Kodak Zx1

When you look at the Kodak Zx1 and Sony Webbie HD MHS-PM1 side by side, they appear to be pretty similar camcorders... especially when you have pink and purple models. Aside from their compact appearance, these are two very different products.

In bright lighting conditions, the Sony blows the Kodak out of the water: there's far less noise and an accurate white balance results in far better colour performance. Take the camcorders into low lighting conditions—like a popular club—and Kodak comes out on top. Footage is far brighter with the Kodak, resulting in better colours and less noise. The Webbie's superior sharpness won't help if you can't see your friends' faces in that party video. Neither is a good option for a still camera: there's no flash, barely any features, and the low-resolution photos aren't any better than what you'd get with a cell phone camera.

The differences go deeper than performance. The Kodak runs on AA batteries; the Sony is a rechargeable lithium battery. The Sony has a unique swivel-head for easy self-recording; the Kodak does not. The Sony has a good joystick and a small zoom toggle; the Kodak has an unwieldy d-pad. Neither offers the streamlined user experience of the Flip series: the Sony has a lot more options and finding them is no easy task; the Kodak has fewer options but using the d-pad and ambiguous buttons is not intuitive. We had fewer problems installing the Kodak software, but neither the Kodak nor the Sony software is as foolproof to use as the Flip software, which is also Mac-compatible.

	Comparison Specs
	Kodak Zx1	Sony MHS-PM1
Price	£149.99	£199
Primary Recording Media	SD/SDHC memory cards	Memory Stick PRO Duo
Secondary Recording Media	30MB internal memory	12MB internal memory
Image Sensor	1/4.5-inch CMOS	1/4.5-inch CMOS
Effective Pixel Count	1,600,000	Unknown
Mic Input	None	None
LCD	2.0-inch	2.0-inch
Viewfinder	None	None
Weight	152g (5.36 oz.)	120g (4.23 oz.)
Dimensions	50.1 x 107 x 20mm (1.97 x 4.21 x 0.79 inches)	55 x 103 x 24mm (2.17 x 4.06 x 0.94 inches)
HD	Yes	Yes
Frame Rates	720/30p, 720/60p	720/30p
Compression	MPEG-4 AVC/H.264	MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
Maximum Bitrate	Unknown	9 Mbps
Optical Zoom	None	None
Stabilization	None	None
Battery	AA (ships w/ two AA batteries, rechargeable via DC wall charger)	ships with NP-BK1 (removable lithium battery)

Noise Comparisons
Kodak Zx1 100% Crop	Sony MHS-PM1 100% Crop

Required Illumination *

* the lower the lux required, the better the performance