minicamcorders

The first-generation Kodak PlaySport minicamcorder (announced at CES 2010) may have looked rugged, but in reality it was only waterproof to 10 feet. The second generation, however, is shockproof, able to withstand a 5-foot drop. That might not seem like much, but it's actually pretty good for this category.

As for general specs and such, this new PlaySport picks up where the old one left off. It still captures at up to 1080p, has a 2-inch LCD, and is loaded with Kodak's EasyShare software for quickly sharing on sites like Facebook and Twitter and international sites like Yandex … Read more

My first camcorder was a PXL-2000, a toy camcorder from Fisher Price that recorded black-and-white video to audio cassettes. It was huge, expensive, required six AA-size batteries, and only recorded 11 minutes of video. That was 1987. Today, for $25, you can get the Micro Camera.

Shaped like a keyless entry remote for a car, the device only measures 2 inches long by 1.3 inches wide and is just 0.5 inch thick and weighs half an ounce with a microSDHC card. It can record up to an hour of 480p (720x480) video to a 4GB card, which is good 'cause the battery only lasts that long. It quickly fully recharges, though, in about 90 minutes by Mini-USB. (There are other sites that sell this or similar cameras, but this is where the one I tested came from.)

The company's site has several videos showing just what's possible with a camera so small and light.… Read more

The GoPro HD camera can be mounted to many, many things--helmets, surfboards, and cars. Apparently it's also small and lightweight enough to hang around your cat's neck. The movie above, which says it's the first movie filmed by cats, was shot using the GoPro HD and for a camera designed for shooting outdoors it handles indoors/low-light conditions quite well.

This movie was inspired by the results from a study conducted by Nestle Purina PetCare's Friskies brand. For that, 25 cats wore specially designed portable video cameras around their necks to capture daily clips for five … Read more

It's a popular exercise with tech writers to declare product categories dead because of the iPhone or smartphones in general. Everything from GPS devices to alarm clocks to my editorial category at CNET Reviews, point-and-shoot digital cameras and camcorders.

It would be silly for me to try and argue that smartphones haven't played a part in slowing the purchase rate of compact cameras; I'm fairly certain they have. It would also be silly to say smartphones aren't legitimate photo tools or great for that shoot-and-share experience. However, saying that it'll be the death of the … Read more

Flip Video may have been the first out of gate with a touch-screen pocket video camera, but Kodak, Samsung, JVC, and now Sony have followed--all with more compelling packages than Flip's offering. Sony's new Bloggie Touch features a snappy 3-inch touch-screen LCD, an f2.8 lens with auto macro, and full hd 1080p-resolution recording at 30 frames per second.

Sony's past minicamcorders have had "youthful" designs, came in multiple color options, and the devices and packaging were typical of mass-produced electronics--loaded up with stickers, bits of paper, and software discs. The Bloggie Touch, however, has … Read more

JVC's initial Picsio minicamcorder offering, the GC-FM1, was fairly weak and with so many other options available to consumers, it left us wondering "why bother?" Well, JVC's back with two new models that are at the very least competitive with those from Kodak, Flip, Sony, Sanyo, and Samsung. One of them is even waterproof to 10 feet.

The GC-WP10 features a 3-inch touch screen (JVC claims it can be used with gloves on, too); records at four resolutions including 1,080p at 30 frames per second and 720p at 60 fps; captures 5-megapixel stills; has electronic … Read more

Kodak's Zi8 has been one of the best mini camcorders available since it launched in 2009. It isn't perfect, but it has a lot of features the competition doesn't have, such as a switch for shooting in macro and an external mic jack. The PlayTouch (secretly called the Zi10, and seriously, Kodak, try googling product names before you go to production with them) is the update to the Zi8, and while it keeps many of the core features of its predecessor, it's a significant upgrade in design. This includes the use of a 3-inch capacitive touch … Read more

One of the biggest detractors for Flip-style minicamcorders is their fixed lenses. These candy-bar cams feature only digital zooms, which destroy video quality. The Sanyo Dual Camera VPC-PD2 fixes that by shoehorning a 3x zoom lens--36-108mm for photos and 37-111mm for video (35mm equivalent)--into a body measuring 2.5 inches wide by 4.4 inches high by 0.9 inch deep. Basically, it's an ultracompact point-and-shoot camera with the lens repositioned so the device can be held vertically for shooting video. And like all of Sanyo's Dual Cameras, it takes stills just as easily as it shoots … Read more

If the waterproofing and full HD video capture of Kodak's Playsport interests you, but you can't live without an optical zoom, check out Sanyo's newest Dual Camera Xacti, the VPC-CA102YL. (Oh Sanyo, you come up with such clever, memorable names.) Waterproof to depths of 10 feet, its pistol-grip design accommodates a 5x zoom lens that the candy-bar-style minicamcorders simply can't.

Sanyo says it records at "full HD," but depending on your definition of the term, that may not be true. It does capture video at a resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels, but it'… Read more