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Camera's that I have tried out are the Zoom Q3HD, Ipod touch, and the Kodak PlayTouch Not to be confused with the PlaySport.

The winner for me was the Kodak. This is a HD camera capable of 720 and 1080 recording and the best feature is the external mic jack on it. The camera was purchased at Wal-Mart for $159.00 and in my opinion is a steal when compared to others in its class. The camera is the same size as my Blackberry, has a touch screen and can be mounted on a tripod.

Differences between the Zoom and the Kodak are as follows:

Audio
Zoom has two built-in stereo condenser microphones, same as the Zoom H1 or H2 audio recorder mics, when used at close range, not bad. The further away you go the less it picks up the dynamic levels and sound quality is difficult to control as compared to the Kodak. Built more for close range if you’re looking for higher quality audio. Downside, there is no external mic jack. Setting the mic gain is a two person job if placing the camera more than 4 feet away to record.

Kodak PlayTouch Zi10 Has both internal and external mics. Both internal and external mic inputs can be controlled by an internal setting for mic gain, Zoom also has this feature. When recording using the internal mic, the Kodak records in mono and cuts the highs and lows on the dynamics as well as picking up everthing else around you. When recording using a stereo condenser microphone connected to the external mic jack, all I can say is its about as good as it gets without going to a studio. The great thing about the external mic jack on the Kodak is that you can place the mic and camera where you desire to obtain the best video and audio possible. The downside of the audio recording on the Kodac when using the external mic jack is you loose about 10db's as compared to the internal mic jack so when playing back you have to raise the volume on your speakers a little more.

Video
Both The Zoom and Kodak can shoot in HD 720-1080. Kodak of course being more of a video camera has better quality video as well as video stabilization and a better zoom.

Zoom was built more with the audio in mind and it just happens to be a HD video camera as well.

Kodak was built more for HD Video but has the capability to produce great audio. I say capability because you will have to work on mic placement, audio gain and may even have to edit using software that can edit audio to raise the volume on your recordings.

Here are two recordings using the Kodak PlayTouch Zi10 with an external mic. Microphone is placed about 2.5 feet away from the top of the bell on a boom stand and the camera is about 15 feet away placed on a tripod. I also added some earlier recordings where I used the Ipod Touch for comparison.

Bordogni # 43 in HD recorded on Kodak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFYUBZuOThk" target="_blank

Bordogni # 43 recorded on Ipod Touch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9JC0i2b3qo" target="_blank

Bordogni #2 in HD recorded on Kodak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGg0Gejr_DE" target="_blank

Bordogni #2 recorded on Ipod Touch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjb-zIJfPpM" target="_blank

Tom-
Excellent post! BTW, what mic(s) are you using? Also if anyone wants one, refurbs of this unit have really gone down in price-FYI on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kodak-Zi10-Play ... 212wt_1219" target="_blank
mark

The mic I am using is the audio technica mic model ATM650, the price ranges from $75.00 to $140.00 online. I did try the SM57 and the SM58 but found the ATM to have a better sound quality.

Thanks!
mark

I made a few more videos of the Hurricane that just came through Virginia with the Kodak camera and they came out great. Once I get power back on and get my internet connection going I will post them.

One thing about the sound quality, if you’re using it as just an everyday camera the internal mic works fine.

When I was in college I used to record my practice sessions on a tape recorder, I highly recommend to young students getting something like this as it will give you another perspective on how you really sound.

Tom-
I have my Kodak PlayTouch Zi10 HD video recorder on it's way to me. I may use my Zoom H2 (connecting it to the Kodak) as my audio recording source. I may use each separate and sync them on the MacBook Pro later, but am going to first try to 'sync both' together-probably via mini USB to USB--that way the best of both worlds--we'll see. Just curious if you or anyone else has tried doing a video/audio recording using two such devices synched together?
Thanks-
Mark

Hi Mark,

Very cool let me know how this works and what is involved. for now, I found using my external mic is doing a nice job. This weekend I will be recording Jabba the Hutt, we see how that sounds.

Keep me posted.

Tom