I have been wanting to get an HD video camera for a while now. A few years ago, I purchased an Canon ZR 700, and while it was a great camera, it was a hassle to deal with digitizing the tapes and exporting the video. Even after switching to the HV20, it was still a hassle. I wanted something I could use to take quick bits of video just about anywhere and easily upload them for sharing with friends and family.
Last week, I ordered a Flip MinoHD and had it shipped overnight from Amazon. My initial impressions were good. I was able to take it out of the box, turn it on, and record a video right away. Here is a quick sample video that I shot outside behind our office. You can click through to Vimeo to see the HD version.
Flip MinoHD Test from Jeremy Flint on Vimeo.
So, I have been in Tennessee on vacation this week and I have had a chance to use the Flip MinoHD “in the field” on several occasions. First, I filmed our walk through the shark tunnel at the Ripley’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg. For it to be such a low-light setting, the camera did surprisingly well. Check out the video below and click on through to Vimeo for the HD version.
Sharks from Jeremy Flint on Vimeo.
Aside from the ease of use, the Flip MinoHD is also incredibly easy to retrieve video from. I am on a Mac, so I just plug it in to my USB port and it shows up as a removable drive on my desktop. Then, I just drag the videos off to a folder on my hard drive. If I want to edit the clips, or merge multiple clips into a single movie, I can import them to iMovie and go from there.
The Flip MinoHD comes with an application called FlipShare that will help you organize, edit and share your videos. It has built-in uploading to popular services like YouTube and Vimeo, as well as the ability to capture screenshots from your videos. I think you can even use the software to burn your videos to DVD.
The battery life is good. If you spend a lot of time playing back the videos you have captured, it will drain the battery quickly. If you keep that to a minimum, and make sure you start out with a full charge, that should last your for a day of heavy recording.
I have been incredibly happy with my Flip MinoHD so far. The form factor of the camera allows me to easily take it anywhere and not have to worry about lugging around a larger camera, tapes, etc. The 60 minute recording time has been perfect for me so far, capturing bits and pieces of events here and there, and off-loading them to my laptop each night. If you are looking for an HD camera without all the hassle of tapes, check out the Flip MinoHD.
My main dilemma at the moment is where to share my videos. Vimeo offers 1 HD upload per week on their free account. I could upgrade to a Vimeo Plus account for about $60 a year. Facebook seems to only limit videos by size (1024mb and 20 minutes). YouTube is another option now that they offer HD support. Flickr also offers HD support, but their video limits are 150MB and 90 seconds.
