Customer Reviews

Kodak MC3 64 MB Portable Digital Camera/Camcorder and MP3 Player

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've had my Kodak MC3 for about 2 weeks now, and I've got mixed opinions. On the positive side:

1) Music performace: The MC3 does an excellent job of playing MP3's, especially if you upgrade to a 128 MB card so you can store lots of 'em!

2) Video Quality: When set on best (30 fps) quality, the video is great- very smooth and clear, provided you have good lighting (more on this in a minute). While it does take up a large amount of memory, it's worth it.

3) Outdoor Daylight Pictures: The picture quality in excellent lighting (ie outdoors on a sunny day, etc) is fantastic 4) Ease of Use: The MC3 is idiot proof- very simple to use, install, etc...

But the negatives:

1) Pictures in less than perfect light: If you want to take pictures indoors without bright lights, at night, or in any other situation where the lighting is a bit dim, get another camera. This is my biggest dissapointment with the camera. There's no flash, so trying to capture anything that's a bit dark or unevenly lit is an exercise in futility.

2) LCD Screen: While it is often sufficient, the screen can be difficult to see alot of the time.

Overall, this is a great little toy for taking outdoor pictures while listening to music, and even making the occaisional video clips. Just make sure you can live with the limitations caused by the lack of a flash.

Kodak mc3: Versatile and Inexpensive Gadget

It's small, light, and rugged -- I take it everywhere -- school, the mall, vacation, hiking.

I've used it for: mp3s on a airplane, videos of fish while waist deep in the ocean, videos while sledding/snowboarding -- even duct taped it to a friends model airplane and flew it around -- (cool movie)!

Pictures: they look good if taken outdoors, or with some daylight -- (the lack of a flash is a clue to use mc3 mostly outdoors).

Video: it got two quality settings -- one is great if you've got a lot of motion and detail. The other is if you want small files (for email) or you want LONG (minutes) movies. The length of a movie clip is limited to the amount of free space on the card. Files are QuickTime -- but the software can change them to .avi. (HINT: buy the video cable -- and recorded your videos to VHS tape.)

mp3: has played 8 to 256 kbps mp3s; it has equalizer/repeat/shuffle; it displays title/artist/album info. Comes with a ripper and player software (RealJukebox for PCs; MusicMatch for Mac). Nice that it doesn't encrypt the mp3 file. (Comes w/ earbuds -- but I like the speaker. (Earbuds are nice for mp3s on the pc.))

Software: I've got both mac and pcs -- it was easy to install on both. Was able to get stuff on/off easy -- but I like the explorer window more than the mac. The picture and video editing programs are very cool! Go google search for "allan harris 1180 WHAM" for some videos a radio station has done using the mc3 product.

Three Comments: 1st -- you're going to use this A LOT -- go buy rechargeable batteries (two sets). (Although alkalines are handy when away from the charger.) 2nd -- Compact Flash Cards -- Big cards hold more, but cost more. What I do for a day is carry a 32MB card (w/ music) and three 8MB cards (for videos/pictures). Upload often. Or buy more cards. 3rd -- No light comes from the display, it is just a reflection. The display quality is like a good color display PDA. Pluses -- It's MUCH easier to see the display outdoors in direct sun light vs other camera displays -- and it's MUCH easier on the batteries. Minus -- It's harder to see it indoors -- but I think it is useable. (FYI: I've noticed that indoor pictures look better on the pc, than on the mc3 display.)

Summary: I love it! Simple controls -- my five year old uses it to take pictures and play music ("Sesame Street" on the airplane). I carry with me in a pack or by the wrist strap listening to mp3s all the time. When I want a picture or video, mc3 is there. Expensive cameras and video equipment are for special occasions -- the mc3 is for my every day stuff.

Punch Line: Simple, fun, easy, rugged, versatile, and inexpensive. Simple Elegance.

The emphasis here is that the MC3 is a toy - it's a lot of fun to play with, but it's not the sort of tool to use if you're planning on doing any serious publishing (online or on paper) or video work.

That said, this camera is fine for taking lots of fair quality VGA-resolution photos for e-mailing or sticking on your webpage (for what it's worth, the photo quality is notably better than other bottom-of-the-line dedicated digital cameras). The quality of the videos is at least comparable (if not slightly better) than the first generation Sony Cybershot cameras, although the MC3 doesn't limit the length of the video clips to 15 seconds like the Sony (a definite plus). The MP3 player component seems to handle various CBR-encoded MP3 files (I've tried 64, 128, 160, and 192Kbps with success), although it doesn't seem to support WMA. Finally, the USB cable allows for surprisingly fast file transfer, slightly slower than a dedicated card reader.

For $200 (which is how much this camera costs if you supply your own CF card), the MC3 is a fine gadget. If you want a good digital camera, video camera, or digital music player, you'll probably have to resort to getting three separate devices.

I was shoppping around for an mp3 player when i stumbled on this item. It was pretty much a no-brainer. For pretty much the same price as a higher-end mp3 player, you also get a video recorder and a camera.

It's real easy to set up on the computer and to transfer files. just put in the cd rom and install the mc3 software. once you plug in the usb connector (which comes with it), your computer should automatically read the mc3 player. to transfer files, load up windows explorer and copy and paste files into the mc3 drive (it will have its own letter, like the c drive, itll probably be labeled the E or F drive)

The mc3 actually plays mp3 files, unlike the sony players that require you to convert mp3 files into sony's own format. and the sound quality is pretty good. The camera and video recorder are cool, but its pretty hard to see what youre recording if you're indoors. but once you transfer the file to the computer, it looks better.

Another good thing is the size of the player. it's smaller than i thought it would be.

this product would be perfect if it came with a lithium ion battery. but i guess just spend the extra money and buy rechargeables, especially if you're going to be recording videos a lot.

I just bought the camera and I realize that it has no flash. The opportunity cost of having mp3, video and pictures at 300 hundred bucks is that the camera just work in daylight so if you are planning to take pictures at night forget about it.

And I am absolutely in love with the versatility found in Kodak's MC3 pocket multimedia device. The fact that it's an mp3 player, and a camera, and a camcorder all rolled into one device, and one that can actually fit in your pocket sounds outlandish and so very cool all at the same time. That's why I found it so unfortunate that too many reviewers didn't read the camera's spec sheet (i.e. limitations) closely enough before they purchased and therefore may have been bowled over by the hype.

Keep in mind that a decent, middle-of-the-pack digital camera is going to cost at least $200. A decent, middle-of-the-pack DV camcorder is going to cost at least $500 and an mp3 player is going to set you back at least another $100. So, to think that the MC3 at under $300 would be able to perform the functions of the previously mentioned items in an all-in-one device is asking a lot.

But what is amazing about the MC3 is how well it does perform given its limitations. This is a device designed with internet communications truly in mind. It's a lifestyle toy, not a serious tool. However, with the right expectations, it will be very enjoyable.

Here are some additional pointers:

It seems as though a number of reviewers have had problems with Me and XP. Consider not installing any of the bundled software except for QuickTime (since it's the only way you will be able to view your video clips).

Instead consider a compact flash card reader or if you are a laptop owner, a compact flash adapter. This will allow you the ability to drag and drop music, pictures and video. All the images are in JPEG format and can be edited using other 3rd party software such as Adobe PhotoShop or PhotoDeluxe. There are also a number of free photo touching software packages out there.

The same holds true for mp3 creation. There are a number of solutions for creating mp3 files, many of which can be found for free. You might already have mp3 creation software on your computer right now.

Many of you non-Macintosh owners might even have QuickTime already installed on your computers while not realizing it. Search your drive for QuickTime and see what you find. And while on the subject of videos, consider a download of Real Media's Real Producer. You will be able to take your QuickTime encoded video and shrink the file size even more for better distribution across the Internet.

Finally, while I have not done so myself, consider a tiny Maglite or equivalent flashlight for indoor picture taking. I know it sounds hokey, but considering that the light from emitted from these devices is quite intense, you might find that the light is almost equivalent to a camera's flash. Like the compact flash reader, these are added costs, but since they both have other uses outside of the MC3, they might be wise investments.

I bought the MC3 because I wasn't quite ready to buy a real digital camcorder, and because I currently work overseas and didn't want to worry about power conversion, etc. Overall, I can't complain. As an MP3 player, it's solid. 64MB is a good amount of memory and the earphones are better than most (maybe it's just mine, but the wire for the left earphone is MUCH shorter than the one for the right. strange.).

As a camera, yes, the lack of a flash can be annoying, but if you want quality still-photos, you should NOT be considering this product. Even expensive camcorders take lousy photos. Outdoor, particularly long-range cityscapes/naturescapes, shoot pretty well. Anything up close, especially in low light, will come out blurry.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the video features of the MC3. There are two settings: high and low resolution. The high setting can capture very clear video, but results in HUGE files. Low-resolution picture quality is ok, but the files are still pretty big - not a very good trade-off. E-mailing videos of either size to friends (a big reason I wanted the MC3) can be a hassle.

There is sort of a contradiction when shooting video. Outdoor shots can come out great, but even a small amount of glare can make it hard to see exactly what you're shooting. Conversely, when indoors, the viewfinder might display a clear image, but the final video will usually appear much darker.

Software is included to add titles, effects, etc. to your video, but the program is awful. Adding even the most basic title screen, etc. can triple the file size. Functionality is minimal and online support (from the software manufacturer, not Kodak) is a joke. I haven't tried the program for still-photos.

The MC3 seems pretty durable, too. I dropped it on a concrete sidewalk from a height of about four feet with no problems, although the batteries did pop out.

Bottom-line: this is something you can have fun with, as long as you don't take it too seriously.

I had the MC3 for over 2 months and still not able to use it as it does not work with windows ME . With Windows 98 worked fine. With windows me I tried all possible combinations, and still not able to connect. I contacted Kodak for several times during the last 2 months and they seem they do not know how to solve this problem, All repies from Kodak are "THIS IS AN AUTOMATED REPLY " kindly wait !!!!! 2 months

I bought this little gem after the price dropped about $70. It is really easy to use and is great with the 128 megabyte card. I can shoot about 8 minutes of video or store over two hours of mp3s. The mp3s sound great and you can select shuffle or repeat. Also the powersave features really make it last pretty long. However shooting movies or transfering files require the batteries to be pretty full. As a result, once you are at a certain point with your batteries (just less than half) you can't opperate these features but the others will still work. Also it requires three AAA batteries which is kind of an odd amount. I suggest buying NIMH rechargeables, that way you can recharge them even if they are not dead yet so you can return to shooting video or transferring files. Even better is to buy a card reader, they are about $30. The video is 20 fps (best quality) and it looks pretty ok on a small window on your computer screen. The software works fine once you get the hang of it unless you have Window ME. The onboard microphone is good if your subject is within about three feet. Outside of that they need to talk loud.
I took this little baby out mountain biking and shot a small video on it. IT is a lot of fun.

What I like most about this wonderful device is all of the things it can do with just a flip of a switch. If you are listening to one of your favorite songs, and suddenly see something you want to photograph or film, you are ready! I found the mc3 exceptionally easy to use and intuitive. The software was a bit less easy, at least for me, but after a little playing around, I got the hang of it and was amazed at the quality of the pics, movies and cd-quality sound. I didn't like that the mc3 does not come with a paper manual, so if you have to look something up, you have to pore through the 90+ page manual on the CD. Also, the battery life seems very short, especially after transferring files. I noticed that the batteries will play music for a very long time though, even after you can't use the other features. Over-all, i love this device, and I am sure i will bring it wherever i go, especially when summer comes. It seems to be the perfect thing for the beach, camping, or any place where you want to bring music or fun with you. And the price makes it even easier :)