Kodak PlayFull Waterproof Review: Performance

PERFORMANCE

As usual, the PlayFull, as a pocket camcorder, is very easy to use: you can be recording video with two button presses. Turn it on with the power button and hit the button in the middle of the d-pad and you're off to the races. In terms of what shooting modes you have, they're very limited. Video resolution options are either 720p HD (30 fps) or WVGA. Photos only have one setting, which is a pitiful 1-megapixel shot. There are also a few video effects at your disposal, like black and white, sepia, high saturation, and '70s film. And for what it's worth, what little options you do have for shooting are easily accessible through the PlayFull's single menu system. Everything is arranged in a single list that you can browse through with the crummy d-pad and it's all very easy to navigate.

The PlayFull does have a very slight zoom capability, but it's only 2x and it's digital, so it's really kind of negligible. I suppose the only plus is that since the zoom is so minimal, it's not as easy to see the pixilation and graininess that usually accompanies a digital zoom.

And storage is equally minimal, at least in terms of what's onboard. The PlayFull only sports 32MB of storage on the device itself, which is only good for a few seconds' worth of video on the 720p shooting mode. The upside is that the PlayFull supports full-sized SD cards (which I find to be much more convenient and cheaper than microSD cards) up to 32GB capacities, giving you tons of room to work with. So assuming you have an SD card -- which you probably do if you're reading this site -- you should be all set regardless of the small amount of onboard storage.

The waterproof aspect of the PlayFull actually worked very well. I dunked it on a number of occasions (probably my favorite part of doing this review) in about a foot of water and, thankfully, it had no problems at all. If anything, I probably wasn't even close to giving it any issues, as the PlayFull is supposedly waterproof up to 3 meters. And the thing is dustproof and drop-proof (5 feet onto plywood), so it can actually withstand quite a bit of abuse.

And the underwater video was not bad at all. If you think about it, if you're planning on shooting underwater video, you're not too concerned with the way colors look or how the sound turns out, so the fact that colors were washed out and the sound was obviously muffled is a bit of a non-issue. It's to be expected when shooting underwater video. So with that in mind, the PlayFull handled underwater shooting very well in that it delivers relatively clear video quality -- yes, its video quality in general may be a little rough but it's good enough to get the job done for you active types that aren't looking for anything professional-quality -- and the camera protects well from water damage.

The one aspect that I was a little puzzled about is that the camcorder includes an "underwater correction" function, but I don't understand what its purpose is. I shot underwater video with and without it and they looked exactly the same.

Shooting Performance
The auto focus on the PlayFull definitely does a good enough job of keeping things as sharp (as they can be, considering the poor quality in general), but it often shifts the color focus towards cooler tones, an issue that I ran into with the other PlayFull model. Unlike the previous model, however, this PlayFull seems to handle closer shots a bit better, even though it's still lacking macro mode. I could get within a few inches of a subject before the autofocus could no longer keep up. You'll see in the last picture of our sample gallery where I took a shot just as the subjects closest to the lens started to get out of focus, and that was only about 4 or 5 inches away.

And one particular element about the PlayFull's shooting performance that really impressed me was its ability to rapidly adjust from low-light to high-light situations, and vice versa. Usually with pocket camcorders -- and even some full-sized camcorders -- it takes a couple of seconds for the picture to adjust, but surprisingly the shift and exposure adjustment with the PlayFull was almost instantaneous.

Unfortunately, the PlayFull does not sport any type of image stabilization. This is especially problematic with a pocket camcorder, which is small and light and therefore very susceptible to shaking when shooting video. Even if it were just digital image stabilization (like what was found on the last PlayFull model I reviewed), it would still be better than going with none at all.

Same goes for facial detection, which this PlayFull also lacks; even it were some sub-par version of it, I would have liked to see Kodak at least make an attempt to include the feature. Taking out features that previous models had just seems like a pretty obvious step back to me.

The battery life on the PlayFull is exceptional. Even through a good three to four hours of use (granted, not all of this was recording time; some of it was spent in standby, menus, or playback) I still had about a quarter of a charge left according to the battery meter. The fact that said battery meter does not stay on screen at all times though -- a flaw also present in the last PlayFull unit I reviewed -- is frustrating, as I have to switch modes or turn it on and off just to see how much battery I have left.

Video, Still, Audio Performance
The video quality of the PlayFull is exactly what you would expect of a pocket camcorder: not very good at all, but serviceable for quick, spur-of-the-moment videos. Nobody buying a pocket camcorder is expecting professional-grade video, so I can't knock it too much for that. That being said, I have definitely seen slightly better quality from other pocket camcorders and the video from this PlayFull looks akin to that taken by a webcam. The picture is dark and blurry, colors are extremely bland, and all of the whites have serious bluish tinge. If it makes a difference to you to get C-minus-grade video as opposed to D-grade video from your pocket camcorder, perhaps you should look elsewhere.

Stills are also pretty rough on the PlayFull, unfortunately. I kind of expect mediocre-at-best video quality from pocket camcorders, but pictures from them should not look as bad as the PlayFull's. They are extremely grainy, which is especially noticeable since the awful 1-megapixel shots are blown up at a 1280 x 720 resolution. Long distance shots don't work well either, as objects any further than a dozen feet away or so start to look pretty blurry and grainy.

Color saturation is also very poor, with most colors looking somewhat muted, and light tends to wash out the whites very easily as they get overexposed. Combine that with the fact that the white balance is off -- making those whites that actually show up properly look very cool and sort of bluish-grey -- and you always get images that are very bland, dark, and generally just look like they were taken on an overcast day.

The mic on the PlayFull is a little on the weak side, so you may have trouble picking up sounds from long distance. However, there wasn't too much white noise or hissing during the videos that I shot, which is a plus. And the onboard speaker is definitely serviceable for playback, pumping out audio at a pretty powerful volume.

Sample Images

Operation and Extras
The PlayFull unfortunately doesn't really ship with any extras; besides the camera itself, all you get is a lousy wrist strap and the user guide. The last Kodak pocket camcorder I dealt with was the same way, except it at least shipped with a longer USB cable. The PlayFull relies only on the dongle for both file transfer and charging. It's also a disappointment that it doesn't ship with HDMI or AV cables, seeing as it has ports for both.

The Kodak ArcSoft MediaImpression Software comes preloaded on the camera -- just plug it in to start the install process -- and like most prepackaged editing software with pocket camcorders, it's nothing special. Granted, it's not the worst that I've come across, but you're never going to use this for much more than file transfer, conversion, or extremely basic editing (if you really need to).

There's also a share button on the PlayFull, a common feature on Kodak's pocket camcorders which allows you to tag photos or videos in your collection on the camera for upload. After you hit the share button, a menu comes up asking you to which outlets you would like to upload, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. The next time you plug your camera into your computer, the media is automatically uploaded to your social network of choice.