Why the Flip?!
The Mino HD (The Flip) was originally thought to be the ultimate in guerrilla camera’s allowing you to run and gun (in HD). If you’re not an editor – no problem as there are some in camera editing tools. There are now a few other competitors on the market and they have made some serious noise – and it’s really been fun to watch the shake down. I’ll also add that I run adds for the Mino HD, they are not a sponsor of the site. And I don’t own any of the camera that will be mentioned here – the point that I want to bring up, is “What the Flip!? Is there a clear winner here – or are we just flexing our tech muscles?
Fast Company (in their March 2009 issue) lists Pure Digital Technologies (maker of Filp Mino HD) as #7 of their list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” beating out Apple, Amazon, and Facebook. What make them so cool you ask?! Well – they have truly put HD video in the hands of the masses. In just 18 months, Pure Digital sold 1.5 million of its recorders and now commands 25% of the market. With competition on the rise the review have start to come in that have said that the Flip just ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Chris also did a side-by-side-by-side review of the three heavy hitters (Mino HD, Kodak Zi6, and Creative’s Vado HD) and I have to agree that they all bring a lot to the table. There are some core features that I’d really love to have seen in the Mino HD, namly – removeable media, and batteries would have been a huge plus. In the end Pirillo named the Creative Vado HD the best of the bunch, but I really don’t see it, and neither did Robert Scroble in his blog post entitled, “Chris Pirillo is wrong about best pocket video cameras.” Now I’ll also point out that Scroble is on staff at Fast Company – the mag that named the maker of the Flip as cool.
Before I get sucked into the stone throwing of the two tech legends – I’d like to take a few steps back and let’s look at the criteria that really should have been at the core of this – the features, and then talk about some things that I’d really love for someone to address. With the goal of pocket HD shooting, I think that there are some critical things that the Kodak nailed – namly the lense, audio quality, the removeable / rechargeable batteries; but form factor kills it for me. Sure the larger screen size is nice – but if 75% of the video that you shoot – is going to be of you in front of it – I’d gladly go for the smaller size (and I’m sure that means a bit longer battery life too.)
What critical features do I still long for in pocket video camera’s?
- White Balance – The ability to tell the camera what true white is so that it can properly balance skin tone and determine the space between true white and black, this is a critical area in all camera’s! It’d be killer if there were some setups for a few different presets (user defined) so that I could switch from a warmer look – or just tell it day light and start shooting. (If 1980 era VHS camera’s could figure this out – why can’t we have this in a pocket camera?
- External Audio Jack – The one thing that really separates good video from great video – is always the audio. George Lucas says that it makes up 50% of the movie – I really think that it’s much more than that! Would move these camera beyond a great thing to have – to an essential thing to have!
It’s because of these two critical features that I still believe that you need a “real” camera – like a HVX, or even one of the new tiny-cam’s (HV30 or HF10) and a real microphone, to be able to deliver ‘real’ results but these new camera’s have made some great in roads in what you can use to bring HD video to your audience! When I say “real” I really am striving to convey the whole air quote thingy – but if you really want to know what makes shows like the highly produced “WineLibrary.TV” and what you see most marketers deliverying is this thing call “REAL”, in order to deliever the real – or as others like to call it production value you have to have exposure control and a microphone that’s not inside of a plastic box!
Judging these cameras by what has better color or which has a wider lens – is really a mute point to me. What video are you shooting at any point that you’re not doing some type of post process?? Also for the record – I always shoot as flat as possible when shooting for broadcast and digital film – this is a very standard pratice across the board, so that when you do color correct your shots you have the most latitude to start.
Am I missing anything else here? Am I being too critical of these two views on these three camera’s?
Photos used in post:
Flip Mino HD: Design Tag by bfishadow // Flip Video MinoHD by woodleywonderworks
I get full manual control of white balance, audio, exposure, focus and few other cool features on my Canon HF10. I still want a flip, knowing it's picture isn't a good either. It's just the sheer usablity of the flip's form factor and size that still attracts me. Even as tiny as my HF10 is (it's still getting called 'My Little Pony') I can't ALWAYS have it with me.
Yup – it does become a form factor issues, but just as point-n-shoot camera's have become vastly more powerful in years past – so will pocket video camera's. I just wish that it'd happen faster (which I think it will). Especially if the makers of small point-n-shoot camera figure out that they can be in the same space as the flip.
Am I asking for too much?
Sony and Canon could invade and dominate this space, but only at the cost of gutting the market for there (20 odd) other cameras in the lower end. Proof that they are not in it for us. Flip / Red and the like are turning this industry around by selling a camera, not a commodity. Could the flip be better – yes. Cheaper? No. It's a carefull balance of cost vs features that I think they got right. What really seperates Red and Flip from the others is marketing and responsivness to customers (can you put a custom skin on your Canon? I think not)