The Flip video camera
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A while ago I shared the unboxing pictures of The Flip camcorder that I got sent by Weber Shandwick. I’ve had a chance to play with it and here’s my inital thoughts.
The device is pretty robust and has been perfectly happy to float around in the bottom of my messenger bag the past number of weeks. In terms of video quality it provides a superior video experience to both my Nokia E90 and my Nokia N95.
The video itself is easy to remove from the device as an upload, my Mac treats The Flip the same way as a USB memory stick. The pop-up USB connector is where it gets its name from as it ‘flips’ out from the device. I did find with the videos that I made at Interesting 08, that there was a problem converting the video shot into a suitable format for YouTube and the supplied software was a bit flakey on occasion. For this reason I would recommend that Mac users download ffmegx instead – a shareware application that costs the princely sum of 15 USD.
Things to remember
- Video eats through batteries compared to a still camera, however AA batteries are easy enough to pick up on the go
- The microphone on the camera has quite a large angle for picking up sound – you can hear myself and Jonathan Hopkins talking low in one of the videos I recorded at Interesting 08 despite the fact that both of us were well behind the camera
- A light plastic case means that you will get camera shake, however a standard camera tripod will do the trick
Conclusion
The Flip presents an easy way to record digital video and transfer it on to a computer, however the more technology conscious may want to wait around for the Kodak Zi6 camcorder which also offers SD card storage and HD video quality. Ultimately, the films are only going to be as good as the camera operator.