I had the opportunity to give the recorder a good test during two recent trips. Indoors and outdoors with a variety of weather conditions – cloud cover, sunshine, and light rain.
All in all, I was pleased with the recordings. Bigger problem was my computer didn’t have enough memory and speed to properly render the .mov files in Quicktime, so I converted them to a lower resolution .wmv file to upload to YouTube. I did keep the native .mov and plan to watch them on an HD TV with the HDMI cable.
Video taken using the device and converted to 740 x 480 .wmv is available on YouTube. Here is one clip of a formula Mazda Pro car.
I also took some video at the Andretti Winery and I thought the picture and color were very good considering the size of the camera. Low light is an issue for the video, though. On a trip to NYC, I attempted some evening video and indoors at Radio City prior to the performance, and it came out very dark.
The few stills I took weren’t as good as my regular digital camera, but I didn’t expect them to be. Here is a shot I took of the Golden Gate Bridge, through the windshield, as we were driving (not ideal conditions):
The biggest challenge with this class of camera for either video or still images is the zoom and sound. The digital zoom results in lower resolution and you have a very limited ability to zoom in. The recorded sound is okay, but it seems like it could be much better.
The final down-side to the camera function is a lack of flash. Indoor photos with low light and evening are next to impossible as a result.
For me, the portable size outweighs most issues for me, and I’m glad I made the purchase.
Nunamaker Interactive 