15th September 2008

Flip Video First Impressions

posted in digitalstorytelling |

I had my first opportunity today to play with a “Flip” brand flash video recorder. (Specifically, the Flip Ultra.) Wow! I was very impressed. Light, small, easy to use, and battery operated. Without installing any software the AVI video files could be played on my Mac laptop in QuickTime Player. To import a video into iMovie HD 6, however, I had to install the additional QuickTime video codec which came on the camera’s flash drive. No cable was required, like my Olympus WS-110 audio recorder the Flip Video plugs directly into a USB port. I was very impressed and hope we can create a “phase 2″ workshop for our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices digital storytelling project that involves the use Flip video cameras.

Here is a picture I snapped with my iPhone of the Flip camera on it’s small, cute but functional mini-tripod. (This is my first iPhone mobile blogged post here, btw. I edited the post to add links– mobile blogging is great, but I don’t think it’s possible to link text easily within a post, at least with the iPhone Wordpress app.)

Addition: Although this was my first opportunity to personally use a Flip Video camera, I have been using a different Flash-based camcorder (the discontinued Sony GC-1) for a couple months now. See my posts “The cutest 5 year old dancer you’ve ever seen,” Searching for the ideal StoryChaser camera, “Transformative power of flash-based video cameras,” “Railroads and virtual connections,” “72 Years of Free Barbeque,” and “Storychasing the 2008 XIT Rodeo and Ranch” for more on the value and potential of Flash-based video recorders/cameras.

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 9:52 pm and is filed under digitalstorytelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

There are currently 4 responses to “Flip Video First Impressions”

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  1. 1 On September 15th, 2008, Mathew said:

    I like the Flip too. In the classroom, in particular, where things get lost it’s so great to have a camera that requires no tape or cables. The low cost makes it just the right price for a DonorsChoose donation.

    One word of caution…
    I haven’t experienced this yet but I’ve been warned that the cameras have a tendency to snap away from the USB connector when attached to the computer if someone knocks into it. Just something to be careful of.

  2. 2 On September 16th, 2008, Sue Waters said:

    Cool Flip camera but interested to know did you blog it using Posterous or Wordpress for iphone?

  3. 3 On September 16th, 2008, Tyler Reed said:

    Very cool, Wes. I bought one recently too for my first go at video-making and it couldn’t be easier to use. It’s been nice to have one so small I can carry it around in my pocket too.

  4. 4 On September 16th, 2008, Wesley Fryer said:

    Sue: I took a picture of it with my iPhone, and then used the iPhone Wordpress app to post the photo and the blog post above. I didn’t use the Flip itself to take the photo. I edited this post this morning and inserted links as well.