	Accessories & Supplies

Batteries, Chargers & Accessories

Kodak PlaySport (Zx3) HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera (Black)

Zoom

Kodak PlaySport (Zx3) HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera (Black)

(1198 customer reviews)

List Price:	$149.00
Our Price:	$99.99
You Save:	$49.01 (33%)
Shipping:	Free
*Shipping:

SKU:

DH-ZX3BLKCN

In Stock

Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Note: Item may be sold and shipped by another company. Learn more.

Features

Waterproof up to 10 ft. (3 m)
Full 1080p HD video
Electronic image stabilization
Brilliant 2.0 in. color display
Capture 5 megapixel HD stills (16:9)

Description

Kodak PLAYSPORT Digital Camcorder 1442102 Camcorders

Product Details

Product Length:	4.4 inches
Product Width:	0.8 inches
Product Height:	2.3 inches
Product Weight:	1.3 pounds
Package Length:	6.6 inches
Package Width:	6.0 inches
Package Height:	3.0 inches
Package Weight:	1.2 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 1198 reviews

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 3.5

( 1198 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1093 of 1105 found the following review helpful:

Nice small & rugged, HD Pocket video camera Apr 11, 2010 By D. Wylie "Big D"
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3E0TCWWZSVVKE OK lets start off with this camera is $149 keep that in mind.

The 5.3MP still photos are fairly good, not to bad, but remember this is a video camera first
a dedicated 5MP still photo camera will take much better photos, but again hey these aren't to shabby it just depends on what your trying to do. Quick shots here and there...excellent and better than any cell phone I've had. At a wedding where you want crystal clear and sharp photos....well not so much.

The HD video camera is pretty nice, easy to use and I was just stunned at the digital zoom.
It actually works and works well, not to blocky or grainy...more so at the extreme 4x level but at 2x to about 3x the camera compensated nicely and actually cleared up the image...not sure how they do it, but they do.

As others have noted, with rapid movement of the camera you will notice your image jumps or shakes.
Now remember what I told you to keep in mind $149. Yes it does have that little "feature", but it's not
a $299 video camera with a higher quality lens and CCD. Slow down, don't go from left to right or up and
down at 100MPH and it's not bad. Moving images within the video are fine, it's just if you move the camera
itself very rapidly you will notice it.

I tried the 3 HD video modes, and it also has a standard resolution mode as well that I did not try.
I compared all 3 with and with out the image stabilization on which did not seem to improve or degrade the
image at all.

At 720p 30 fps - Not to bad, noticed the jumpyness or shakyness of the image as I moved left to right in my test,
but slow down and it's not to bad.

At 720p 60 fps - Now were getting better, really not bad at all, again not $300 video camera good, but
pretty darn nice, and clearer and the shakyness of the video smoothed out a bunch, again slow down in your
movements for best quality.

At 1080p 30fps - Nice quality...really nice, but the jumpyness of the video is back, you have to take it a bit
slower but nice quality all in all.

I did not try the underwater mode, but assume it works as advertised everything else has so far.

Now I throughly loved the fact that there are no CD's with this camera, nothing in the box to load.
You simply plug in the provided USB cable and the software...every bit of it and all the drivers you need for
the camera are built right in and install on your PC from the camera...this is an excellent feature, I always
misplace the CD's and have to download from the website anyhow.

Speaking of downloading from the website ... this camera is flash upgradeable with new firmware I went to the
Kodak website and found that there was an upgrade I could download to correct a few minor anomalies that they
found...cool so hopefully this camera gets even more corrections in the near future and maybe a feature update
someday?

I also loved the fact that ALL the cables came with the camera. HDMI, USB, and Component video cables...
All of them... they can charge you at least $10 for each individual cable, but they give them to you with
the camera for $149, now how great is that ?!?!

As at least one other reviewer has said, yes - there is no case or protective sleeve that comes with the camera,
but I would take the cables over a case anyday, you know what ever they included it wouldn't be what you wanted.
Either they gave you a sleeve and you wanted a case for your accessories or they gave you a case and you didn't
want to carry all the accessories so you go out and buy yourself a protective sleeve or pouch. So just go get what you want ...
I myself purchased the Kodak Case that Amazon recommended to me .... also a nice purchase, perfect size not to big,
not to small and has a little accessory area that you can carry one of the cables and a spare battery if you need.

This camera feels rugged and well built. It's easy to use, lots of features like image stabilization and face
tracking, it comes with all the cables, free software that's always with you in the camera, and costs only $149.

So not to bad at all, and my conclusion is this if your looking for a sharp and crisp still photo camera drop the
$100 just for that and buy one, if your looking for a excellent video quality camera drop the $300 just for that
and buy one. But....If your looking for a pretty nice, simple and decent quality camera that does it all and
is rugged enough to go out in the rain or underwater drop $149 and buy this one.

I've included a video I compiled and edited down to show the different resolutions and the photos. Keep in mind
that while your viewing that this is an flv file and the actual quality that the camera will give you will be
much higher than what I was able to upload to Amazon, meaning you'll get better quality than what you see on here.

1172 of 1190 found the following review helpful:

Great little camera, excellent underwater! Mar 28, 2010 By Mason Winterhalter
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3CVENCPX9P9WG I shot this using the Kodak PlaySport while snorkeling off of Ixtapa, Mexico. The water wasn't the clearest, but I did get pretty good results. It looked really great in the pool. It also looks great above water! I use it at my son's baseball games and I have been amazed at the quality. Hands down the best thing about this camera is the size. It's so easy to slip in a pocket and just carry around. Great little vacation camera. My only complaint is that the control wheel is a little small. I would often accidentally stop recording while trying to zoom in or out. You get used to it though and it is a minor annoyance. I highly recommend this camera.

354 of 360 found the following review helpful:

Best Water Proof HD Video and Still Camera. Mar 09, 2010 By Mortal Kombat "AVPhile"
I am a Canon diehard fan. But Canon does not have anything that compares to Kodak Playsport HD waterproof pocket video camera. At 1080P the video recording is acceptable. But, at 720p and 60 frames per second this camera rocks, the results are great. I have used it around and in water, the blue filter helps under water. I am planning to use this for our Disney World vacation this year in the Water Parks.

This camera takes 5MP HD Stills, so now I have a camera that can take video and stills on demand wet or dry. I have other camera's in the same category like Flip and Samsung both do not compare, even at 720p 60 frames per second. $150.00 pricetag is also very affordable.

Easy to carry, very user friendly to move files from the camera to the computer or directly to Youtube. Nightvision would be nice but most of my recordings will be in Daylight. Bottom line great camera and I have no cons to talk about.

165 of 171 found the following review helpful:

The Kodak Zx3 is an utter delight and totally heavenly. Apr 27, 2010 By HIROHITO99
Over Christmas, my wife decided to award my awesomeness by getting me a Zi6. I loved this camera like a fat kid likes cake and took it with me everywhere that I went. Suddenly, my daughter was living her own personal Truman Show and everyone on my Facebook friends list was subject to video after video that I'd shot just about anywhere that we were of her being cute.

Not even a half a year had passed before I was totally devoted to the idea of the Zi6 but still wanting something with a little more horsepower under the hood (Image Stabilization, Facial Detection, Backlight Suppression). I was planning to go with the Zi8 but then I found this little bad boy. The Zx3 is essentially like the dashing, more adventurous midget version of the Zi8. It has the Zi8's guts but in a pint sized, water-proof body.

Pros:

1. Its freaking waterproof! In my opinion, this is almost 100% necessary with a camera that you carry around with you all the time. I'm often too stupid to come in out of the rain so the mere fact that this camera can take the moisture makes it a perfect fit for me.

2. Facial Detection, it works! The camera does an outstanding job of metering from whoever's grill that I happen to be getting all up in while using it. There's a noticeable lag when panning from the shadows to some sun-worshiping hippy but it's not that much. Maybe 1/3 of a second.

3. The image stabilization keeps my shots steady even when I'm jogging behind my 4 year old little girl as she goes from one place to the other being totally riot. It's digital instead of optical so it isn't perfect but it's still a far cry better than the Zi6. It¡¦s definitely a welcome upgrade as my footage no longer looks quite so much like every scene in Cloverfield.

4. I don't use the backlight suppression as much as I thought that I would (mostly don't need it) but its nice having it there.

5. I personally think that the low light performance of this camera is quite crunk! I've read lots of other reviews with people complaining about it but these folks probably complain that they don't get a side of caviar whenever they order a drive through happy meal. It's a pocket-sized camera. In my opinion, the Zx3 has the best low light resolution that you're going to find without upgrading to anything larger and more financially damaging to your checking account.

Cons

1. The thing runs on a proprietary battery so, unlike the Zi6 there's no more relying on AA's and Viagra to keep me going all day long. Kodak says that you'll get 90 minutes out of a full charge but they're lying to you like a bunch of dirty liars. Expect an hour without previewing.

2. Oddly, the 1080p recording mode doesn't make that much of a difference. The Zi6 maxed out at 720p and definitely got a worse picture than this Zx3 but that's mainly due to the internal processing differences between to two devices. It's not really a complaint, I guess. I've just found that 720p at 60fps is just as good or better than 1080p at 30fps.

3. This camera's lack of a macro mode makes it impossible for me to film my fungal infections to email to my doctor for diagnosis.

4. No case was provided! :( WTF Kodak? My Zi6 came with a case. True, it wasn't a very good case but it was there and I loved it! This one doesn't have one. I'm currently using one of my kid's unmatched socks to keep the screen and lens from getting scratched while it's in my pocket. Why does Kodak want me to be so ghetto?

5. The codec records in the .mov file format. This format is big and really annoying to edit in as it eats up processing power and makes your computer stupid. Know going into this that you're going to have to convert your files into a more manageable format before splicing together the next Citizen Kane.

All in all, I'd say that the Zx3 is pretty much the most amazing thing that I've owned ever since my wife got me my Zi6. The better image quality alone makes it worth the $150 that I paid for it but it's also waterproof! My wife didn't know that before I dropped it into my koi pond. The look on her face alone was priceless and worth every dollar spent.

516 of 551 found the following review helpful:

Great video quality- with a fatal flaw Mar 20, 2010 By B. Byrne "AHFF"
I was, and still am, blown away by the quality recording I am getting off of this compact and rugged little camera. the 1080 setting can be a little blurry and choppy, but it is still better than most other compact camcorders I have used. The 720/60 frames setting is wonderful. I was astounded at the smoothness of the video, as well as the quality. Here's the trouble though, and hopefully not indicative of a larger issue.

I recorded an event for about 45 minutes, and after I was through, I looked back at the camera. The record light was still on, the screen still showing a live preview, but the recorded time number had stopped at about 37 minutes. All the controls were unresponsive. Not even the power button worked. After about 5 minutes, I had no choice but to remove the battery to shut the camera off. I turned it back on, and was shown an exclamation point where the video I had just shot was. The video would not play. I removed the 8gb SD card and plugged it directly into my computer, and the file size of the last video shot was only 67MB, not nearly high enough for 37 minutes of 720p @ 60frames per second. I am still unable to get even that fragment to play.

Color me heart-broken.

As I said, I hope this is not a sign of a larger, or more common, problem. But until I hear otherwise, I wouldn't use this camera when you really, really want to make sure you end up with a copy of the video (wedding, birthday, mat mitzvah, divorce, whatever).

See all 1198 customer reviews on Amazon.com