Geekido

For Christmas I just got a Flip minoHD, which is intended to replace my 10 year old camcorder. Somebody I know was considering getting one of these, and wanted to know whether it would be worth it compared to shooting video from their phone. Of course, there’s a lot to answering that question, and a lot depends on what you have and what you’re doing, so I can’t really say. But to provide a data point, I’ll offer up this little sample. I shot a short video of my daughter singing a song. I shot simultaneously with an iPhone 3GS and a Flip minoHD, from a distance of about 3 feet. I had the cameras held right next to each other, so lighting was essentially the same. Here are links to the videos:

iPhone (~10MB MOV)

Flip (~25MB MP4)

Here are my thoughts comparing these…

• The Flip aspect ratio is wider than the iPhone, so you have to be farther away to fit everything in frame
• The microphone is better on the Flip.
• The file size on the Flip is much larger, since it’s shooting HD.

I will continue using the iPhone for “snapshot” videos, where I’m just trying to catch the kids doing something cute. I didn’t get a Flip for this use, anyway. For me, the Flip will replace my camcorder usage. When I’m planning something out, perhaps a webcast, or a music video, I’ll use the Flip. Basically, whenever I plan to film in advance, and intended to edit the result, I’ll pull the Flip out. I don’t think I’ll carry it around with me most of the time.