Well, if it helps, my two purposes would be, amateur film making (Skits and what's not), and macro things like, showing off iPhone apps. I would also use the camcorder to vLog.
The 12x Optical zoom sounded epic for a budget pocket HD cam, and seeing as it's relatively the same price, I thought I'd go for that. But I'm not sure, the Kodak and Flip seem like great beginner cams, but I kinda wanted something that would let me use for mini film projects and stuff.
12x zoom is very nice, but probably pointless if you don’t use a tripod –
spice weasel hit the nail on the head when he said about steady hands, zooming in makes this far more of an issue.
I haven’t seen much feedback about the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG102, but it seems a solid buy. However, I do agree with
spice weasel about the advantages of pocketcams – and I certainly wouldn't say that the Zi8/Flip etc are beginner cams and the VPC-CG102 somehow isn’t. When was looking into pocketcams, more than one comment I read about the Zi8, more than one professional (and a hell of a lot of prosumers) considered it perfect for doing recording stuff like vox pops in the street and this is how they were going to use it or were using – this was to do with the convenience of a device that was so portable, had good image quality and an external mic.
There’s plenty of footage online taken by various pocketcams, so I really would have a look and see what you think (Chris Pirillo has a couple of reviews).
For most of the stuff you’ve said you’ll be using it for, a pocketcam and tripod (especially a gorilliacam!) would be fine. If you’ve no need to move around much when filming (e.g. your skits), then again, a pocketcam would do nicely.
Do you definitely need HD? I’ve no idea what the price is in the States, but in the UK, the Sony DCR SX33 (as an example) is roughly the same prices as higher end pocket cams and is a lightweight camcorder. It may be that HD is a must, but if you’re going to just be uploading to sites like YouTube, then personally it wouldn’t be for me.
Kodak Playsport. It's the waterproof version of the Kodak Zi8. Does 1080p/30 fps as well as 720p/60fps, which looks amazing for faster moving action. The form factor is smaller than the Zi8, which is nice. Removable battery and SD card. And it's pretty inexpensive. I love mine and am blown away by how good a pocket camcorder can be.
The Playsport is slightly heavier (not that I doubt this will matter), has a 2.0” rather than a 2.5” screen.
The Zi8 has a macro mode and an external microphone input.
Both have exactly the same recording modes and same lens.
Personally, I do think both are excellent.
I've had the Flip Ultra HD and the Mino HD and I bought the Kodak ZI8 when it first came out. The Flip cams are definitely better….
Most of the side by side footage I’ve seen indicates otherwise, but your mileage may vary – if you found that to be your experience, I can hardly tell you that you’re wrong!
