Rider University Media Services has the Kodak Zi8 for rental!

For years students have been able to borrow (rent) cameras for school use. At Westminster this is a major operation with students recording recitals, rehearsals etc. We have been using Mini DV tape camcorders up until this summer. While they served us well for a long time, OIT began a search for a better alternative. After some testing we have received a shipment of Kodak Zi8 SD card camcorders for use through the summer and into the fall.
The Kodak Zi8 is similar to a Flip pocket camcorder but offers a few advantages over the Flip:

• The Kodak Zi8 can record in 1080p which is very rare among pocket camcorder
• The Zi8 has a removable SD card for storage. The Flip has a finite amount of recording space. With a few SD Cards, the Zi8 can record for varying lengths of time.
• The Zi8 has an external mic jack which allows you to use a better microphone when filming.
• The Zi8 has image stabilization which most pocket camcorders do not.
• The Zi8 records in .mov video format

OIT provides a 16Gb SD card with each camera which gives you 2 hours of recording time at 1080p, and about 4 hours in standard definition. The camera also comes with a rechargable Lithium Ion Battery built in so you can charge and take it on the road.

Personally, I have used both the Flip and the Kodak and I have to say that I have been far more impressed with the Kodak. Just being able to swap out recordable media is a huge bonus over the Flip. With the Flip you have 2 hours to record, and once you hit that you are done until you can get to a computer. The Kodak you can swap SD cards in a matter of seconds.

Another major Kodak advantage is that it records into a Quick Time .mov format. The newest version of Windows Live Movie maker supports .mov files out of the box and since the format is Quick Time, it is very Mac OSX friendly as well. Most of these types of camcorders come with loadable software for transferring, but I tend to find these software packages cheap and inflexible. The Kodaks’ recording format allows you to quickly and easily circumvent this.

Here is a very brief (and very basic) operations video I shot this morning with a Kodak and uploaded to YouTube. Please forgive the production value I was going for speed over quality.

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