... I dropped the cam - a Kodak Playsport zx3 - about 60 feet while filming under a kitesurfing kite.
Either I did not clean sand out of the seals, or the impact forced some water inside the camera. Not much, but enough -saltwater- to brick it. BUT .. I got 1.68 GB of .MOV files on the SD card, now copied to my iMac.

The only problem: Nothing it seems will open them?! I have tried QT, ffmpegx, DV Kitchen .. have Perian, but I gather that is an add-on to QT.. When I do the traditional 'Get Info' .. it shows MOV files with a QT icon, the full size, etc. ..just nothing I have opens the file.

Can I trick something into opening them by changing .MOV .. to .mov or .AVI ..any tricks like that? (Mac people try lots of tricks...)


Jim

Try installing the drivers and/or software from here:
Find Answers (http://support.en.kodak.com/app/answers/list/p/3,43/c/890/selected/true)

From what I remember you needed to do the same sort of thing with the FLIP video cameras before Quicktime would play it. Proprietary AVI codec or something...

Ouch Jim! I have a similar Zx5 and the spec says its shockproof upto a 5 foot drop... so a 60ft one makes it almost impressive that the camera was still in one piece! Obviously, these cameras get used in all sorts of situations where you would not risk something bigger and more expensive - I and my kids had a lot of fun with mine in Mauritius recently - just been editing sone underwater stuff they took!

Don't know about recovering your files so they play but maybe Nates suggestion might work. Was the DCIM (with the folder with all the clips in), MISC (2 files inside - don't know what they do) and SYSTEM file structure still intact on the card?

Good luck!

Thanks Nate... This one is best left for a 5yr old with a screwdriver.. It is unresponsive to either a full battery or wall power. When I put the SD card in a second zx3, I get a big Red !, so the water must have had the cam send a FU signal to the card before it expired for good. I bought two more on Ebay yesterday so I will make sure they have updated firmware.

Andy, It's a perfect camera for kids to want to 'get into this video stuff'. I make a variety of grips and have used about six different cams in the last few years - this is a good one. Both because of the simplicity (compared the a GpPro) and the video quality. Too bad Kodak is struggling to stay in business.

Here's a 2:30min clip from Saturday where I used a clip-on grip on the nose of a 5 foot skimboard and handed the board to one of our local kiters.

Kodak Greg Skim - YouTube (http://youtu.be/WJUyyRfKvNQ)

Thanks and cheers.

Jim