Aiptek MZ-DV-MPEG4 Camcorder with 3x Optical Zoom

For starters, 5+ stars to Amazon for delivering this in about 14 hours (literally) when I opted for 2-day shipping. I'm going on vacation in a week and speed was of the essence.

This is my first experience with a "hybrid" camera so I had no preconceptions.

Appearance: Sleek. High tech. So intuitive I barely opened the manual (which is good because, while at least being in English (with proper grammar and everything!), it's about as bare-bones as you can get). Attractive graphics on the menu screens with buttons/icons logically placed for maximum ease of use. And so compact -- I've seen bigger cellphones.

Performance: The still photos are acceptable quality to me. There is the annoying delay between shutter press and release (and true, your hand can't move a millimeter in that time). I like how the still camera and video camera operate in the same mode (different buttons) so no need to switch back and forth in between.

Video. Well for this price, as others have noticed, the videos aren't exactly high-def. If you're in full sunlight they're more than acceptable (to me). Only minor complaint is the constant auto-focusing that can be heard on the video, but again, at this price for taking simple, fun videos I didn't have high expectations.

Lower light does create the annoying trails with movement, and this is where I encountered my first real problem: With the Night Shot feature enabled (which doesn't remove the trails, but makes the difference between normal quality and a "Ghost Hunters" effect), the camera started freezing every time I stopped recording. When it didn't freeze, the videos it did create appeared blank on the camera, and showed up on the computer but without sound (please don't stop reading at this point though).

I emailed and called tech support, desperate for a simple solution before my trip. Email was a waste of time, but I did speak to a person on the phone. He made a few (unsuccessful) suggestions, told me sending it in for repair would take much longer than the week I had before my trip, but assured me I could wait until after the trip to do so. I figured I would just shoot in daylight so I would at least have a camera.

After experimenting a lot, I made some discoveries of my own: My previous attempts were on an A-Data "turbo" SDHC and a Kingston regular SD card. Using a Hewlett Packard SDHC "high-speed" card, the problem seemed to resolve -- as long as I made sure to aim the camera somewhere stationary when I stopped recording. My theory is trying to simultaneously auto-focus and stop recording probably overwhelms the camera (or the card? These aren't top-of-the-line cards as I didn't want to spend tons of money if it didn't work out). It's the best I can come up with, having no experience, but at least I know if I HAVE to record in lower light it's not completely impossible.

The biggest reason I chose the MZ-DV was for the media player. It seemed like the perfect way to travel light and still bring along videos to watch on the plane. This is what makes this camera exciting. Getting the computer file to the camera is involved, but well worth it. (Again, this was learned through dogged trial-and-error, the manual is purely decorative): It has to be converted to an .asf type, which can be done with the handy bundled software. You also can't rename the file, it has to stay in the "CLIP0001" etc. format -- a bit of a pain for locating later, but those are the rules. I needed tech support again for this revelation, but I was just so happy to get it working I didn't really care. Then you drag and drop into the removable drive/DCIM/100MEDIA folder and voila! Instant portable DVD player.

Recording from a DVD is much easier, though takes longer since obviously it has to be done in real time. Just the fact that it's possible is pretty thrilling.

Watching the video isn't trouble-free. I've noticed if you attempt to fast-forward or rewind you lose audio/video synchronization, and of course any kind of "resume from last stop" feature is too much to expect for this price. Last night I realized using the camera's external speakers also results in audio/visual mismatch, but using headphones fixes it. Quite a quirky machine (perhaps too quirky for some).

I haven't tried the mp3 player yet, I'm more of a video fan. If that disappoints, it's not like my iPod Nano takes up so much luggage space.

The battery life seems respectable. I played with it off and on for at least a couple of days before it ran out. It took awhile to recharge (about 3 hours). I don't know if that will go down over time, but spares are pretty cheap from the manufacturer's site (aiptek.com).

The bundled software is half useless (ArcSoft PhotoImpression and Muvee autoProducer), 1/4 useful (ArcSoft Media Card Companion for extracting files to the computer) and 1/4 essential (ArcSoft Media Converter, for converting files to the correct format to use in the camera).

Customer service: Very satisfactory. I had to sit on hold to get one, but both times they were very helpful and friendly. I think it's a little rare these days to even get a person when dealing with off-brand products.

Conclusion: For the price, the versatility of this camera repeatedly amazes me. Playing with it and figuring out all that it can do is extremely fun. "Fun" is the operative word here. I wouldn't use this to film someone's wedding professionally (or your child's first steps, just in case). But for a couple of days in the Big Apple with not much luggage space, I think this is just about the perfect machine.

My husband and I recently purchased this camcorder and used it on a road trip. Having never purchased a camcorder before it's functions were very easy to figure out. We used it for inside a museum which it did very well with and for moving car shots. The sound quality is very good and best of all it is small enough that you don't need some giant gaudy camera bag for. Most of the time I kept it zipped in my coat pocket! The only thing that was cumbersome is when you open the screen to begin recording it takes about 20 seconds to be up and running so you need to plan your recording ahead of time.

I got this as a Christmas present from my parents. And it's perfect for what I use it for! I usually like to take short clips of my family, friends, or whatever and make them into slideshows that are viewable on Youtube. This camera is compact, the buttons and menu are easy to navigate. I'm not too fond of the way the microphone picks up the sound when you zoom, but I usually play over the sound with music. Not too big of a problem there. I edit my clips on a Mac, so I have to take one extra (but not too complicated) step to convert the ASF files to a Quicktime file. All in all, I'm very happy with this product and hope to have it for years to come!

All I wanted when I bought this camera was something easy to use every now and then, sadly this camera fails so bad that I'm looking for something new now. I go to conventions every now and then and like to snap shots while there, however this becomes an issue with this particular camera. It may be that I'm not doing something (even though I've fiddled with all the controls) anyway when trying to film in areas with lots of people the video comes out awful. The camera attempts to focus on everything or something and you end up with all these blurs of light moving around on screen.

Then if you try to take stationary pictures your target must remain perfectly still or there will be a blurred effect to the picture. Another annoying thing about the pictures is how long it takes to take a single one. First you have to wait for the camera to focus, then you must hold down the button for a second or two, THEN after the camera makes the sound to let you know the picture is taken you must keep the camera aimed at your target or it will blur. If you are trying to take a picture of someone who is in a hurry good luck keeping them still that long.

I didn't expect this camera to be top of the line and ignored the bad reviews because of it's cheap price, however I seriously wish I had spent the extra money for an overall better camera, the only plus for this thing is that it's durable and easy to carry.

I think it is very much worth it, function for the dollar, I listen to loud music, and I am very active, i use this for mp3, snapping photo's of my buddies, the lithium ion battery lasts a while for what I use it for "on the go" when i plug it into the pc it charges as i load the photo's so, that is nice. I purchased the previous version's and they took quite the beating. I stick with this brand of camera's for ease of use. Had it going with no directions, read up for the advanced functions.
I say they did a great job.

Only con is the little door connector, seems flimsy, but even with my abuse is still there. If you own one, you know.