It’s not often I write reviews for tech gadgets but I thought I would make an exception. Allow me to introduce you to the Kodak Easyshare V1253, a 12-megapixel camera that I had the opportunity to use over the holidays. What sets this camera apart isn’t its large image capacity – after all, exactly how far will the megapixel craze take us? Will we have 30 megapixel cameras by next Christmas?

What really impressed me was the identity crisis this camera has – it thinks it’s a camcorder too! I read on the box that this camera was also capable of capturing 30 frames-per-second widescreen video in High Definition (720p). I must admit that I was skeptical since every video I had ever seen captured on a digital camera was horribly inadequate for viewing on a television screen.

The video quality blew me away. I shot countless videos over Christmas and proceeded to integrate them into a DVD using iDVD. The end result was a video that impressed everyone who saw it. You could have fooled anyone into thinking it was shot on a HD video camcorder costing 3 times as much.

Which brings me to the final selling point for this camera – the price. I would have thought $220 for a 12MP camera was a good deal by itself but the ability to shoot great digital photos and high-definition video? Now that’s pretty amazing.

If you’re in the market for a great new camera/camcorder I would highly recommend this camera. Best Buy and Circuit City has them for $250 or more but the best deal I found was on Amazon. If you purchase make sure to click on the link below to purchase through my Amazon Affiliate account.

Kodak Easyshare V1253 12MP Digital Camera with 3 x Optical Zoom