Kodak Playsport

Summer's here and those of you heading to the beach or lounging around the pool might be interested in Kodak's Playsport. This pocket HD camcorder has been specially designed for water sports enthusiasts looking to film underwater with no need for separate underwater housing. So how did it get on down at our local pool?

Handling

The Playsport is a pocket camcorder that's designed for all-action sports fans. In other words it's waterproof to 3 metres and has a rubber protection to keep it safe from knocks, scrapes and falls. The Playsport is very pleasant to handle and starts up quickly. There's no need to press hard on the on/off button or keep it held down for ages, as is the way with certain other models. This makes it practical for capturing the action as it happens. You can use the arrow buttons to select one of the filming modes: 1080p, 720/30p, 720/60p and WVGA, which captures lower-quality footage but which also takes up less memory. Videos are recorded to SDHC cards (class 6), although no card is supplied and you won't fit much on the 128 MB internal memory.

The 2-inch screen and SDHC card slot.

Unlike the Kodak Zi8 pocket camcorder, the Playsport doesn't have a microphone socket or an integrated USB connector. It's therefore not the ideal camcorder for a journalist or blogger looking to record interviews and transfer them instantly to a computer or a web-based platform. The 2-inch screen is comfortable enough to use, even though it's smaller than the Zi8's 2.5-inch display. The Playsport is even supplied with an HDMI cable, which is incredibly rare. In fact, no other AVCHD camcorder comes with an HDMI cable as standard.

Video quality

The Playsport has two different focal lengths which change in relation to the video quality selected. If you film in 720p, you have an almost-wide-angle of 36 mm (24x36 equivalent), which is surprisingly wide. However, if you film in 1080p, the focal length reduces the field of vision to the equivalent of 48 mm, which is much tighter. It's certainly more than a little contradictory that filming in the highest resolution (1920x1080) reduces the field of vision, even if the resulting footage is actually sharper. In any case, we'd advise you to stick with 720/60p, as this frame rate is more suited to the fast movements you're likely to make with this type of camcorder.

A focal length of 36 mm in 720p (left), and underwater filming in H_²O mode (right).

Image quality is fine, but isn't as good as a regular AVCHD camcorder, especially for sharpness and colour reproduction. We found the colours looked a little dull, even in a bright, sunny park. The sensitivity also leads to some digital noise, but we filmed some perfectly fine footage in a room lit by just one lamp. Sound is recorded by an internal microphone which is sufficient enough to effectively capture what's going on in front of the lens.

The main reason you'd buy a Playsport would be to film underwater, and in this field at least, it doesn't disappoint. Plus, as the rubber casing protects the camcorder effectively, you don't have to handle it with care when you're filming. Connection covers are well sealed and have decent locking systems to keep the water out. Just make sure you don't drop it though, as the Playsport doesn't float!

Like many other pocket camcorders, the Playsport has an internal editing application that automatically installs itself on your computer (ArcSoft MediaImpression for PC only). It allows you to import clips and then add your own title page and music. Once you've finished, you can then upload your finished clip to a website and share it with the world (YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook).