Reviews - Flip UltraHD and MinoHD third-generation camcorder review

[HEXUS]

The camcorder that spurred the growth of point-and-shoot video is back and better than ever.

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[miniyazz]

Wow. At those prices, I'll buy a smartphone with a decent camera on it, thanks

[this_is_gav]

Wow. At those prices, I'll buy a smartphone with a decent camera on it, thanks

The original non-HD Flips were better than 90% of smartphone (or any phone) cameras. These will kick all camera phones in the goolies.

From my experience of the original Flips, they are pretty poor in low light, but I guess that's a given for something like this.

They do seem to be living on their reputation a bit now though. Those prices are £30-50 too high - I guess the actual price will be lower than the RRP though.

[Noli]

Kodak's had 1080p recording on their equivalent products for quite a while now IIRC.

Whilst you can argue that the benefits may be non-existent over 720p for these small sensors, it's a paper advantage you can't ignore. Try harder Flip!

[miniyazz]

The original non-HD Flips were better than 90% of smartphone (or any phone) cameras. These will kick all camera phones in the goolies.

From my experience of the original Flips, they are pretty poor in low light, but I guess that's a given for something like this.

They do seem to be living on their reputation a bit now though. Those prices are £30-50 too high - I guess the actual price will be lower than the RRP though.

That's hardly a surprise, since the original Flip was released in 2006. IMO camera phones have come much, much further in those years than dedicated cameras, and I'm sceptical that there's that much in it now (naturally I would still expect the Flips to be better quality than smartphone cameras, but I reckon the N8 and suchlike would give it a run for its money).

[this_is_gav]

Woopsies - I appear to have double-posted rather than editing.

[this_is_gav]

Kodak's had 1080p recording on their equivalent products for quite a while now IIRC.

Whilst you can argue that the benefits may be non-existent over 720p for these small sensors, it's a paper advantage you can't ignore. Try harder Flip!

My old backup DSLR is 'only' 10mp, but it's quite a bit better than my 10mp phone.

Output size means sod all if the quality is crap in some way. I'm not saying either is better than the other - I've zero experience of either the Kodak or any of the Flip HDs - but with cameras all that matters what the end product is like - in reality 1080p vs 720p alone means sod all.

That's hardly a surprise, since the original Flip was released in 2006. IMO camera phones have come much, much further in those years than dedicated cameras, and I'm sceptical that there's that much in it now (naturally I would still expect the Flips to be better quality than smartphone cameras, but I reckon the N8 and suchlike would give it a run for its money).

We've still got the original Flips now (I work in a school). I wasn't comparing to old smartphones.

Original Flip quality was around the video quality you got from an very decent (~£150) compact (not the ultra-small ones, but your standard 4xAA battery type of compact) a couple of year ago. I'd imagine these will trounce that quality.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not really a fan of them personally, I'm just saying that they're way above the majority of phone cameras. I've never felt the need to carry one around (a digital compact will cover my spontaneous video needs adequately if it were needed, and I don't carry one of those around either!), but for what the school use them for I think they were excellent value (as I remember we got them for around £80 each when they were first released). It's much easier than me getting the Canon HV20 out and then playback and convert into a decent compressed format too - the kids (we have 9-13 year olds) can just do this themselves in a few seconds, obviously just as you do on most cameras.

[miniyazz]

We've still got the original Flips now (I work in a school). I wasn't comparing to old smartphones.

Original Flip quality was around the video quality you got from an very decent (~£150) compact (not the ultra-small ones, but your standard 4xAA battery type of compact) a couple of year ago. I'd imagine these will trounce that quality.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not really a fan of them personally, I'm just saying that they're way above the majority of phone cameras. I've never felt the need to carry one around (a digital compact will cover my spontaneous video needs adequately if it were needed, and I don't carry one of those around either!), but for what the school use them for I think they were excellent value (as I remember we got them for around £80 each when they were first released). It's much easier than me getting the Canon HV20 out and then playback and convert into a decent compressed format too - the kids (we have 9-13 year olds) can just do this themselves in a few seconds, obviously just as you do on most cameras.

In that case, if the image quality really is that good over decent smartphone cameras, then perhaps there is a market for them. I still can't help feeling though that the majority of consumers would rather buy a smartphone with a decent camera on it on a contract than a Flip HD, simply because I suspect that those who would care about the improved video quality (the quality is pretty darned good on modern smartphones too, a helluva lot better than on my 1.5yo touch hd), i.e. edging towards professionals, would be using something a lot more sophisticated than a point and shoot device.
But I can certainly see their benefit for something like a school.