A few weeks ago I posted some unboxing shots of the newly released Kodak Playsport. I think I have used it long enough now to write a fair review of the product.

Features

I will begin first discussing some of the features of the Playsport.
It is capable of 4 video modes, WVGA, 720p, 720p 60fps and 1080p. It is also capable of one still photo setting of 5mp.

I am sure the 1080p quality level of recording is a huge selling point, but I tend to use 720p for the most part. The size/quality ratio just seems to be better for 720p. I feel that if I use 1080p for most videos, it is basically overkill and will just fill my card much faster than necessary. The 720p 60fps mode uses the same storage space as a 1080p video, but when there is a lot of motion this mode is clearly the best. It is very smooth with little to no motion blur when recording at 60fps. It is great. Truely.

Unlike the Kodak Zi8, the Playsport does not have an external mic jack or a macro mode. But, the focusing distance on the Playsport is fairly short so the macro mode isn’t really a big deal. Also, like many other pocket video cameras the Playsport does not have an optical zoom, only digital. Digital zoom in my opinion is practically useless, but others might care to use it.

Build Quality

The best part about this pocket video camera is the build quality. As soon as I originally took it out of the box I knew it was built well. It has a nice weight to it and is very sturdy. It has a rubberized coating to make it very easy to grip. The rubber grip is needed for easy handling while the camera is wet, because after all the Playsport is completely waterproof up to 10ft.

Video/Photo quality

The video quality of the Playsport is great considering it’s price tag and general size. In low light, still photos and videos are fairly grainy, but I totally expected that to be honest. The video filesizes are fairly large, but once again, it’s expected when you are dealing with high resolution video files.

Below is one short sample video I recorded in daylight. This is not the best sample, because Flickr reencodes the videos, but it gives you a general idea of the clarity, and the EIS (electronic image stabilization). Also are 2 sample still photos. One was taken in sunlight, the other at night.

Sound Quality

The sound quality on the Playsport is average. It contains a built in mono condenser microphone. It picks up sound from a fairly decent distance, but if you are in any sort of wind forget about getting usable audio. Indoors it works fairly well because there shouldn’t be much wind, at least we hope so right?

Other Comments and Issues

Getting the files off of the Playsport on my iMac is fairly simple. All you do is connect the device via the included USB cable and it mounts just like an SD card reader would. There is one major bug though. When you remove the files from the device, it starts using the same filenames over again. This is a major problem if you want to put all of your videos and photos in the same folders, you might accidentally overwrite one of your older files. I hope a firmware update is released to fix this issue quickly.

Conclusion

Overall I am happy with my purchase of the Playsport. I also purchased an 8gb class 6 SDHC card to go with it. 8gb will get about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours of recording time depending on the quality setting you are using. If you need more storage, it supports up to a 32gb SDHC card, but remember the battery will most likely die before you run out of storage if you have larger than an 8gb card. Fortunately, the battery is easily replaceable, so you can buy extra one for about $20 if you need more recording time.

Related posts:

• Kodak Playsport Unboxing
• Kodak Playsport, Coming Very Soon
• Mac Mini HTPC?
• FiOS component cable problems
• Amazon High Definition Week: June 8 – 12