Kodak Mini Video Camera with SD Card (Grey)

3-button operation-turn on, snap, reviewThe center one with left/right buttons are for VGA Video or poorer QVGA30/60, VGA still shots.The Second Menu button on the left is for replay, and delete menu, operation settings like sound mute.The other one is power on/off. It takes 2-3 seconds to switch it on.The little mic above the camera lens is probably also a speaker. If I am in noisy places, I would put the device on the ear and it's good enough to hear all the recorded dialogues.At the bottom, latch push-open, closure(water proof)Inside the bottom cover has one embedded USB arm, for recharging, just one hour! and for a file transfer,Next to USB is 2gb microSD (Made in Taiwan, generic, over 20 min-1 hr of recording?),______________(sound)The nicest feature, in my opinion, is its sound quality. I have not tested outdoor recording yet(birds, busy streets, car engines as background noises), but it seems to pick all the voices clearly at the meeting table and when I tested it at some distances of 10-20ft from the device.(images)The color of picture is slightly less saturated than the actual scenes. the color temp is "cooler" than the actual scenes. But, crisp enough. The video is VGA quality at best, but it is fool-proof image always. In the poorly lit room, the image could be grainy. The close-up, say less than 6 inches to my laptop screen, is slightly blurry but I could still discern the details and fine letters.(file transfer)Without removing the microSD card, you can plug it directly to USB port. The computer recognizes "Removable Disk>DCIM>100EKZM1>file name, starts with 100_00xx.jpg"The computer also automatically recognizes, along with removable Disk, "'Arcsoft SW(program, not tested, won't install it based on other reviewers' suggestion)"Very fast, 100% sync file opening experience, and this is the second winning point.______________(drawbacks)1.The rubber buttons- You have to "press hard" those 3 buttons and its clicking sound could be something I should get used to. somehow, left/right, up/down buttons in the ring are too smooth to press.2. video recording, while shooter is moving, and, and the object is moving, at the same time, this situation will result in the video images more fragmented, or distorted slightly, but, if the shooter's move is steady, everything is smooth. Somehow, this has to be mentioned for those who would use it for sports.3.When the device is plugged into the USB port, you cannot use the next usb port as the locking L-shaped latch that accomodates USB arm will be pushed to the side to "block" an unused USB. But, that is not an inconvenience for me personally.______________...My overall experience is satisfactory with this little thing. And, the price at $38 will just do well as a must-have item for many buyers. (I just see the amazon's price went up to $45 in two days, though)...Easy to snap, easy to transfer -its simplicity and its discreet size and dark grey color make Kodak Mini stand out better options to me than a smart phone as the latter would be slightly more complicated in recording/file transfering....I was lucky to find this on amazon.com I need something small, but not a spy gadget with a huge price tag for my business meeting and for daily events.

First bought one of these for my nephew as it was only $50 and I loved it. Bought my own. It was easy to carry. The pictures were better than the quality expected on the cheap but what fun to be able to catch fun moments everywhere. My vacation purse was light as a feather. We took it on a cruise and I took it to the pool & hot tub area so if it did fall in no problem. It didn't fall in, but with wet hands and lots of moisture in our pool bags it held up. I had it with me at all times and everyone was jealous. I took some video while snorkeling and caught some awesome sea turtles then it locked up in the on position. I had it only a couple months. :( It was totally waterproof though because when I got home I discovered the memory card was dry and all my pics intact. I miss my little camera, but in dry times a cell phone does just as well. Considering the cost of the waterproof cameras they sold everywhere in the caribbean at $19 a piece and considering they don't have video HD or otherwise and are questionable quality too, consider the $50 not a bad pre-trip investment. I guess it depends on your disposable income.

I thought, "how could I go wrong for $19?"The good: it's waterproof. It's much smaller than I'd imagined.The bad: no zoom at all, unbelievably low resolution photos, sort of on par with the first cell phones.I guess the simple underwater videos you can with this make it ok for you tube sized mini videos, if you're only into that. But, I feel like if you can't have larger, better images than this, it's hardly worth the trouble.I understand the reason the price went way down on these is that they came out with an HD version for a tad more money.If you're going to bother at all with this terrible, no zoom camera, you might as well go with the newer one. Or, better yet... the newest digital cameras are less than $100, have photo & video quality far, far superior to this.The HD version of this might be ok as a few time use underwater camera that's very small... hard to tell.... I haven't seen the higher res version.It's cute, light, and smaller than a digital camera. But give me at least a little zoom. And give me higher res images.I think I wasted my time and money with this toy.I'm so shocked people before me gave this acceptable ratings.They must be people who've never used another digital camera, especially one with over 10mp.They're packing 14mp on digital cameras with 4x zoom for under $100 now.No reason to buy this except as an UNDERWATER TOY for a child. It's better than nothing. For a kid who's just having fun his/her first time snorkeling it's much, much, much better than one of those big plastic film cameras in waterproof cases they're still selling in some stores for $20. It's only compared to those tanks that this tiny camera shines. If I were rating underwater toys, I might give this 4 stars. But as an underwater video camera for someone who's used many other portable underwater cameras (like the Fuji XP20 for around $150), this one is embarrassing.For normal use, don't throw your money away like I did.As for use, it seems almost too easy. BUT... it's really easy to accidentally hit the button that changes your choice of shots from video to photo, so later you might find that video you thought you took is a photo & vice versa.Buy this for your child if you want a toy with which you can take underwater shots on a one day snorkeling trip.If you want a small digital camera or video camera, buy something else.