Summary Kodak Playsport: This product is almost perfect considering the price and quality. People need to understand what they are buying and stop giving bad ratings 150 dollar camcorder and nitpicking. Zi8 was so well received last year, and this is exactly the same image sensor, the camera is only cheaper because there is no external mic jack and no macro mode. But this will be the EXACT same quality video with these Zi8. I was one day from taking Zi8 to travel to the Grand Canyon next month - and came across these posts that mention Zx3. So I saw it and was glad. I save a few bucks and have a camera ALOS more rough.
Pros: Same as camera Zi8 exactly that, minus the external mic jack and macro mode.
Waterproof to 3M
Very good quality video, 720p/60fps tested on 42 "TV and looks great.
Cons: EIS is too wimpy for my shaky hands.
Low-light video bad (but so is every other pocket camcorders)
All in all, you have to understand what you are buying - a pocket camcorder that takes video qaulity is very good - better than your cell phone camera, and easier to carry around than a conventional camcorder. Great buy at 150.00, I got an 8GB memory card from Amazon for just 15 dollars. The only hangup is the EIS - my hands were shaking and sometimes do not come in in the video. Hopefully fix the firmware will come out soon. This runs from the canceled for recordings within about three seconds so it will capture whatever you want without waiting till you get stuck power.
excellent quality for what it is. This will not disappoint. I have a DSLR camera, and the last thing I want is two large pieces of equipment to lug around on vacation. This is good and if you are not a professional, this will capture the moments and memories they will look great when you remember for years to come.
