Flip Mino Video Camera - Black, 2 GB,1 Hour (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
by Flip Video
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List Price: Our Price: $35.99 You Save: $114.00 (76%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Flip Mino Video Camera - Black, 2 GB,1 Hour (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: An amazing size for an Amazing camera
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Flip Video Mini is on its was to making traditional video cameras obsolete. The Flip Mini gives you...
- Good video quality (certainly not HD... but not bad)
- A rechargeable battery
- Ease of use ... if you have a PC (more on this later) it really is as easy as plugging the camera into your USB port
- Very small ... it is thinner than a deck of cards.... really it is about the size of an average cell phone (Non-Blackberry).
- 1 hour of video capturing ability.
-Sleek enough looks that you would think that it was made by Apple.
- And in my opinion a pretty decent value
Now when compared to the Flip Ultra it loses some of its charm... in fact, I would only recommend the Mini if you value the smaller size (It is about 1/2 the thickness) or if you have a passion for rechargeable batteries.
--- one alert----
Flip cameras are not as easy to use when you use Macs - and you do lose some of the built in editing and you-tube type features. In fact, if you are interested in Flip Camera and own a Mac I would highly recommend you buying Roxio Crunch Roxio Crunch Win/Mac as a means to convert your videos so that they can be viewed on your Mac. It is not hard to convert using Roxio Crunch, but it is an extra step.
Final tally - 5 stars for a PC user - 4 stars for a Mac - happy recording!
Customer Review: Bought it for a concert...Totally exceeded expectations
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Flip Mino on the recommendation of Kevin Rose (of Digg fame). We were going to a Nine Inch Nails concert that allowed video recording. This concert has an extremely intense light show and we were in the front row in front of a wall of speakers. Needless to say, we did not have high hopes for getting anything useable.
Boy were we wrong. The video came out incredible. The light show didn't overpower the camera. The stability of the picture is excellent. The ease of use being constantly shoved into or pulled out of cargo shorts was awesome. Considering I was 4 feet from a wall of speakers the sound was awesome. A little fuzzy on the base, but totally listenable. The zoom was simple and effective. Considering the low-light/intense light contrast, it was great. The battery life was enough to shoot the full 60 minutes, watch it playback on a tv twice, upload it to the computer and never go below 75% power.
It came time to upload it to our Mac Powerbook. I plugged it into the usb port, installed the software and uploaded all 11 videos. I wanted to watch them on my iphone though. I downloaded a free conversion software called Prism and converted the .avi's into mpeg-4's. This only took a couple of minutes and was super easy. I then converted the mpeg-4 movies into iphone movies using iTunes. Done. I have since uploaded to youtube and megaupload without a hitch.
I highly recommend this product. It does what it says. It does it extremely well. It is tiny. It looks like a cell phone. It is the simplest piece of technology I own next to my iPod Shuffle. It is easier to use than a regular iPod and even my grandmother can use that!
Enjoy
Customer Review: Less is best
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
To understand the miniaturization of video equipment you have to go back to the first moon landing in July 1969. Just in case the lunar module didn't perform as expected the astronauts set up a video camera and trained it on their spaceship. The usual count down proceeded and then suddenly the thing was gone. Lunar gravity being one sixth of that of earth and the module being so light it was on screen about a half a second. Later versions had motorized tracking devices to follow it as it ascended to meet up in lunar orbit with the command capsule.
Now the point of this commentary is that until Apollo XI most people thought of television cameras as 800 pound gorillas, put on carts on studio floors where they would be moved about by a helper as the cameraman focused in on a subject. The space race produced smaller camera and set in motion a new race for the smallest camera of them all.
I can't say for sure if the Mino is the winner of that forty year race, but it definitely finished in the money. I keep it in my pants pocket (try that with a studio camera) and use it whenever something interesting happens. The video quality is excellent and the microphone is surprisingly sensitive. It is a great You-tube accessory. It's 60 minute storage capacity is more than adequate. While it lacks most bells and whistles it really doesn't need them.
Customer Review: Excellent for short, on-the-go video!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this to use with students and teachers. The first time I opened it, I didn't even have to read the directions it was so simple to use. I used it to capture my teaching in a special education classroom. The mino is so small, the kids didn't even notice it. Next, I used it to video a mini-workshop by three teachers. Normally, they would have been nervous knowing and seeing a big video camera facing them, but the Mino is so small, it didn't cause a distraction to any of the participants or presenters.
I taped a Reader's Theater production and within 15 minutes of the conclusion of it, I had uploaded the entire 30 minutes production to the teacher's computer, installed the Flip software, edited and enhanced the video and posted it to the school's share drive.
Cons: it isn't HD, is only 2GB, lasts 60 mins and only has a 2X zoom
( this is the con that really bugs me) the USB seems a little flimsy, so I purchased the connecting cable, too.
Pros: lightweight, easy to use, easy & quick to charge ( also charges when connected to computer) easy uploading.. especially for people like me with Iphones that don't have video, easy and fun to use software for editing, the quality and clarity of the videos is amazing! The tri-pod looks like it wouldn't hold a fly, but it works great for placing the Mino in an out of the way spot for video capturing. Easy and durable enough for kids ages 4-400 to use!
I only wish i had researched and found out the Ultra was coming out this past April that has 120 minutes of video.
Customer Review: Outstanding product, great value, few deficiencies
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first video camera I've ever owned (I'm 58 yrs old), and I love it! Video quality is excellent (even in low light). I have not tried viewing it on a large TV, but the playback looks great on a 19" monitor. Best quality is observed at the "normal" size (about 8" diagonal) but the full screen version is perfectly acceptable. Audio quality indoors is good up to about 8 feet from the subject. Comments made by the person holding the camera while recording are extremely clear.
Battery life so far has been NO ISSUE. A continuous 30 minute recording does not even move the battery charge indicator bar. Beware of incredibly large files though! A 30 minute recording will consume 900 Mb, and I've found no way to share files that large. There must be a way to convert the files to DVD on the computer, but I'm not savvy enough to figure it out yet. The included software says you can edit the files too, but the instructions have thus far eluded me. I consider that to be a user problem, not a product issue. Just be prepared to dedicate a LOT of computer memory to file storage!
Another restriction is camera shake. Mino is so small and light that it's nearly impossible to hold steady. Pressing buttons to zoom or start/stop will almost certainly result in a shake, but most people will figure out how to clip the ends in editing. I did buy the little tripod which eliminates the problem.
Despite the few difficulties, I do highly recommend this camera after 3 months use.