A camcorder for your pocket: Flip Video

If you’re not familiar with Flip Video, it means you’re not watching “Oprah”.  The queen of marketing buzz recently gave Flip cameras away to all her audience members, and now they’re a “must have” item for anyone with email, a blog, or a fetish for appearing on YouTube.

Flip video is a small video camera, slightly longer and slimmer than a deck of cards.  Its purpose is to allow you to have a camera at the ready wherever you are, wherever you go, so it’s light and easily fits in a purse, pocket, or backpack.  When you record, you can catch audio, and zoom in and out, but that’s the extent of fancy recording options.  Many people will appreciate keeping it simple.  To watch your videos, the Flip will hook up directly to your television, or you can watch the movies back on the camera’s own viewfinder.  If you want to upload your videos to the web, a built-in USB arm allows easy transfer, and you can even send a video directly to YouTube.  Simple on-board software will allow you to make some basic edits, all without fussing with your computer and big editing programs.

The cameras come in two recording sizes - 30 minutes, and 60 minutes.  You get what you pay for in terms of quality, and you won’t be willing the Palme d’Or with a sensitive drama you filmed on your Flip camera.  On the other hand, you’ll have a quick and easy way to take video at your brother’s birthday party in the afternoon, and have the film uploaded to YouTube before the party breaks up.  The largest Flip camera holds 1 hour of video (about 1 GB), and if you shop around you should be able to find it for about $120.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/24 at 10:23 AM

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