Camcorder for WDW

[Vinny]

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right spot to add my post but its come up in planning for our next WDW trip, now just over a couple months away. Im looking to replace our 2-3 year old Cannon Hi-8 camcorder with one that captures HD. So far I have a couple of models in mind which are the:

Sony Bloggie Touch 8GB, and
Kodak zi8 (Black)

Im looking to see if anyone has used either of these two cameras in the parks at WDW and how they held up, the video quality they produced and so on. I know that the pocket camcorder models do not shoot well in lower light settings and that the auto focus is sluggish at times. The majority of the time we will use the camcorder will be during daylight hours so light will not be as much an issue. Thanks in advance for any info you can share.

[Disney4us2]

I bought the Sony Bloggie HD touch for our December trip. I loved it. Its very easy to use. The battery and memory are internal. It worked ok on some of the indoor rides. It also takes good regular pictures. I like the touch screen, easy for my fingers with my arthritis.

I also have the Nikon cool pix touch screen, love that camera as well. I don't care for the video on that camera though.

[JPL]

I have used several different video Cameras over the years with varying results. Currently I have a Sony Webbie, Flip, Kodak Play Sport, and a Samsung. I think they all perform well under different conditions and all but the Samsung shoot in HD. I love the Flip for things you don't really need a zoom for and the Sony & Samsung both have a great zoom capability. The Play Sport I tried in December but sadly I had a memory card problem and was only able to recover 1 video If I had to choose 1 to travel with it would probably be the one with the best Zoom since at times it can really make the difference. They are all relatively small so I often take 2 or 3 with me and experiement with them in different situations. The Kodak for example is waterproof so I tried it on Splash Mountain and the video from what I saw of came out great( one of the memory card victims) and I didn't worry about ruining the camera in the process. The best advice I can really offer is do your research and read some of the customer reviews on a site like Amazon they can really have some great information. Unless you go to a really reliable camera store don't believe a salesman at a chain electronics store they are just trying to make a sale.

[Vinny]

The best advice I can really offer is do your research and read some of the customer reviews on a site like Amazon they can really have some great information. Unless you go to a really reliable camera store don't believe a salesman at a chain electronics store they are just trying to make a sale.

Thanks for the replies. I spent a few hours over the weekend reading reviews and even watching some on youtube which were very helpful. Also good point about chain store salesmen, Ive become very familiar with what they are all about.

In the end, I ended up getting the Kodak zi8. All the reviews I read on it mentioned the good audio quality and that it supports an external mic if needed. Also it has an SDHC card slot for added memory, which will be helpful on vacation. Should be here sometime this week, so I'm looking forward to trying it out.

[LisaP]

Great choice on the Kodak Zi8! I have the former model Zi6 and it does shoot excellent quality HD video, but the lighting was poor. The Zi8 has remedied that.

I love that it uses the SD cards so you are free to shoot as much video as you want. And the free battery charger included is phenomenal!

Enjoy