Next step up for Flip user?

[SteelWheel]

ok, I had never been a big photography or videography bug. A couple of years back, I bought the Flip Mino on a lark--these days I carry it with me most of the time, and it's been lots of fun, allowing me to record all kinds of good stuff. It's become a nice little hobby; I haven't gone nuts with it as I feared I might.

For awhile now, I've been wondering what the next step up for a Flip user is in the portable camcorder category might be--basically, the camcorder that is almost as portable, almost as easy to use, not that much more expensive, and of course the models that are more Mac-friendly.

Besides, now that Cisco is getting out of the Flip business altogether (to which I can only say, "Huh?"), it seemed like a good time to look around for something which would be a little more feature-ful, and let me stretch my knowledge with respect to shooting video and making my stuff look a little more professional.

Thanks for any useful ideas.

 

[HappyDude20]

ok, I had never been a big photography or videography bug. A couple of years back, I bought the Flip Mino on a lark--these days I carry it with me most of the time, and it's been lots of fun, allowing me to record all kinds of good stuff. It's become a nice little hobby; I haven't gone nuts with it as I feared I might.

For awhile now, I've been wondering what the next step up for a Flip user is in the portable camcorder category might be--basically, the camcorder that is almost as portable, almost as easy to use, not that much more expensive, and of course the models that are more Mac-friendly.

Besides, now that Cisco is getting out of the Flip business altogether (to which I can only say, "Huh?"), it seemed like a good time to look around for something which would be a little more feature-ful, and let me stretch my knowledge with respect to shooting video and making my stuff look a little more professional.

Thanks for any useful ideas.

I too have a Flip Mino HD, but am not planning on purchasing a replacement anytime soon. I'm currently in China and have been using my Flip daily for the past 2 months now with great success. My only current dilemma is actually editing all the video in iMovie, which I haven't gotten around to.

I was bummed to hear that Cisco was discontinuing the line, but my Flip Mino HD is still chugging along quite nicely. I've owned it for over a year and see myself using it for at least another year more.

My next video camera purchase will either be an iPhone 5, or if I decide to get more serious about video filming, i'll sell the flip towards a real Sony HD camera. The one thing i've never liked about the flip was the poor image stabilization and lack of zoom.

 

[ftaok]

How about a digital P&S camera with a good HD video mode? You can probably get a decent Canon or Panasonic for around $200 that has a good HD mode (optical zoom, high res, decent bit rate, IS, etc)

 

[Babybandit]

How about a digital P&S camera with a good HD video mode? You can probably get a decent Canon or Panasonic for around $200 that has a good HD mode (optical zoom, high res, decent bit rate, IS, etc)

Yeah, I totally agree. It's sad that the Flip Dies - because it is quite unique in many ways. You have, several options.

Portable Camcorders are indeed your next step up. If you want to keep the same form Factors, have a look at the Panasonic TA-2. If you want to try something new, the Panasonic WA-10 might be nice. I've always liked the Pistol Grip.

Personally, I don't know what constitutes to you as small. But another final option you could have is a nice small DSLR. ie. Mirrorless. They do some amazing stills and videos - and they're relatively tiny for them. To me, it's a logical next step.

 

[NFox]

I had a little play with a friends Sony CX115 the other day. Was astonished at the quality of the video from such a small camera. It fits snug in the palm of your hand and you could probably even put it in your pocket (but it wouldnt be something I would do!). It comes with a 20x optical zoom, which I cant see you will ever need but you did mention the lack of a zoom! Touch screen LCD display, no view finder but then the flip doesn't have one so not sure if that is a requirement for you.

The only criticism I had with it was when playing the footage back, if recording in a very quiet environment, if you do zoom whilst recording (which really should be a rarity) you can hear the camera making a slight noise as it zooms in/out. It was however small enough for me to remove in post with pretty much 0 knowledge of sound/soundtrack pro!

And best of all you can pick them up from as little as £270 in the UK!

 

[mart1971]

ok, I had never been a big photography or videography bug. A couple of years back, I bought the Flip Mino on a lark--these days I carry it with me most of the time, and it's been lots of fun, allowing me to record all kinds of good stuff. It's become a nice little hobby; I haven't gone nuts with it as I feared I might.

For awhile now, I've been wondering what the next step up for a Flip user is in the portable camcorder category might be--basically, the camcorder that is almost as portable, almost as easy to use, not that much more expensive, and of course the models that are more Mac-friendly.

Besides, now that Cisco is getting out of the Flip business altogether (to which I can only say, "Huh?"), it seemed like a good time to look around for something which would be a little more feature-ful, and let me stretch my knowledge with respect to shooting video and making my stuff look a little more professional.

Thanks for any useful ideas.

Thats scary, I have just posted a very similar question - Sorry. I need a better camera for doing interviews and some videos of trucks. I need a wide angle lens with good low light capability but I dont want to loose the way that the iMovie seems to support the raw video files without the need to convert them before editing.

If anyone has a suggestion of a good video camera that does not need to be as small as a flip then I would appreciate it. My only criteria is that I would prefer something that does not need to convert every file before use.

 

[SteelWheel]

Thanks for suggestions, folks--although I admit that now I'm even more confused than before.

@ftaok and @Babybandit: The nice thing about the Flip was that I can easily stick it in the pockets of my cargo pants, and never have to think about it. Are the P&S cameras similarly light and small?

@Babybandit: I looked for the Panasonic TA-2 and WA-10 on Amazon--the only items matching those model numbers were lighting accessories for other Panasonic cameras, so I'm not quite sure which models you were recommending. Your mention of a pistol grip type camera reminded of the Toshiba Camileo S30, which I think I saw reviewed on "Attack of the Show" awhile back. Seems like an interesting concept, but it also lacks image stabilization, which is part of what I was hoping to get from any new camcorder.

@NFox: The Sony CX115 appear to be the UK equivalent of the US CX110. In any case, both of these have been replaced by a newer model, the CX130. This unit has been getting a lot of negative reviews on Amazon as it has no built-in microphone of any kind. That's kind of a big minus--I want something that has that "just drop in your pocket and go" experience. Having to carry around a separate microphone kind of kills that.

I don't know, maybe I'm unrealistic on what I'm looking for and I should just keep on using the Flip until it gives out?

 

[Babybandit]

Ahh, Must be too new then. You can find details about them here. It's just that I've had good experiences with Panasonic Hardwares! If they're of the same grade, they should be pretty reliable whilst outputting pretty good quality video!

 

[SteelWheel]

Ah-ha. Those pistol grip Panasonic camcorders will be released in the UK on May 30 according to amazon.co.uk. There's no release date mentioned on the US Amazon site--but I think it's safe to assume that they won't be too far off from one another. I hate being a guinea pig, but I'll probably order this one as soon as it becomes available--looks like just the kind of thing I'm looking for. Thanks.

 

[NFox]

The cx115 does have a built in microphone, I am unsure of the cx110 model? Normally the model numbers are the same though just the last letter changes dependent on location. For eg, my NX5 is a NX5E where as the us equivalent I believe is the NX5U.