Kodak PlaySport on sale at Amazon

Got an email today from Amazon.com, they're pushing their pre-black Friday sales. Thought somebody here might be interested in the new Kodak PlaySport ZX5 bundle.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ref=pe_182460_21737710_pe_b1_t/?ASIN=B005HSDJT4

Interesting . . . any one used one of these? 

Oh yeah, they're great. Good video and decent pictures. Target also has a good selection of waterproof cameras and I think the playsport too. They're not as nice as the go pro but for the price it's hard to beat.

I use a Playsport for all of my newer videos and I'm happy with it.

www.youtube.com/megapickles

I use the older model (Zx3) though, which has a removable battery.  The new ones have an integrated battery, which doesn't make any sense to me.  I have about four extra rechargeable batteries I carry with me in my dry bag.  What good is a 16 Gig memory card if you're limited to an hour of record time by the battery because you can't take it out and put a new one in?

I'd be happy to give my own review of the ZX5.

I've had it a few months now and find it very "user freindly". Here are my comments both pro's and cons:

1     I admit I abuse cameras pretty good. Most of the digital cameras I have owned over the last several years have died for one of 2 reasons. Dust/dirt gets in the optical lens closure or zoom and the plastic gears strip out, or it gets dropped or banged around and quits or starts doing funny things. The PlaySport should stand up to both of those causes.

2     Picture quality is as good as I could ever expect- probably even better!

3.    The low price for this quality of camera makes it a "no brainer" for the every day user. There are however, some cool immaging and picture settings that I find uselss for what I use a camera like this for. This is pretty much a "point and shoot" camera which is probably 99% of what most people would want a camera for. For those professional photographers- this isnt "that" kind of camera, although you would be impressed by it for what it is.

4     I find the operation and use very easy and convienient. Its nice to quickly pull it out of my pocket and snap a picture (or video) with one hand. I like this slim "pocket size" design over the GoPro.

5.    The ZX5 has an internal battery unlike the ZX3. I must admit I was sceptical when I bought it about not being able to stick a fresh set of batteries in the field when needed. So far the life of the internal battery has not been and issue- Not even close.  I have barely lost 2 bars of battery life at any given time. Even when stored for a long time with no use. This has FAR exceeded my expectations. I'll bet you could easily fill at least 4 16 GIG cards on one single battery charge.

By far my biggest (and only) complaint is the free video editing software that comes with the camera. It is totally not user friendly, but what do you expect for free, right? Just plan on buying something to take advantage of making and editing your own clips. You might also want to make sure your computer and video speed is up to snuff to run the HD resolution up there. But I won't knock the camera down on eigher of those counts. I give it a 5 out of 5 Stars!

I'll bet you could easily fill at least 4 16 GIG cards on one single battery charge.

The battery in the Zx5 is a lithium ion battery which means that if it's comparable in size to the battery the Zx3 uses(also lithium ion), you're looking at less than 1000 mAh.  I've tested this out and I've found that I am able to get about an hour and a half of straight, uninterrupted record time (720p @30fps)with the Zx3 on a fresh charge.  It uses up card space at that resolution setting at about 3.4 GB per hour.  So if I get an hour and a half of record time per battery charge, that's a little over 5 GB of memory space for one battery life.

One complaint I have read about the Zx5 versus the older Zx3 is the Zx5 has a 1/3.2 sensor which is smaller than the Zx3 with a 1/2.5.  Bigger usually means better when it comes to the sensor.  But I am no expert.  I have read reviews where people have complained about more noise in lower light conditions than the older model.  I have not compared them myself, though.  The Zx3 that I used to have (Davey Jones now owns it) actually did quite well indoors  for video.  Better than my GoPro HD Hero.   Plus you can zoom the playsports. 

Check out Rawkfish's (aka megapickles) videos.  He made some great videos with his playsport.  I love the one from the ORC.  Great music choice.

I just saw a sale w/a bunch of extras tossed in. It's cool to see you Lamda Lamda Lamda's break it on down. :-)

Integrated batteries really do suck though for any type of outdoors product. The ability to swap fresh batts w/out charging the device is highly under-rated.

Some day solar charging might be integrated, or memory cards might carry a charge. Until then I'm still pretty happy w/my Pentax W90. I bought my first Pentax (ME Super 35mm) in '87 and I have gone through Olympus and Canon etc. but Pentax still makes great gadgets.

I read recently Kodak is on the verge of bankruptcy (they may not make it until year's end) if they don't generate enough cash from their patent cache that they are attempting to liquidate. Kind of sad, Eastman Kodak was the Google/Apple of yesteryear.

Proud to be one of them!

I just saw a sale w/a bunch of extras tossed in. It's cool to see you Lamda Lamda Lamda's break it on down. :-)

Don't get me wrong, it's a good heads up so thanks for posting it.  You can also find the same type of package deal for the Zx3 right now.