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Photo : Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60-Minutes (White) |
- Terrible customer service We bought this to take to Walt Disney World with us. It was great to carry around and the video turned out great. We did have problems putting it on a DVD. I tried to work with customer service but you cannot talk to anyone in person. We used it 5 days. About a week after coming home I was going to use it and when you turned it on it would not shut off and you could not take any videos. After numerous attempts to work with the company, I wanted to return it since it was within 30 days they would not even answer my emails. Thank goodness I bought this through Amazon. I was able to return it through them.
It's a great little video if you have no problems!!!
Rating:
- Ultra-compact and great bang for the $$!!This must be the SMALLEST and EASIEST video camera to use on the market. This is a no frills fills but does exactly what it is meant to do. So easy o use, in fact, my 4-year old is making his own movies with it now! The ultra-compact size, good battery mileage, great portability and USB cross-platform compatibility make it a good deal in itself. The quality of picture is surprisingly good - as long as you DO NOT USE THE DIGITAL ZOOM. The zooming results in grainy & bad image quality, so I keep it at 1:1 ratio all times. Like said earlier this is a no frills camera, but does a great job for being a tiny little doorstop in your hand.
I also recommend reviewing the clips is on a TV monitor (TV mini OUT jack is supplied) or on a computer monitor- the viewer is very small (about 1 1/2" x 1").
Rating:
- Great little camcorder for sharing videosThis is a great little camcorder for those moments you wish you captured. It's about the size of a cell phone. The video quantity is good for what it is designed for. Sharing and editing videos is a snap with the built in software. The software is very intuitive and straight forward. It has 2x digital zoom. The quality with the digital zoom is iffy. The Flip Ultra uses AA batteries. For me that is a plus. You can use rechargeable AA batteries or buy them in any store. No having to wait while the battery charges. Battery life is good.This camcorder will not replace your full function camcorder for recording sporting events or for subjects that are far away. I use it for those spur of the moment times you wish you had a camcorder or for posting online.
Rating:
- Great product for price!I am amazed at the ease of use, quality of video and convenient size of this camcorder considering its beyond-affordable price! My only gripes would be that there is no pause button and converting videos into a more compact email format is more time consuming than I would have hoped. I find that on my computer, I cannot email videos that are longer than five minutes in length. Other than that though, I would recommend this camcorder to just about anyone.
Rating:
- Cute overpriced toy, but nothing more - Here's a NO-BRAINER alternativeA friend gave me her Flip to try out for a few days, and I was not impressed. Rather than give it a full review as others have, I've written only written a semi-review, with much of it explaining why a point-and-shoot camera is a MUCH better choice.
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THE FLIP vs A POINT-AND-SHOOT --- NO BRAINER
Before considering this toy, keep in mind that you can get a real point-and-shoot camera for about the same price or less -- even from reputable companies like Nikon, Canon, Olympus, etc. And they all do 640x480 videos at 30 frames per second. Furthermore, they are limited only by the amount of free memory available, which you can add on-the-fly by simply swapping memory cards. You can't do that with the Flip. Some will even have 3-5x OPTICAL zooming that you can use while recording (like my $59 Samsung S85, fifty-nine dollars). Plus you get high quality autofocusing glass lenses. The Flip is fixed focus, much like that in a disposable camera. And digital zoom is a joke. it's basically cropping the video's edges and then magnifying what's left to fill the screen. The quality is horrible and noise is amplified.
Don't underestimate the usefulness of zooming. I can't tell you how useful it is during sporting events to be able to zoom 5x. Many cameras also have video macro modes to capture closeup action within inches of the subject. I've found this useful for nature videos, i.e. insects on flowers. The Flip can only get as close as 31" whereas my Samsung can go up to 3". 31" is not good enough for capturing footage in a museum, where closeup is a must. Nor is it possible to capture regular text clearly, if necessary.
Models vary, of course, but those real cameras are generally no larger or heavier than this Flip, and they all feature a larger LCD screen (2"-2.5" vs the Flip's 1.5"). Most also use AA batteries so you need not be by an outlet or computer to recharge (rechargeable models generally cost more). Being point-and-shoot, they are no harder to use than the Flip. Just turn on and press a button. Most also have built in editing functions. And of course, you get a VASTLY superior still camera than what the Flip can do, i.e. more than 7 megapixels, shake reduction, multiple scene modes, face recognition, etc.
A criterion that many photographers use to critique a camera is start up time, i.e. the time it takes for the camera to power up. The Flip took 4-7 seconds whereas my $59 Samsung S85 takes about 1.5 seconds. Virtually no point-and-shoot will take more than 2.5 seconds. You can miss a lot of action in 7 seconds.
My favorite feature of point-and-shoots is that you don't even need to plug the camera into a computer. You can simply remove the camera's memory card and plug that directly into the computer. Many laptops and desktops have card readers built in, or you can buy one for under ten dollars. It's all drag-and-drop from there on. And if you need to print a photo, you can just take the card to a local drug store. Or plug the camera to a compatible printer. No need to turn on the computer at all. Can the Flip do that? And no need to install drivers or bloatware.
Because most cameras use standard video formats -- usually AVI or MOV -- you can simply load the files off the memory card for editing in any standard program (I sometimes even use WIndows Movie Maker). Want to email it? Simply attach the video off the memory card to your email. Much easier than what is described for the Flip. No special software, drivers, folders, etc. You treat the movie just like any other file. And yes, many cameras will also allow you to simply plug them in like USB memory without installing any special software.
Some people mistakenly believe that it's easier to upload Flip videos to sites like YouTube. This is untrue. You can simply upload your camera's AVI file directly to YouTube without any prior conversions. YouTube will do the resizing and conversions for you. I know because I do it all the time. In fact, I'd say that it's easier to upload camera videos because you're just dealing with a tiny memory card, which you can plug into most computers and laptops. With the Flip, you have to find a free USB port and enough physical space to plug in the Flip. My friend finds it annoying to have to unplug her other USB devices to accommodate the Flip every time she updates her Vlog. I ended up buying her a USB 4-port extender.
Speaking of the Flip's USB plug, it seems rather flimsy. That's alarming considering that it's an irreplaceable part. On a digital camera, the USB connection is accomplished through an easily-replaceable USB cable (about $2 on eBay). And again, you may never need to use the USB connection with a camera because video transfer can be accomplished via memory cards. I've never installed any drivers, software or used the USB cable.
To me, it seems like a no brainer to choose a real point-and-shoot camera over the Flip -- especially for roughly the same price. They win hands down for features, price, ease-of-use, quality, etc. And if you need HD videos, go for the Kodak Z1285 11 meg camera, which is frequently available refurbished for $79, seventy-nine dollars. The camera is decent but the videos are amazing, true HD 720p (and you can use the 5x optical zoom while recording). In fact, some film students are actually using the camera for their class assignments instead of a much more expensive HD video camera. You can find sample videos by Googling "Kodak Z1285 videos."
In summary, I can see absolutely no circumstance or reason for choosing this toy over a reputable point-and-shoot camera that can cost as little as $59. The cameras win or tie for every criteria imaginable: price, ease-of-use, quality, features, capacity, speed, etc. Well, the Flip probably wins for Coolness, which may be important for high schoolers. But if you're an adult and you want to look cool, go buy yourself some clothes with the money saved.
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