Anyone ever use a flip camera?

It's not bad. It won't replace a regular high-quality video camera, but you can't beat it for price and portability.

Just depends on what your needs are and intended use is. I wouldn't use it for video production, but for video blogging or web video, it's certainly good enough for that.

The camera store guy told me that the quality might not be very good in a flip phone. From the samples I've seen, it appears that they are good for some things and not for others, just like cheap digital cameras.

With a high end camera, you can shoot distances but low end cameras are better for close-up work. So if you just want to video yourself in your office doing a demo on a chalkboard, a low end will probably be sufficient if you don't move around too much and if you keep in close-up mode. If you want a video of the building across the street, the quality will be reduced.

I notice with the video posted above that when the camera was moved, the video breaks up more, so my assumption would be that for best results, don't wave the camera around too much and keep your subject as stable as possible.

Hope this helps.

Sylvia

I tested the flip against a half dozen other ultra portable models in the same price range and my findings were...

Flip came in:

Dead last in image quality
Second in sound quality
First in ease of use

Additionally it came in:

Last in battery life (uses bulky double AA batteries).
Last in memory capacity (does not have memory expansion like most).

The product that won my tests was the Sony GC1

It came in:

Second in image quality
First in audio quality
Second in memory only because it uses Sony
First in battery life (plus its rechargeable).
First in features

The advantages of the GC1 besides better image and audio quality were:

1. Same size
2. 5 megapixel camera that took surprisingly great quality pictures.
3. Fold out swivel 2 inch lcd screen so you can see if you are filming your self to make sure you are in the frame (flip screen is only on back).
4. Expandable memory card slot for hours of video capacity (flip does not have this).
5. Great quality as a webcam.
6. multiple video quality settings
etc.

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Now if you are still interested in the Flip our local Costco was selling the 60 minute ultra version for $120 which normally retails for $149-$179

I am sure this is because flip is clearing out the older 60 minute version for the new slimmer model.

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There is a new option hitting the market these days though in the ultra compact which is the new "HD" DVG-567V

Similar in size design and simplicity to the flip Costco is selling this model for only $99 in its online store (marked down from $129).

The major advantage of this device are:

1. It uses h.264 compression which delivers some of the best image quality after compression in the industry

2. It uses SD HC memory cards which are cheap and available everywhere so you will never have to worry about running out of memory.

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The one thing that plagues these various ultra portable digital camcorders is that they all produce terrible audio quality when compared to consumer grade DV camcorders.

Within arm reach as I am writing this I have 4 camcorders totaling nearly $5000 in investment ranging from prosumer to budget models.

The most important advice I can give is that if you want more than to do a video blog or webcam quality video then don't throw your money away on cheap crap.

Get a quality Mini DV camcorder with external microphone.