I received a really cool birthday present this year from my mom.  It was a Flip UltraHD video camera.  Complete with rapid charger and HDMI cable.  My current video camera (some older model Sony) is not bad, with the exception of the batteries not holding a decent charge.  But being a gadget geek, new gadgets will always appeal to me.  So I took the Flip for a few test runs.

Here some initial thoughts after having used it for a week or two:

• Convenience: It doesn’t get much more convenient than having a video camera that you can throw in your wife’s purse without her complaining about the added weight.  The size is just right, which a large LCD and easy to use buttons on the back of the device.  The device powers up very quickly and responds equally as fast to commands.
• Import: With my previous camera, I would connect it via firewire and then import video using a third party software application.  This had to be done at real time which meant having to watch the video again.  With the Flip, there is none of that.  Plug the camera directly into a USB port, and it opens as a new drive.  Click and drag your videos over.  Done. The only way for this to be easier would be to have someone else do it for me.
• Quality: The quality of the camera is great. In some of my previous videos, you can see where the video camera fell short.  It just couldn’t handle what I wanted.  This one is perfect for what I am doing and the quality of the video and sound is wonderful.
• Durability: The device feels pretty solid in my hands.  The battery life is good and I am able to record up to 2 hours before clearing off the memory.
• Drawbacks: The zoom is not the best.  You have a limited view.  The device is very sensitive to movement as well.  It picks up almost any bump or jerk.  Not horrible, and as long as you know that, you are good to go.

On a quick side note, normally when I post stuff like this I can usually count on at least one response of “You have too much free time.”  No, I don’t.  I don’t have enough free time, actually, I just chose to spend mine differently than others do.  I do not come home, sit in front of the TV for hours, then go to bed.  I don’t play golf.  Messing around with photos, photo editing, and now minor video editing is my recreation.

Continuing on…

Here are two quick videos that I put together.  This was not meant to be an award winning motion picture.  It was just something fun that I wanted to do with no real purpose or motivation. I had the Flip on a gorilla pod sitting in the very front of the shopping cart, pointing up.  By the way, the gorilla pod I have totally sucks.  I bought it in the early 1920’s and the gray parts of it are turning color.  The legs frequently come apart and it can only support very small weights, despite the picture on the packaging that shows it supporting a DSLR and lens.  For my little Flip, however, it is well worth it and does just what I need it to do. Here is where I wish the camera captured a little wider.  The shot felt a bit too tight and I was zoomed out as much as possible.

And if that was not mind-numbing enough, here is another video I did.

The setup was pretty simple, and as with the first, just the camera and the gorilla pod.  This time I attached the gorilla pod to the passenger seat headrest of my car.

And here is the video:

Now, I have obviously changed the speed up on the second video.  As it was captured, it was extremely bumpy.  Nothing I would want displayed normally.  Speeding it up seemed to help.  I might look at a more expensive investment down the road should the need arise. Also, the first test with the windows down really produced some bad audio.  I don’t see many more needs to have this mounted in my car, so I am not going to worry about it.

So, overall, this thing is great.  I love how easy capturing and importing video is and I am quite satisfied with the quality.

Related Videos:

• Car Mount
• Wide Lens Hack
• Flip Ultra HD Wide Angle Mod Test Video w/ How-to
• Flip Camera DIY Lens Mod – No Glue
• Stabilize the camera