Portable digital video recorders have come a long way. Starting from convinience to quality, they come in all different shapes and sizes. Most cameras being released today include features that are usually minor.
The Flip series of cameras — Mino HD and Ultra HD have long been the leaders of the pack. However, Kodak recently announced and released the Zi8, a camera designed to produce better quality video. In this post, we’ll take a look at the Zi8 and see how it stands up.
Before we start taking a look at the content, it’s important to state up front that both cameras worked equally well in day light conditions. However, during the day, the Zi8 had a slight advantage over the Flip Mino HD. In certain situations, the Flip over-exposes the images in certain situations, so the image is too bright. On the other hand, the Kodak Zi8 did not demonstrate this flaw.
Difference # 1 – Memory
The Zi8 uses SD cards only to record content, where as the Mino HD only records using internal memory. One of the advantage of using SD cards is that they can easily be purchased when absolutely necessary. So, if you’re traveling on vacation without access to a computer, you can instantly purchase additional cards and use them to keep recording on the Zi8. No such option exists for the Flip Mino HD.
Difference # 2 – Audio
The Zi8 also has the ability to attach a microphone port, which could be useful. If audio is important to you and you have access to a microphone, then the Zi8 should be your choice.
Difference # 3 – Tripod
Both the cameras have tripod mounts. However, the Zi8 has a rounded base, which means that it cannot stand upright on it’s own. If you don’t want to use a tripod all the time, then the Flip Mino HD is for you.
The biggest challenge for all these cameras is low light performance. The following section goes over the low light performance in 3 situations: 1) indoor at night 2) outside with a street lamp and 3) no/extremely minimal light.
Zi8 – Low Light Review
Despite it’s stellar feature set, I was very disappointed with the Kodak Zi8 in low light situations. Every camera move resulted in jerky images, making the video nearly unusable.
Mino HD – Low Light Review
While the Mino HD has been out for a while, it did not demonstrate the jerky image problem mentioned above. However, low light images were very grainy. While they’re usable to a certain extent, they’re far from being adequate.
Overall conclusion:
When it comes to daylight videos, the Zi8 is a better choice. However, when it comes to night time videos, the Flip Mino HD is preferred. Unfortunately, none of these cameras replace traditional camcorders.
