the PlayTouch.
This item is an magnificent caera/ video recorder. It has simplistic instructions that anybody may follow, a set of touc-screen choices that are so easy to comprehend that it makes me wish all my itesm would come with set-ups like this, and it makes for swell keepsakes. Considering the size of the thing, you in addition have a cool streaming piece of electronics that takes 11 5MP photos on normal with it is internal memory and takes around 30 seconds of video with the internals. Thats nice and only has one downside that I noticed and I’ll not later oftentimes say that because I am being goal to be attained and I want this to be cited but not too take away from the camera/ recorder).
I think the primary thing I ought to note is that facebook, twitter, and other sites are not my noraml routines. Still, this hooks with them effortlessly and I say that being a amateur on the sites. I as well saw how without apparent effort the thing is to program and send video and pictures in emails to people, and that amazed me. It just plugs into the computer and it is gone.
Speaking of computers, this has to be one of the most easygoing plug and go choices on the planet. It does most of the work for me and it has a lot of idiot-proofing to go along with it is I am not a person that likes to read a lot of instructions and likes to learn on the fly. This is designed for that type of person BUT has a outstanding set of prompts that allows you to read OR look at pictures. Also, it has a lot of language variations in it is paper insert I note because such a outstanding deal of humans are not good with computers at all and do not like their instructions on a file).
As far as features, you have a few things you may do with the film that are in truth astounding and that come with a lot of things now. That includes film differences, zoominging, facial finding software, and so much more. This is all done with the ease you find in so much touch streen stuff that doe not have that a swell deal of options, only this does so much. Its just easy to udnerstand and seems to be designed by a person that planned on using it.
You have glare guards, the ability to fix your pictures, review and fixing abilities, ways to crop, and ways to clean up the images. That is good whether or not you take bad photos, or whether or not you are in a rush. I noticed I could set this to take outstanding stuff in the light or in the night, and that home or outside are all great and easy. Honestly, I would see this as a great gift potential, permitting somebody from a pre-technolgoy generation to place their stamp on whatsoever day they want.
The one downside to this is that it does not have an SD card with it is It DOEs have internal memory, but no SD card makes it a small confusing. Still,t his is merely a note and not a flaw. You are treated so good here that it seems like a hand-out is expected. Even the bag is sooo soft that I would use it to clean glasses – you sort of get spoiled by the thought of what could come next.
The charge last a long time, too, and I was surprised by that. I charged it and was playing with it for three days and it did not give me any problems. I merely plugged in the stuff it said, starting with the battery that was without doubt or question shown in a picture, and then hit the switch on the side that looks just like my power icon on my computer/X-box/ a million other things. And then I utilized the huge button that seems like the natural option to get me going. Everything else sort of came together and within two hours I had done everything I could with the intructions – and that is not a slight on this machine.
It is amazingly good. I have played with other things, the Flip and whatnot, and they are not one thing equated to this. Other pieces seem like toys setting on a table with an electronic device.
This EASILY deserves the 5 stars because it is HD, blows images up where you may play, has a mic that you may adjust to get sound from (these are hard on that one thing and I perpetually seem to think they are all a small small and it responds to tilting. Icons like to go where I am going and i like it a lot.
Thank you.
This camera is excellent. Ive experienced freeze-ups a couple of times but this camera is magnificent and more than competent of shooting quality footage. Completely upgradeable with camera lights, microphones and broad lens. I had the zi8 and its beauteous much the same thing accept for the touch screen feature and the ability to trim videos on the camera itself. I love it and have already put it to good applied I unquestionably reccommend this productions
it deserves 4 stars, but other reviews have been more negative than they ought to have been so I’m making up for it.
camera works well, my one complaint is the sound. internal mic sucks, piercing noises are clicky…an external mic would most likely be a wise investment. otherwise, its suitable all of my needs and I have no complaints
This camera is worth having for the exceptional effects shooting modes alone. You may choose to shoot either video or still photos in normal mode, or in high saturation (ultra vivid bright 70′s (muted and faded colors), black and white or sepia. The normal mode is excellent for a cmera in this price range. But I use it for the high saturation and sepia effects. In the past month, I have taken shots of the mountain opinions with the leaves changing, at dawn and at dusk for the lighting effects. The high saturation mode makes great shots into spectacular shots. Sure, you could take your normal shots and Photoshop them for the high saturation, but it’s genuinely easy to take them in the high saturation mode and be able to upload them like that to Facebook or Flickr straight from the camera. Being able to shoot video in black and white or sepia is as well a lot of fun. It’s easy to make old movies or moody movies with those humble And whether or not you shoot video in the 70′s mode, it in truth looks like the old Super 8 footage. Lots of fun! You may be so originative with this camera, and all you have to do is push a button! Super super easy to use.
I find the quality of the video and still photos to be excellent. Obviously, they won’t be as tack sharp as those from my Nikon, but certainly for the price of this camera, the photos are genuinely great. For daily use, the quality is what you would expect from Kodak.
Also, you can edit your video right in the camera. It allows you to delete parts of the video you don’t want, so that you can upload a more finished video clip.
Yes, there are such a lot of cons. The video transfer to your computer or to an online website is accomplished via a USB arm that comes out of the side of the camera (just like a Flip camera). The idea is that you can use the arm to plug the camera directly into your computer. The arm is very delicate, in my views I wouldn’t plug the arm directly into the computer and let the camera just hang in the air- I think the weight of the camera would break the arm. Rather, I have a short USB cable that I plug the arm into, then plug the cable into the computer. I put the camera on my desk, with the cable running to the computer. Problem solved. You can get such a cable right here on Amazon.com. AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (3.3 Feet / 1.0 Meter)
Also, transferring video to your computer or uploading it directly from the camera to Facebook or Flickr takes a few minutes. The transfer is done through Kodak’s software interface, and it seems a tad slow to me. But not a huge deal.
Some reviewers have complained with regards to the lack of responsiveness of the touch screen. The zoom is indeed accomplished by just resting your finger on the + or – button. Tapping is not necessary, and in fact ruins your photo clarity. It’s not necessary. Just exercise for a few minutes, and get the hang of its It can be smooth. I will say that it is easy to touch the wrong part of the screen and switch from shooting mode to viewing mode, but all you have to do is touch the button you use to take the photos and the screen switches back.
Yes, the camera does crash. Not often times (I use it every day and it has happened twice in a month). I spoke with tech help in regards to this, and they are working on a fix. Meanwhile, if the camera freezes or crashes, plainly remove the battery for a few seconds, and then put it back in. Fixed! And by the way, Kodak phone tech assist for this camera is excellent, ought to you need it.
I highly commend this camera, in spite of the few problems, because of the dissimilar shooting humble Well worth the price just for those effects!
Let me just get started off by saying the low light video quality is absolutely horrible. It’s blurry and pixelated. It works alright outside in an overcast sky. It doesn’t look “HD” like it claims. I tried 720p 30/60 and 1080p. All disappointed me…
Jello effect is still there and there is this annoying jerk to video… Where it like stops for a slip second and skips now and then.
The mic on this is very meh… I had to crank it nearly to max to get decent sound levels. The bad thing is even a very small breeze have a tendancy to make noise in the mic. I got the new firm ware that was freed in September for the wind issue. Doesn’t seem like it did anything.
Another major issue I had with this is the zoom feature. Given that it’s touch grounded on It tends to not function half the time leaving to un-smooth zooming. Your supposed to leave your finger on the area to zoom in and out smoothly… But it seldom works leaving you to tap it is Even then it still doesn’t want to zoom when you tell it too. I’m not certain why it does this. But all the finger oil may have something to do with it.
The software isn’t stream lined like they leave you to believe. It installs galore programs each with their own purpose.
The manual is small more then a very quick begin up guide. Nothing in depth at all. Leaving persons with little knowlage to cave man it.
Overall this cam is NOT worth the $229 asking pricey Save money and get a Zi8 for $117… Unless you want touch and percentage features.
Step 1) read the reviews on Amazon for the Kodak Play Touch, both positive and negative. Then, if you have already purchased the camera, make certain you read “Beth’s” replies as a Kodak rep. She’s right on the money. Step 2) Make sure you download the latest firmware modified Step 3) Make sure the distance lever is set in the middle (mountain setting) most of the time.
My experience is as follows. Out of the box, I had such a heap of minor problems. After I altered and made sure I had the focus lever where it will have to be, I got good pictures with just a little practices The built in microphone works, but could use such a good deal of betterment by Kodak. I’ve got an older Flip camera that has better sound, but the Kodak Play Touch takes way better images, particularly using HD.
After using the camera for a while, I recommend buying it for the intent it was designed, namely casual movies that can be uploaded onto the web or played back on your tv or computer monitor. This is not a high end video camera, but rather a very commodious and unobtrusive way to have such a great deal of fun at parties or with family.
The touch screen works for me when it comes to as well as physical buttons and a menu strategy that are on most cameras. No complaint here, but you have to get utilized to its The built in USB in truth helps as it does on the Flip camera. The built in editing capability as well works, but you get better results using more sophisticated software on your computer.
All in all, a good camera for its intended purposes
I purchased this camera not long ago to replace my Zi8 (which still works great and is a trooper). The video quality is the same, I have not noticed any major differences except the following:
1) Playtouch shoots wider angle at 720p)
2) Playtouch appears to handle low light a little little Even better build quality
4) Touch screen with onboard editing feature
The external mic jack is great for Vlogging, and the zoom takes such a lot of becoming employed to – (recommend you don’t tap it). I have not experienced the freezing or heating issues, the camera came with the altered firmware out of the box.
The on screen editing is really cool, I like that you can also pull a picture out of the video. Overall, really great camera and I’ve switched off of my Zi8 because of the wider angle.
Things to consider – (issues)
1) It is easy to use, but not as “stupid simple” as the Zi8. Whenever you get away from buttons and move to an “on screen” experience with editing features you will add such a great deal of complexity. However, spend a few minutes with it and you’ll quickly get utilized to it.
2) It is a little slower in picture mode than the Zi8. Not a problem with me since I use it primarily for video, but just something to be conscious conscious I get click with the mic (popping sound) when I plug in an external mic. I’ve eradicated this with playing with the gain on the mic volume, which is built into the camera – but be conscious that this may take such a lot of getting used to and you should experiment with it and make a few videos to get the right settings mix before you go out and start shooting. I think this issue would be dissimilar with different types of mics, so make sure you play with yours before shooting.
4) These cameras require an SDHC card. This is actually an advantage, because you can exaggerate the memory or put multiple cards in, and for me I have a laptop that takes SDHC cards, so I don’t even bother with the USB cable most of the time. With 32GB, you can record up to 10 hours of video in 720p mode I think. But I listed it as an issue because I think if you don’t know you need to purchase one, you can be disappointed to find that it only has 128MB of memory on board. So order at least a 4GB SDHC card when you purchase its