Flip MinoHD Video Camera - Black, 4 GB, 1 Hour (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
by Flip Video
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Flip MinoHD Video Camera - Black, 4 GB, 1 Hour (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: The Flip Mino-HD, with the Perspective of Time
Summary: 5 Stars
My comments are based on researching, using, and writing about the Flip Mino-HD for a number of months.
The negative arguments, in summary: 1) The composite output to a TV is poor. 2) There is no built-in image stabilization.
The positive arguments, in summary: 1) It's very inexpensive. 2) It does shoot very nice quality HD video, if you can hold it steady. 3) It fits in your pocket comfortably. 4) It's dead simple to understand and use. 5) It uploads its video (and editing software) to your computer by just plugging it into a USB port.
Sometimes, simple is the right way to go. This is one of those times. An inexpensive, simple camcorder that fits comfortably in your pocket means it's going to get used by different people in different ways from all those that went before. That's exactly what has happened with the Flip.
As for the composite out quality, who expects to watch unedited video straight off the camera and be entertained by it? I have never tried to use the composite output, because I don't want to watch unedited video.
The editor is as easy to use as the camera itself, and your friends and family will REALLY appreciate it when you take a few minutes to ferret out the good video from the crap. FlipShare lets you trim, add fade transtions, and add titles.
Actually, there IS built in image stabilization. It's a standard tripod mount on the bottom. If you want great video, use a tripod, a minipod, or a monopod. You can also stabilize the camera by bracing your elbows against your chest when you shoot. Start pans with your feet pointed toward the end of your pan. These are all things that professional videographers do.
Another piece of basic information: If you want to watch HD on your computer, your computer has to have enough horsepower to decode a complex video format on the fly.
Many people have suggested that the Flip Mino (sans HD) doesn't have many of these problems. If you don't want the potential of HD, that is the right way to go. If you DO want HD, you should be prepared for a little extra trouble and expense to get the value from it. And that is true regardless of what HD camcorder you buy.
In short, you get good quality and good economy from a camcorder with a carefully optimized feature set. You can actually create great videos with this camcorder, edit them, email mail them, auto-upload to YouTube, and create a web channel of your own movies, and all that is in the box.
There are competitors, but I have yet to hold one in my hands with the fit and finish of the Flip. Expect the Flip Mino-HD and Flip Ultra-HD to be outdone first by their own manufacturer -- Pure Digital.
Darrell Icenogle
[...]
Customer Review: Man buys Flip, has video epiphany.
Summary: 5 Stars
You've probably read a few reviews by now and have formed your own opinion about the video quality, sound quality and what it does, so I'm going to tell you what I really think of this camera.
What prompted me to write the review in the first place, after a month of owning the camera, was a moment of awe when using the Flip video software. While watching TV, absentmindedly clicking around and importing video, I looked down and forgot that I was looking at video. The screen like any other iPhoto or Picasa application, I was like looking at photos. Scrolling through I was impressed with the quality of these pictures, some with really great lighting, others with neat angles. Interesting pictures that made me think why would I take a picture of tha... their video. I can PLAY these pictures. A real "Harry Potter moving pictures" zen moment.
This camera is fantastic. Period.
I've had it for a month and, waiting for that million dollar moment, I've carried it in the front pocket of my jeans everyday. It's been ice fishing several times, snowed on and handed around. I leaned on a pool table while it was in my pocket, heavily, for half the game before I realized and switched it to another pocket. It was unfazed. I basically forget that it's there. The little soft cloth bag they give you is great, if' I'm just filming something quick I don't even take the camera all the way out, just open and film.
The comments about lightweight, hard to film with...pffff, whatev. Unless your Andre the frickin' giant you'll be OK. You'll quickly learn good technique to getting great video. Smooth pans, be conscious of keeping it steady while moving, hold shots for a little before panning or pan extra slow (you can always edit out later, you might want to use that extra) and try new things.
The quality of the video continually impresses me. The HD picture is crisp, bright, colorful and it adjusts to lighting conditions very fast. The sound is also great. I'm very impressed with how well it works in noisy and windy conditions.
I couldn't ask for more out of this camera. It's VERY well made. It says what it does and it does what it says. If you're considering it. Buy it.
Here are some videos that I shot with it. Search Vimeo for Flip Mino HD to see more good examples.
http://www.vimeo.com/2837116
http://www.vimeo.com/2750426
(If they seem to skip at all it's the streaming, pause and move the playhead back a bit and play)
Customer Review: Tiny, easy and light!
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This is my first Flip Video Camcorder. I do have an RCA Small Wonder, but let me tell ya, the Small Wonder is big next to this Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder! As a comparison, this MinoHD is a little narrower and a little shorter than my Blackberry. I can carry it in my fanny pack and not even know it's there; it's so small and light.
It was really easy to start taking videos; just turned it on and I was ready to go (after the initial quick setup)! It had almost a full battery when I received it, but I did charge it that evening thru the USB connector. I experimented with some videos; first I used it in a room that had no overhead lights on - just a few lighted decorations and the video was dark. So I tried it with the overhead lights on and the video was great, so I guess it needs a lot of light. The RCA Small Wonder seems to adjust to the brightness better than this MinoHD. I connected the Flip MinoHD to the TV (TV connectors were included) and the picture was very clear on the 20" screen.
I cut one of the videos (very easy to do with the software that comes on the Camcorder) and emailed to someone to test out how it worked. Beware that HD takes up a lot of megabytes. A 20 second video was 27.5 mb! I cut it down more so I could email it. The recipient said that she just had to click on a link to see the video so didn't have to download the whole thing and that was good. There's an included program to email videos and even different cards (holidays, birthdays, etc.) that can be sent with a video in them and I thought that neat.
It does not use external batteries; just the internal Li-ion battery and there is no slot for any memory card. If you plan on using this longer than 60 minutes and won't be by a computer to recharge it, I'd recommend a Camcorder that has a memory card slot and external batteries. For my purposes this one should work great.
So far I'm really enjoying this and plan on using it on Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Customer Review: I love this little pocket camcorder
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I love this camcorder - so much, in fact, that I gave away my 3 yr old MiniDV camcorder. The flip mino takes more than adequate video quality for filming the kids or family activities - it's not professional movie quality, but at this price point, that's an unrealistic expectation. What really sets it apart and makes it the only camcorder I use, is it's small size and ease of downloading videos onto the computer for saving or emailing. The software is embedded on the camcorder itself and installs the first time you plug it in, after that you just plug in and choose what you want to do - save it, which only takes a few minutes. Emailing takes longer to upload to flip's servers, but is wonderful because you can email out much larger and longer videos than you could thru traditional email (unless you want to spend hours transcoding to smaller resolution before sending). This camcorder is easily small enough to toss into your purse so you always have it handy, which is actually where I keep mine when not in use. My only complaint is that when I try to combine multiple videos to make a movie, the process crashes and it can't even begin (I'm running windows vista, with intel onboard video). However, this is a minor complaint, since I don't really plan on making a bunch of movies or dvd's - if I wanted to do that, I would've kept my big expensive tape camcorder. And this can still be done using other traditional video editing software. This is primarily for those who want to have videos and be able to keep them and manage them on their computer as easily as they do their photos, or for those who want to be able to easily email or upload their videos to the internet. Lowlight quality, which is typically an issue for all camcorders, is great - there is some noise, but it still does better than my 3 yr old minidv camcorder. If there was anything I felt it was lacking, that would be an electronic image stabilization - but that would also add to the price.Customer Review: great little gadget; a few minor tweaks could make it even better
Summary: 5 Stars
Got this as a Christmas gift, and I have to say, it's a pretty nifty little device. It does exactly what it was intended to do, which is capture videos spur-of-the-moment -- it's very portable (small and lightweight), and starts up very quickly, and is very easy to use.
If you're looking for something that can capture more video, like on a roadtrip or vacation, then this really isn't the tool for that, given that it maxes out at 60 minutes, but like I said, for what it's intended to do, it is aces.
Some things that could be improved on though:
- Picture seems a bit zoomed in by default, so you have to be a fair distance back to capture subjects in the frame.
- Would be good to have an option to lower shooting resolution, as the default resolution does tend to produce some pretty large video files. I just recompress on my PC after downloading, but maybe that could be a function, if not on the Flip itself, then maybe of the FlipShare software.
- USB arm is not the most versatile -- my ThinkPad has vertical USB slots, so that means I can only plug the Flip on the right-hand side slot, which is usually where I plug my mouse. A USB extension cable in the box, and not sold as an accessory (Flip sells them, packs of three, different colors -- do you really need three USB cables, in different colors?) would be nice.
- I actually had a few problems with charging at first, using my own AC/USB adapter (Belkin) -- Flip stopped charging with the error message "Charging stopped, recorder is hot" (or something like that), and even my own USB cable, but it wouldn't charge completely. So I can only charge now using my laptop, and that works fine, and the battery does seem to last a while.
Still haven't fiddled around with the video editing software, nor tried connecting the camera to my TV (a non-HD TV), so I can't comment on those features yet, so I may update this review in the future once I get around to trying those out.
Oh, another plus -- it fits perfectly in my waterproof pouch, so I can bring it in the pool or to the beach. Great fun.
Overall, I love this toy.