As a video editing company, we are constantly asked by our customers what is the "best" camcorder to buy. This is a difficult question to answer. You can spend well over $2000 on a fancy hi-def camera or you can spend less than $120 on a flip camcorder. Note, there are different models of the Flip. For this post we're going to check out the Flip 'Mino' Camcorder by Pure Digital. Our initial impression is the Flip gets an A+ for usability, and as long as you don't want cinematic quality, the Flip is a winner. Here's why:
It's small
Remember when cell phones were so big they fit in a bag? You probably didn't carry them around much back then. The same goes for camcorders. Anything that doesn't easily fit in your pocket means you will probably leave the device at home instead of having it on hand to capture those special moments. The flip camera is small and very lightweight. Here is a picture of the flip next to a business card.
It's easyLook at the above picture. See the red record button? That's it. You hit the power button and then you hit the record button. There is storage for up to 60 minutes of video on the built-in memory. One drawback of the simplicity is that there is no optical zoom. For me, though, I'd much rather have a camera that fits in my pocket. Remember, zoom equals bigger lens which equals size.
