Flip Video Ultra
June 1st, 2008
I had mentioned this a few weeks ago, and I finally took the plunge and bought a Flip Video Ultra. While I have a larger camera, I wanted something smaller that made more sense for me - having the larger camera was nice, but I never used it. I’d rather take quicker little videos when convienient and deal with the negatives of a smaller camera, rather than lugging around a beast of a camera but never really getting a chance to use it. When I saw the Flip was on sale on Amazon for $119, I took the plunge.
The Hardware
I was instantly pleased with the packaging. It felt like something that you’d see an Apple product shipped in, and the unboxing experience was just as pleasant. The first thing you see is the camera sitting there, and below the tray holding it is the other accessories and materials. Very Apple-like. Finally companies are realizing that first impressions go a long way.
Once I got the camera out, I quickly put the two AA batteries that were included into the camera, and I was on my way. If you don’t know much about the Flip Video Ultra, it’s premise is that it is a very simple point and shoot camera, and you can be up and shooting within a few minutes. I took a few quick shots of my dog and tested out the low light / bright light shooting conditions.
That is not to say that the product is perfect, however. Quickly I noticed that there is no battery indicator, so you’re left to guess how much time is left. From what I’ve read, 5-7 hours is a pretty reasonable estimate of what you’ll get. The nice thing is that you can bring along two AA batteries and you’re set. No silly cables or chargers. Not the most eco-friendly solution, but it’ll do. I’ll probably invest in rechargeable batteries at some point for the Flip. Another thing that I noticed is how awful the digital zoom is. I didn’t expect much, but the thing is a total waste of time. They should have not even included it as an option. The ‘flip’ out USB drive is a really nice touch, and it makes it simple to get your video onto your computer from anywhere. Again, it’s one less cable to carry around.
Video Quality
Here is a quick sample:
I feel that the quality is about exactly what I expected. It’s solid, it handles well in low light, and the colors are pretty accurate. However, the framerate isn’t always up to par, the video can look really washed out when the lighting isn’t great, and sometimes you can hear machine noise when the camera is running. Additionally, the microphone is pretty weak and doesn’t really allow you to pick up any dialogue from folks more than a few feet away.
More examples can be found on my Flickr page.
Software integration
The software (on the Mac at least) is pretty second rate, but still a nice effort at making a clean experience. The one thing that does deserve kudos is the fact that the codecs & software live on the camera, not on a separate disk. This will prove to be very valuable when I need to watch or download a movie to another computer. Before you can watch a movie in QuickTime, you have to install a supplied QT codec, which only takes a minute or two. From there, you can run the included movie management software or you can simply drag the movies out of the mounted drive on the desktop. I chose the latter.
If you’re an iMovie user, iMovie HD works by default with the .avi movies that are on the camera. iMovie 08, on the other hand, will not accept .avi movies and requires a conversion before digging in to the editing. A free utility that works great is iSquint, or if you want to pay for more advanced features, Visualhub. A quick conversion and the videos are ready for iMovie 08. Apparently Apple and the Flip Video folks are working to make this process a bit friendlier to us Mac users.
Overall, the experience is pretty straightforward, and if importing to iMovie 08 is ever resolved, Mac users everywhere will rejoice. I’m a Final Cut Express 4 man myself, so the videos import without a hitch for me.
Overall recommendation
The Flip Video Ultra is exactly what you’d expect from a camera that retails for less than $150. It’s a cheap, lightweight camera that makes shooting video easy and fun, and leaves out fancy features that you’d see on nicer cameras in the name of making a simple user experience. Frankly, I think that for it’s indented purpose, it’s hard to beat the Flip. It’s not perfect, but you get what you paid for and a whole lot more.
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