iPhlip: Flip Mino HD

Man these past few weeks have been busy, this time of year is always crazy and I'm always running around trying to get everything I need done in the inadequate amount of time I have to do it in...but anyways, I figured I'd fill you all in on a new toy I picked up called the Flip Mino HD. I'm going to come right out and say it, if you don't already own a video camera and you have kids or are recording important family stuff, don't buy a Flip, get a real camcorder first! I bought the Flip HD because I've was given a Flip Mino (non-HD) to test out for about a week or so to use earlier this year and found it pretty fun to have around, since Apple still doesn't allow me to record video with my iPhone. When the HD version came out I decided to give it a go, but low and behold a couple other similar products came out around the same time so I wanted to give them all a go to see which I liked better. I decided to really test out the Kodak Zi6 and the Flip Mino HD when it came down to it as most of the other similar products just didn't seem to be built all that well. I originally intended to go out and shoot video specifically for this review using both my FX1 and the Flip for a side by side comparison, but I've been just been too busy for that, so what I've decided to do instead is throw up a compilation of various video clips in varied lighting conditions to run the gamet of the situations you might find yourself recording video in. I originally was procrastinating on getting this up online because I originally thought I'd have to edit it all in Final Cut (a awesome app, but a pain to get quick clips edited), but I just got iLife 09, and the new iMovie was able to handle the footage just fine. I threw some clips together, didn't spend a whole lot of time on this, but wanted you to get a broad range of lighting examples... so you'll see that the Flip wouldn't be ideal for spelunking! I didn't use iMovie's stabilization feature, so you'll see a little shake due to the small size and light weight of the Flip. I'm fairly steady, but this video could still make you sea-sick, you've been warned! (just kidding)

(the end of the video alludes to an upcoming blog post...check back very soon)

The Kodak Zi6 has some nice features, such as removable/expandable memory (the Flip has a permanent 4GB built-in...no upgrading later) and the double edged sword of AA batteries...I say this because if you're out camping or just out with friends and your battery kicks out, you need to go find a computer to charge up the Flip, whereas you can just toss in a couple AA's from your local Walmart or convenience store. This however makes the Zi6 a bit larger and heavier, and ultimately I wanted something that was smaller (the Flip is about 1/2" smaller in every dimension) that I would be more likely to take everywhere I go. There are two other aspects of the Zi6 that made me want to keep it too, better contrast in the video as well as a larger LCD screen. The Flip has a 1.5" display, definitely not good for showing to more than 1-2 people at a time, the 2.4" display on the Kodak isn't huge but is definitely nicer for group viewing. The other primary trade-off between the two is the lenses. The Kodak has a slightly slower lens (f/2.8 vs f/2.4) so the Flip performs better in low light (Flip claims down to 1.4 lux) although the Kodak can focus much more closely, all the way down to two inches in macro mode (~28 inches in normal viewing), where the Flip has a fixed focus of about 5 feet (1.5 meters).

As you can probably tell from the above videos, this is not something you would want to record an episode of Lost on, nor would I recommend it for important family events like birthday parties, weddings, family reunions, kid's sports, ect. I would, however, recommend it (or the Zi6) for use as a backup device to always have with you even when you're not expecting to need to record something, it quick to turn on, dead-easy to use and small enough to carry everywhere. It also makes a fantastic gift for kids and teens who want to upload video onto Youtube and share with their friends. The Flip I think will become like the gateway drug for young kids who want to get into video but don't have parents that want to risk buying a $600 camcorder that gets used once or twice and spends the next 4 years collecting dust in the closet. Both products come with really simple software that allows you to do some basic editing (although I find Flip's software far more stable and faster) and do a direct upload to Youtube or Myspace. You'll notice that I've uploaded my videos to Vimeo for this test, and that is because Vimeo supports better image quality so you can get a better feel of the actual results out of these cameras.

What this also means, is now that I don't have to take out and setup all my HD Sony production gear to record things like this (wireless mics, tripods, firewire cables, ect.), I might actually start integrating some video clips into this blog, just maybe though...LOL! BTW, check out Armin's review... he was quicker to write a review than I was :(

Game changer...

I usually don't like to post about things I haven't actually spent time using or was not present for, but this is too big and most people won't have heard about it (and most won't for a while until this company starts to pick up speed). About a year or so ago a company called RED decided to build a video camera called RED ONE, but this wasn't a regular consumer video camera, it was a fullblown professional digital cinema system that is completely modular. Not only that, this system is able to produce video at 4k resolution at 30fps (4k is around 2X 1080P high definition). The tag line of this company is "making obsolescence obsolete". This is something they have taken to a whole new level with their two new product lines that have been announced only a few days ago. They unveiled the EPIC and SCARLET systems which they refer to as DSMC's which stands for Digital Stills and Motion Camera...yeah that's right, I said Digital Stills (hence why I'm blogging about it). RED has gone and made a modular DSLR. Stop the presses, roll out the red carpet (no pun intended) and alert the media! Now for the really cool stuff!

You buy a "brain" of whichever system you want to go with...then you get to decide what components to buy to do what you want to do! If you want a shoulder mount video camera that shoots at 3K at 120fps, you can do that, if you want a full blown cinema studio over-the-top monster camera...at 28k resolution at 24fps...yeah you can do that too! On the still photo side you get to choose your resolution from 4.6MP (megapixels) all to way to a mind-bottling (like it's so crazy your mind gets trapped in a bottle) 261MP!!!!!!! And the best part of all of this? You won't have to buy new lenses when you decide to move up into the big leagues, that's right you can strap on your best Nikon, Canon, PL and Mayima lenses on and start shooting both photos AND video!

Oh and one more thing...coming soon: 3D!!! Oh yeah...that's why I said GAME CHANGER!

Check out RED.com for more info. As much as I love my Nikons...this is a very good thing for the industry and I hope they sell LOTS and LOTS of cameras!

Video Project in 3 days = No sleep

James and I on our first day of shooting...prior to sleep deprivation...

So those of you who don't know...I have had all of 8 hours of sleep over the past week. I got approached by a GM in my district about creating a video project around customer acquisition and innovation in our local stores last week. I agreed to work on it without knowing when he needed it by (he made it sound like their was plenty of time). The next day he calls to tell me a little more about the project. This is a video which is to be made to show to our Executive Vice President of Retail and our CFO who would be coming to our territory office on the 27th. I said "The 27th of July? Okay." No...it was the 27th of June. This conversation was last Friday the 20th.

I freak out as I had to work all weekend and was scheduled to work all this week. I managed to get my employees to work a bunch of extra shifts to cover me, and grabbed James ( a friend at the company who I've done several video projects before...also a fellow contributer to Tech Tuesdays at Sillyman.org) and filled him in on the details. We began shooting Monday morning and found out Tuesday afternoon after shooting the last bit that this video needed to have a rough draft (90% complete) by 3PM Wednesday...

To make a long story short, this project took about 50 hours of actual work and James and I were sitting in front of a camera or a computer for close to 65 hours (waiting for things to render, import, ect) over the course of 3.5 days. We found out Thursday EVENING that the time for the presentation has been cut back, and due to time constraints they won't have time to show the video (it's only 7.5 minutes long!)

I wasn't going to blog this, but I emailed the video to a couple friends in the industry and they wanted me to post this up just to show everyone exactly how (to put in Armin's words) "...this really shows how much TIME and EFFORT goes into a freakin’ 7 minute video!"

Sorry I am not willing to link or post this video as it is does contain proprietary company information, but just rest assured that it came out great.

At least I got out of a blue shirt for a few days...