Video on the cheap
I’ve seen a couple of references recently to the Flip video camera ($119 - $149) from Pure Digital. Mark Hamilton (Notes from a Teacher) has written a couple of posts about this — he owns a Flip camera: (1) Point-and-shoot video: A review; (2) A Little Flip.
But if you see good-sounding video (Burma rally, for example) on his site — that was not shot with the Flip. Mark now has a Canon HV20, and in response to an e-mail from me, he e-mailed me this about the Burma rally video:
I used the external mic on the HV20 and did a bit of audio boosting on a couple of the clips. I always cover myself at events by keeping my digital voice recorder (Zoom H4) running as a back-up, but I’m fairly impressed by the built-in mic on the HV20.
Mark sent this example (video shot by his students) as a demonstration of Flip video quality. Or lack thereof.
We’ve purchased seven Pure Digitals so far. The video quality isn’t bad (considering the price), and the audio definitely is the worst part of the package. However, our reporters and photographers have pretty good luck with the head/shoulder-type interviews, as they’ve learned to stick the cameras right in the subjects’ faces.
For price and pure speed, the Pure Digitals aren’t bad at all. Our bureau reporters are able to use them, too, then upload the video to an FTP site for us to process. Thus, we’re getting video from our outlying areas - something we couldn’t likely afford even with inexpensive Handycams.
October 25, 2007 at 1:55 amI once tried to use a similar device to do some Vox Pops but people didn’t believe it was a real camera, people though I was some weirdo trying to take videos of them. We need this to break into the mainstream.
October 25, 2007 at 3:28 amWhile more expensive, I still recommend the Casio. Not only is it better video quality, it’s much, much better sound quality, and that’s the big issue with the flip. It’s one thing to maybe have a little background noise, but the Flip distorts sounds, and that can be heard to listen to.
And the model of Casio we use looks more like a camera.
October 25, 2007 at 8:27 amThis sounds like the video camera equivalent of some editing I’m trying to do on Microsoft Movie Maker. It does the job (barely), but looks amateur, which I think has bearing on your credibility.
That said, I think these cameras have some value for breaking news (house burning down, giant protest outside of city hall, etc.) Every day use, though, yikes.
October 25, 2007 at 10:39 amI agree with your concerns about credibility, Nick. I don’t advocate the use of a camera as cheap as the Flip, which is why I offer the comparison of Mark’s Burma rally video (shot with a better camera, the Canon HV20) and the student video shot with the Flip. I guess the journalist can decide — or the journalism organization can decide — if they want to offer cheap video to the public.
If the organization decides this is what they want … well, I might not like it, but I’m not running their shop.
October 25, 2007 at 11:05 am[...] small and easy to carry camcorder that can fit in your pocket. Plus it starts at $119.99 (£60.00). Not bad at all. You will have to upgrade a little to reach the 528 x 132 pixels. This is not too impressive but [...]
October 31, 2007 at 9:57 am