Choose: Kodak Zx3 or Zi8?

[UnknownVT]

Originally Posted by fishycomics

Dippy da dip at home depot some rubber dip will do the trick. on the zi8 oh man did I give away the secret. yeah go getem.

What a cool idea to use rubber dip......

..... doesn't that cover the lens !
but it is waterproof!

[fishycomics]

how do you dip and how far is your choice. so yeah if you dip that far.

dip one dip many. dip with one color or dip with many

cover it up for protection or be brave

I say be warned not to try it at home

[UnknownVT]

Originally Posted by fishycomics

how do you dip and how far is your choice. so yeah if you dip that far.

dip one dip many. dip with one color or dip with many

cover it up for protection or be brave

I say be warned not to try it at home

Joking aside - how would you dip the Zi8?
would the buttons, speaker and mic apertures, access doors, and obviously lens be masked?

This would put the skins I saw on the web back into consideration -
probably not as cheap as rubber dip per unit -
but there is virtually no risk of dip ingress into or on to undesired places -

Here's a page of Zi8 skins (not too expensive at about $10 shipped)
and their FAQ on skins

Page of Zx3 skins

[UnknownVT]

Originally Posted by UnknownVT

One of the main reasons I bought the Zx3 was for waterproof and rugged build -
not that the Zi8 is particularly fragile or flimsy -
This was one of the reasons why I didn't take the Zi8 out more often.
I obviously came across the Kodak made silicone sleeve - this is plain black and stretch fits over the body leaving cutouts for access.
Anyway I like this silicone sleeve it gives the Zi8 significantly more protection - although the Zi8 is still not waterproof - it seems that it will stand up to rougher use.
Kodak Part # 1736933

A good addition for the Zi8 - seems to offer good protection.

Call me fickle ...

but with the addition of this simple silicone sleeve has made me take the Zi8 out more often.

Remember I have the choice of the Zi8 and waterproof and more rugged PlaySport Zx3 -
to which one accompanies me out to my usual photo gigs.

I now seem to favor the Zi8 in its sleeve.
Whereas BS
(before sleeve) I chose the Zx3.

The main reason now for the use of the Zi8 over the Zx3 is the file sizes -
Zi8 uses much more intelligent and efficient vbr compared to the cbr of the Zx3 - this makes the Zi8 files (@720p/30fps) about 1/3 that of the Zx3 - with little or no difference in image quality I can see (of course YMMV).

Just to be fair I think the videos from the Zi8 and Zx3 are very comparable - to me very good quality.
It's just that the Zi8 manages to store them in 1/3 the space of the Zx3.........

I can record over 3 hours on a single 4Gb SDHC on the Zi8
whereas on the Zx3 an 8Gb can only hold 2hour 12min.........

Of course if I was going out in the rain, to the beach, or any other more rugged outdoor thing - I would definitely choose the Zx3 over the Zi8.

So currently my fickle choice is the Zi8 in it silicone sleeve for regular everyday use -
Zx3 for special more rugged, or wet events.......

If I had to buy only one
then I think the Zx3 still would be my choice -
but I have both, and am glad of it........

[UnknownVT]

Originally Posted by UnknownVT

The main reason now for the use of the Zi8 over the Zx3 is the file sizes -
Zi8 uses much more intelligent and efficient vbr compared to the cbr of the Zx3 - this makes the Zi8 files (@720p/30fps) about 1/3 that of the Zx3 - with little or no difference in image quality I can see (of course YMMV).

This is true for long recordings -
I used the file sizes from my battery duration tests -
~1.5-1.75 hours.

However my normal recording is much shorter than that, mostly a single song length - about 2.5-4.5 mins, occasionally up to 12 minutes.

What difference does that make?

Well it can be quite a lot - especially on shorter clips.

The Zi8 much more intelligent and efficient vbr (variable bitrate) has an overhead "penalty" earlier on - initially it is at a very high bitrate - when the Zi8 seems to be analyzing the video, before dropping to a much lower bitrate.

This initial period, unfortunately, is not a constant
I have seen it as low as about 10 secs, to my own recordings of up to almost 2mins.

Here's a typical music clip:

starts off at very high bitrate peak 16,450kbps then eventually drops to an almost constant rate of just under 4,000kbps at about 1.5 mins

So this means if one's clip is about 1 min the Zi8 doesn't get a chance to drop its bitrate significantly so the file size will actually be bigger than the equivalent from the Zx3 -

this short 1m 16s clip shows that the Zi8 doesn't even drop below 10,000kps so the file size will be bigger than on the Zx3 which records at a cbr (constant bitrate) of about 8,000kbps.

The break even point for my typical music recordings would be around 2.25mins - then beyond that the Zi8 files sizes will be smaller than the Zx3.

at 2min 16 secs the average bitrate for the Zi8 on this clip is just under 8,000kps which is about the same as the Zx3.


Different subject matter and different resolutions may give different results - but the Zi8 is only more efficient on file sizes over the Zx3 at 720p/30fps on recordings of more than about 2min 15secs.

[UnknownVT]

Just found out an amazing price for the Zi8
brand new $70 shipped from Office Max (online only) -

http://www.officemax.com/catalog/sku...Id=prod2940305

that's almost a no-brainer -
lots of change to get one of those Zi8 silicone sleeves......
spare battery and bigger SDHC card.

Hope that helps someone.

[hkleissner]

i plugged my cam.with the wrong usb cable in to my laptop,and since that point i cant turn it on anymore,plese need help

[fishycomics]

Originally Posted by hkleissner

i plugged my cam.with the wrong usb cable in to my laptop,and since that point i cant turn it on anymore,plese need help

Plugging usb Pc to cam will charge and turn on

remove sd card. remove battery. and try again. see if battery is not fried, if it is then you mayneed to try a new one to see it work? ifit does not then Warranty service