Kodak Zi6 Camcorder Review

The Kodak Zi6 ($179 MSRP) is yet another in the growing list of ultra-small, ultra-budget camcorders designed for YouTubers and other online video enthusiasts. We've seen mixed results from others trying to copy the success of the Pure Digital Flip, like the mediocre Creative Vado (Review, Specs, $84.99). Kodak is attempting to up the ante here by making not just a small camcorder, but one that records in HD. The results are surprisingly good. If you're playing the video back on your TV or computer, the performance far exceeds the Flip. The obvious problem is that YouTube doesn't support HD, and squeezes the Zi6's footage down a point that flattens any advantages. Read on for more...


















 

The Front (6.75)
The Kodak Zi6 is about as simple as they come. The front of the body looks like a pocket camcorder, and the back (oddly enough) looks like a Blackberry cell phone. It's slim enough to fit in your pocket, and feels cheap enough to crack under reasonable pressure.

The front of the camcorder has a fixed f/2.8 lens (F=4.1mm) in the upper right.  Kodak chose to omit a filter thread for accessories like a wide angle lens, shocking the professional video community. The button to the side of the lens with the USB symbol above it is the release trigger for the USB arm, which extends out from the left side. This design doesn't make much sense. If the USB arm is on the left side, the release trigger should be on the left side. It's junking up an otherwise elegant looking camcorder face. Below the lens is a tiny grill covering a microphone. Further down the face is the playback speaker.

The Kodak Zi6 has a clean and simple look

The Right Side (5.5)
The right side of the Kodak Zi6 is slender, and its parts feel extremely cheap. Near the top is a sliding switch to toggle the lens between tele and macro focal settings. Below that is the SD/SDHC card slot, covered by a strip of hard plastic. The tether on this port cover is simply terrible. It's made out of extremely thin, stretchy plastic, but isn't long enough to get the port cover out of the way when you're trying to access the memory card. So you're forced to push it to the breaking point, which we can't expect to last more than a few months.

Towards the bottom is the battery port, with a port cover that slides and locks into place. The Zi6 runs on AA batteries, a rarity for a camcorder. This is the only decent port on the device that doesn't feel like it's about to tear off in your hands.

Everything feels cheap

The Back (5.0)
The back of the Kodak Zi6 looks remarkably like a cell phone. The top half is composed of a 1.4-inch LCD screen.

Below that, in the center, is the little protuberance of a joystick, well-placed for thumb control. It's actually quite a good, little joystick, considering that it has so few functions. The Zi6 has virtually no manual controls or interface necessities, aside from turning the camcorder on and off. On either side of the joystick are two button. The button on the left is to stop playback or delete a clip. The button on the right is to toggle between record and playback modes.
 

The back of the Kodak Zi6....		looks remarkably like a cell phone.

The Left Side (5.5)
The left side of the Kodak Zi6 features all the connections. Most prominent is the pop-out USB arm, which seems like disaster waiting to happen. Any engineer worth their salt will tell you that moving parts break first. So why, then, would you design the primary connection to have not just one type of movement, but two? The arm pops out, spring-loaded, at a 90-degree angle. But as you push the arm into the body, the USB connection point also tucks itself into the surrounding sleeve, like a turtle pulling its head into its shell.

Below that is are two 1/8th-inch jacks, one for the component-out and one for the composite-out.

The left side houses the ports

The Top (3.5)
The top of the Kodak Zi6 houses the power switch. That's all.

The top is bare, except for the power switch