HeadHardHat's Review of the Kodak PlaySport (Zx3) HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera

When I shoot video for my GeoSnippits Geocaching Videos or anythng else for that matter. I have always wanted a backup video camera that was small enough to put in my pocket yet shot good content. Sure there is a whole slue of them out there but I am a geocacher and I needed a few more abilities. For example, since I am always either out in the woods, walking trails or skirting through urban areas, I needed an outdoor camera. Something rugged like a GPSr unit. That could take a dropping or six. Something that could take high humidity or heaven forbid a landing in a puddle and did not cost an arm, leg and some toes. Guess what I found.

Let me introduce you to one of my latest toys and I am very pleased with it. Check out my Kodak PlaySport (Zx3) HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera. It is build like a brick ship house and can be emerged and filming in up to ten feet of water! No kidding.  It has capabilities of shooting 720p, 720p(60) and up to 1080p. The cool thing about 720p(60) is that it shoots at 60 frames per second instead of the normal 30. This means if you are taking shots with a lot of movement like sporting events you get much clearer footage. You can see what I mean by the little two minute video of my GeoPooch Emily catching frisbee seen below.  It has a 5 megapixal camera which takes nice clear pictures. Much better than you would get off of a standard smart phone and you can switch to any mode with a simple flip of the switch.

Lets watch some video. Here is my GeoPooch Emily catching a frisbee in the back yard. This rendering does not do the actual original footage justice but you can see the clarity and usefulness of being able to shoot at 720p(60).

HeadHardHat's Likes and Dislikes:

Likes: Rugged, Waterproof and the size is a bit smaller than a smart phone, turns on for use in 2 seconds.

Dislikes: 1080p - Can't see any real difference in quality with 1080p, in fact the frame of the shot is smaller than when in 720p.

Likes: Super easy to use, you will need a 16gig to 32gig SD card though when you purchase the camera. Sound quality is very good.

Dislikes: When filming in the car it did jump around a bit more than I expected. Not sure how good it would be if you are filming and riding on something like a bike.

Likes: Good focus overall, you seem to have a lot more overall field focus except at shorter than 18 inches. Steady cam works well, has face recognition. Zoom is better than nothing. Price of just over $100.00USD makes this a great on the spot usage video camera.

Overall I highly recommend this video camera for your everyday, "wish I had the video camera" situations. If you are a geocacher this is a must have for all the reasons stated above. With the price of around $100.00 this is something you may consider having a couple of so you never miss a video opportunity.

By all means check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

-HHH

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Twitter me at
@headhardhat

Friend me at Facebook
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Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
http://www.geosnippits.com

Hiking and geocaches: Grape-Kötcse wheels 14km

I just love receiving geocaching videos from all around the world. Here 'Watchup0' sent us a really visually nice video from Hungary. Check it out!

The google translation that went with the video came out as this:

Hiking and geocaches: Grape-Kötcse wheels 14km
Hiking and geocaching videolog.
Hiking in the Somogy Hills, 10km from the lake.
The recordings were made on 13 March.




If you can't see the viewer above you can see the entire video by clicking the link here:

http://youtu.be/2wmf1dCzBNA

Thanks so much for sharing your geocaching adventures. Send more please!

-HHH
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Keep Up With Andy HeadHardHat Smith via his websites:

Geocaching World - Internet TV Show (RVNN.TV)
http://geocaching-world.blogspot.com/
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GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right? - HHH's Award Winning Blog
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Twitter me at
@headhardhat
Friend me at Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/HeadHardHat/
Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
http://www.geosnippits.com

GeoSnippits : Giggle Bloopers

All of us at GeoSnippits Videos put in an awful lot of effort to bring our viewers quality entertainment. It is our hope that they gain valuable information about geocaching and get a giggle in the process. Speaking of giggles we tend to have that happen a lot while filming.

Check out this quick video when we were having one of THOSE days.

If the viewer above is not working you can see our video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhwdVvxgWJc

Enjoy.

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------
Twitter me at
@headhardhat

Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
http://www.geosnippits.com

Geocaching on a bicycle - What is your tips and tricks? Send us your videos.

I was recently asked by a GeoSnippits viewer what are some of the best tips and tricks for geocaching on a bike. Now if you have ever seen a GeoSnippits video you will know that I am a rather large man and that means my bicycling days are a thing of the past. I know there are bikes out there for individual of my size but they are extremely expensive.

So if I can't give direct accounts on geocaching from my favorite chain driven vehicle, maybe you can. I am looking for videos from any geocachers out there that geocache while bicycling. They can be from anywhere around the world. I need to see you in action while geocaching and also any tips, tricks and advice for the safest and best practices. What makes riding a bike while geocaching so great? What are some of your best experiences or worse? I want them all.

The best examples will be used to make a GeoSnippits episode and if selected you will win an official GeoSnippits Pathtag!

Email me as soon as possible with the details about your video and I will contact you with the instructions on how to send it to me. Contact me at headhardhat@gmail.com.

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com

Find Me The Movie Coming Out May 30th, 2009

Well with only a week or so away from the Geocaching based movie Find Me coming out. We thought we would direct one section of their website to you.

If you click the Geocaching 101 link in the lower left you will see several GeoSnippits Video Tutorials which we made at the request of the Find Me folks and a few of our regular episodes.

Please be sure to check out all of the Find Me website and see the rather slick looking interface for Geocaching 101 too.

Find Me comes out May 30th, 2009! Check out their website here: http://www.findmethemovie.com/

Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com

GeoSnippits - The Introduction to Geocaching

I had been wanting to do an Introduction to Geocaching video for a long time now. The issue of when to actually do it was in direct correlation of how many suggestions we were getting from our GeoSnippits viewers. Which turned out to be more than plenty. So the episode storyboard sat on the shelf, until now.

Now I don't want people to think I make it a habit to put some suggestions to the front of the line but when a movie director of marketing asks to have an episode done..... I can be encouraged to do some shuffling. Yep the people of the up coming geocaching based movie FIND ME asked if we could make a small series of Geosnippits episodes so people who do not know what geocaching is will have enough information to understand the movie. So that is just what we did.

It's basically a 15 minute tutorial broken into three five minute episodes. Combined, all three episodes revolve around two geocaching hunts sprinkled with valuable nuggets of information throughout. When finished you will have a well rounded understanding of what geocaching is all about without being overwhelmed with too much lingo and dry facts.

So lets begin:

Introduction to Geocaching: Part One

Learn where geocaching began and how it works. Find your coordinates on geocaching.com then it's off to our first find of the day with the help of Miss Geoness.



YouTube Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvWBOPxHBnM

Introduction to Geocaching: Part Two

Miss Geoness shows you how it's done finding a micro in the woods. Next, HeadHardHat tells what you should bring while geocaching as he heads off for a regular sized geocache.



YouTube Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRbBjJcErjI


Introduction to Geocaching: Part Three

The final episode of this three part series concludes HeadHardHat's geocache hunt and then gives you a visual explanation about SWAG, Geocoins and Travel Bugs. Plus how to be aware of Muggles and a final wrap up of the entire series. A must see.



You Tube Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqLfH3htBcQ

It is our hope that you find this three part tutorial interesting and fun to watch. Then go to geocaching.com and become a geocaching member. While your at it, keep an eye out for Find Me the movie coming out soon.

If want to learn more about geocaching we have oodles of other GeoSnippits Video Tutorials to look at and enjoy on our GeoSnippits Website or on You Tube. You can also go to the Geocaching.com website for all the indepth information about this amazing game, sport and obsession known as Geocaching..

Hope to see you on the trails folks,

-HHH

Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com/

GeoSnippits - What NOT To Use As A Geocache

We had so much fun creating our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Video - GeoSnippits - Where Not To Hide A Geocache that we decided to take it to the next step to discuss What NOT To Use As A Geocache.

The idea is simple, if you show examples of what NOT to do then maybe newer geocachers will learn the basics and not repeat them out in the field.

This particular video is quite fun to watch with some great tips and some down right funny slapstick humor. Learn how heat, cold and moisture can effect geocaches and which ones are the worst to hide. Host HeadHardHat shows you the most obnoxious and also demonstrates the "dunk test" to see if the geocache in question is really waterproof.



See On You Tube Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgCzzGu2oHo



Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com/

Oh Yeah Baby Ammo Box And More.

Had a nice day off today. Was a bit cold in the mid 40s but times of wind made it brisk. I started out with attempting two FTFs that did not turn out the way I wanted. Hey, it happens. I headed out to Cary, NC and was hitting my first geocache when my phone rang. It was my wife who just came out of the gym and wanted to go out for some sushi. Well I never turn down sushi and besides it was just down the street from where I was and it gave me enough time for a couple more finds before she would get here.

The first was a quick 35mm hide near the restaurant parking lot and a fine park and grab. The next was a bit more challenging as shown above. It was a good 250 feet of bushwack through some serious brier patch. The growth was thick, fresh and yet somehow I managed to work my way through with a minimum of scratches. Did I ever mention the importance of wearing a good hat when in a brier patch situation? If I haven't.... wear a hat, your scalp will thank you.















The end result was a fine medium sized ammo box and before I knew it, it was time for sushi.

Lunch came and went and I really did not mind the lapse in Geocaching. My wife and I can talk for hours about a whole lot of nothing and that is great for us. We always had that ability to just jabber and since my daughter was in school it was just us. Next thing you know 90 minutes have blown by. Good Times.

The rest of the day went fairly well but the weather was deteriorating fast with the wind picking up and the temps slowly dropping. I managed to find thirteen for the day with only 3 DNFs. I think I found every color of the rainbow when it came to bison tubes and a goodly share of skirt hides and smalls. When it came to ammo boxes I found several and that is always good.

Below is a nice slide show video of some of the hides and finds for the day.

GeoSnippits - A Day of Geocaching with HeadHardHat Video

Hosted by HeadHardHat this GeoSnippits is more of an experience in Geocaching. Think of it as advanced tutorial or introduction into the world of geocaching.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to spend a day with an experienced geocacher as you go from one geocache to the next then this is the video for you. Filmed near Raleigh, North Carolina.

HeadHardHat takes you through the Piedmont including the Knightdale area down through Clayton. You will see every known size of geocache and some extra surprises.

So sit back bring the kids and enjoy a little walk in the woods with everybodys favorite Geocaching mentor, HeadHardHat.



Okay, enough with the You Tube descriptions and stuff. The truth is everything you see in this fun video is as it happens. When you see me surprised or joking or dead tired, that's me all over.

Sure there are videos out there with the well polished adventure super hero type who uses X-ray vision to pull finds from thin air or will jump on the nearest snake just so they can pick them up and show them to the camera. Sorry, my biggest task on geocaching day is where the best deal for coffee and donuts is. Oh, and as for jumping on a snake to show it for the camera? I don't think so. I will promise you this and that is if I do come across a snake I promise not to go screaming down the trail like a little girl. Unless of course I do and you will then get good video either way.

I really hope you enjoy this video and judging from the comments we are getting back you are. I love hearing from people how this encouraged them to go out and try geocaching. Then there are the others who for the first time get to see what a true geocache looks like in the wild. That just makes my day like you would not believe.

See you out on the trails folks...

You can see all our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos at You Tube or our GeoSnippits Home Webpage at http://www.geosnippits.com/

GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Has New Home

That's right. I couldn't stand it anymore and I bought the domain http://www.geosnippits.com/. I really have been having a such a blast making these fun videos and the responses have been outstanding. In fact, I am having a hard time keeping up with the suggestions so getting the domain just made good sense.

Since I am still going to use YouTube as the focal video point. My You Tube Channel HeadHardHat's Geocaching Channel will remain the same but the new website is going to have so much more. Not only will there be all the great tutorial videos but there will be geocaching contests, challenges and content not shown for the general public. Kind of a secret stash of geocaching hints, tips and other goodies you can only find on GeoSnippits.com.

So bookmark the new URL and check back often for geocaching news, updates and the latest and greatest in geocaching tutorial videos.

Bring Us Your Geocaching Videos - New Geocaching Video Group

Hey all, HeadHardHat here...

We just started up a You Tube Video Group and all geocachers are welcome. Bring us your geocaching videos and link or upload them so other geocachers can enjoy them. This can be a really nice place to show off your stuff. No prereqs or judgements, good, bad and ugly we want them all!

Geocaching R US
http://www.youtube.com/groups_layout?name=geocachingrus

Bring 'em on!

Paperless Geocaching: A Video Tutorial To Go Green

It was not all that long ago I started straightening some of my "paperwork" from geocaching. It was several months worth and even with that short amount of time I had a stack several reams thick of maps, geocache pages and CacheRaids. I quickly realized that if this continued the pile of paper and ink would be amazingly huge in even a year or two. Was there a better way?

Fortunately the answer is "yes".

Many of the newer GPS units are now allowing geocachers the ability to retrieve geocache information directly from geocaching.com. This means you can read all the information instantly right over the Internet. They also have the functionality to "log" your finds directly into geocaching.com which cuts down on a lot of unnecessarily paperwork as well. This is a tremendous surge in the right direction but not everybody can afford the high end GPSs that do this. It is also not the complete solution we need. Many geocachers like to keep personal notes about our caches that should not be included in a standard log. For example, I would note something like:

"Took me 15 minutes to find this small grey and green colored cami lock n lock box. It was extremely well hidden inside the far end of a log right next to a large bolder. You had to remove the bark on the left side to actually see the cache."

This kind of information would be saved in a personal log book and saved in case someone else called asking for help usually referred to as a Phone A Friend. If we want to keep paperless, where can we store that kind of information?

So here's the deal, you want to go paperless. Great but you are going to need a couple of things. Most are either fairly inexpensive or down right free. Let's make a list and I will explain as we go.

First, you need to get a $30.00 membership at Geocaching.com. Most geocachers have this anyways and you may already but it is necessary to get the Pocket Queries and the geocache information.

Next, you are going to need a PALM PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). In the tutorials I use a PALM TX but there are several versions to choose from. You can learn more at http://www.palm.com/.

The two other applications you are going to need is GSAK, which loads onto your PC and stores all the Pocket Query information http://www.gsak.net/. Then finally Cachemate which is an application that stays on your PALM PDA which you take with you while geocaching http://www.smittyware.com/palm/cachemate/.

Below is a tutorial using two YouTube videos in which I created. They are included in an ever growing series known as GeoSnippits which explores and teaches about Geocaching.

Part One:

The first video goes over the initial basics of how to get the needed information from Geocaching.com. Then to take that information, get it onto your PC and into an application known as GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife).




Part Two:

The second video shows you how to export all that nice information from GSAK and put it onto your Palm PDA. Then we take a quick look at an application on your Palm called Cachemate which you can now read. Bye - bye printed cache papers.




Well I hope you found this tutorial into paperless geocaching informative. It may look like a lot to setup but once done you will find geocaching a whole lot more enjoyable and less paper intensive. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email me directly or contact me through my blogs or YouTube videos.

***HHH - Please note that this is the best way that I have found to accomplish Paperless Geocaching. This by no means says this is the only way of accomplishing it. Find what works best for you and go for it...

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UPDATE - HERE IS A MORE RECENT UPDATE VIDEO INTRODUCTION TO PAPERLESS GEOCACHING !!!

http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/2010/03/geosnippits-introduction-to-paperless.html

GeoSnippits - Update About My Latest Geocaching Tutorial Videos

(This video is Part One of Paperless Geocaching)

Been a while since I updated my latest geocaching tutorial videos known as GeoSnippits.
Most recent deal with the following:

• Logging Geocoins and Travel Bugs on Geocaching.com
• Moving Digital Photographs From Your Camera To The Computer (digital card reader)
• Paperless Geocaching (Part 1 and Part 2)

You can go to my blogs or You Tube Channel to see all of them. http://www.youtube.com/user/headhardhat

Oh and I just recieved permission from Google to do tutorials on enhancing digital photographs with Picasa3.

These will be out soon.

All for now... -HHH

Introduction to the GeoSnippits Series

I received several really nice comments from people recently when I did my first You Tube video. It was more of a slide show really which gave some basic information about geocaching. From those comments were a couple of requests to make actual tutorial videos. "Sure, why not", I thought. So I am introducing a series of tutorials which I will feature on You Tube called HeadHardHat's GeoSnippits. They will be short three or four minute tutorials with focus on key points of interest that deal with geocaching.

My first geosnippit discusses bison tubes. I hope you enjoy this series and are able to pull out a few nuggets of information that you can use in your geocaching treks.

To find the tutorials just put headhardhat in the search field or go to
http://www.youtube.com/headhardhat