Flip MinoHD Video Camera - Black, 4 GB, 1 Hour (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
by Flip Video
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List Price: Our Price: $124.50 You Save: $75.49 (38%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $48.55 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Flip MinoHD Video Camera - Black, 4 GB, 1 Hour (1st Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: Perfect Portable Video Production
Summary: 5 Stars
I've blogged about the Flip MinoHD, and love it so much I bought one for my step-dad for his birthday. (they're driving from London to Cape Town).
It is constrained for sure. Only 2x digital zoom. Only one resolution (720p). No external mic input. Only 2" screen. But it has a single purpose, and for that purpose it has no equal. None. Nada.
There are other handheld HD camcorders, with more resolution (note I didn't say better quality pic). Replaceable batteries. Expandable memory. But they don't have the simplicity, hence the reliability, of the Flip.
Two buttons. Everyone can use it. Power - on. Record. You can do this in about a second. Then when you come back to the computer, flip and you're sharing. It is really that easy. The software makes it a synch for anyone to share HD video online. Even trim, add music, and do v. basic editing.
For those of us with more sophisticated needs, it's still a single click to export the MP4 files to the hard-drive and edit to hearts content.
The audio is great, handling ambient noise with aplomb. But the picture is to die for. It really adjusts quickly to the lighting conditions.
With a tripod mount, I attach this to a monopod for great stabilising, and self videoing. Not to mention attach it to my bike handlebars, helmet, even my steering wheel.
It is let down a little in really low light conditions. But at $150 I take it to places I'd never take my other camcorder. And it's so portable, it's always in my pocket.
Check out the videos of my daughter (in hospital) on my blog: [...], and all the partner videos on my business site [....].
In a sentence. GREAT camcorder, don't leave home without it.Flip MinoHD Camcorder, 60 Minutes (Black)
Customer Review: Mobile and Easy
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
If you're looking for a small, light, easy to carry, easy to use, quick to transer, HD video camera, then you just might be in luck. The Flip MinoHD has been a great experience from the moment I opened the box. I have used the camera to record events outside and inside under varying lighting conditions. It works great. I've used it to record a video for a vcast and there were very few issues (sound was a bit light). The camera is so simple to operate and it holds a charge very well. On a recent time using it, I let my son shoot video. I wasn't paying attention to him, but he shot almost an hour of video without stopping. The battery still had almost 50% left on it. The only complaint I've had so far is the microphone isn't terribly great and there's no way to plug in a different one.
The software that comes with it is very simple to operate, but it's not terribly intuitive. I had to poke around just a little to figure out how to trim a video. It's easy to do once you understand it, but it wasn't right in your face obvious, or at least I didn't find it so. The installation of the software, which comes built right into the Flip MinoHD camera, was very easy as well.
I did find the image to very shaky unless I paid closer attention to the video than I was used to with larger cameras. I also noticed that really fast moving images or moving the camera quickly lead to quite a bit of matrixing. But since I'm not counting on this for broadcast quality video, it's hard to complain. Other than these complaints the picture quality is superb.
Overall, it's been a great experience and a great product.
Customer Review: Cracked lens cover = toast
Summary: 1 Stars
Problem solved - no thanks to Flip - see below.
Although I was initially happy with my purchase of a MinoHD, the cover glass over the lens area turned up cracked one day, casting a blur over any recorded image. An email to the manufacturer brought a quick reply: It's not covered by the warranty (I didn't think it would be, and hadn't even asked about this), and there is no way to repair it.
Sorry, but this seems like such an obvious point of exposure as to be worth the additional 3 cents to make the lens cover replaceable. I'm not very happy with the design, or the company, at this point. And I appear to have a $200 piece of trash. Feh.
Two solutions:
If you carefully break out the cracked lens cover, use needle-nose pliers to remove the glass shards, then use canned compressed air to blow out the glass chips from inside the lens cowling (wear goggles, and understand that your warranty is deader than a dead thing). Gently use needle-nose pliers or tweezers to remove the black adhesive ring that held in the glass. Then...
The Surplus Shed has a 20mm heat absorbing filter PM1161 that drops in place, which you can seal in with liquid rubber (sealant, etc.) or some such.
or...
This is solution I liked best: GGS has a product called the DC Accessory Kit. It comes in various sizes, but 22mm seems to work for my MinoHD. There is a clear filter that has a ring of adhesive around the edge that sticks onto the surface of the camera to hold it in place. Then, there is a rotating polarizing filter included in the kit that attaches to the clear filter with magnets. Also, there is a lens hood which also attaches with magnets. Cool -- since I had neither before.
My rating remains the same, but at least I resurrected the camera, and it's arguably better than the original.
Customer Review: Great little product!
Summary: 4 Stars
We needed a video camera that was easy to use and portable as our family is scattered far and wide and we are about to have a baby. Knowing that we would be able to share all those cute little moments was very important. After looking around for a while, we decided in the Flip. Here is what we have found:
1) Ease of use--amazing. Not too many buttons and features. If you want something for quick and easy video, this is your product.
2) Great software--I love the flipshare software that comes with the camera. No CDs to install or any major reading to do...just plug in the Flip and it sets up. The program automatically starts when you plug in the Flip and you can start to upload and work on your videos.
3) Good basic editing--I am no pro with video editing. This program makes it easy and simple.
4) Long upload time--I have found that the upload time is very long. Our computer is quite advanced, so I don't think it is a computer issue. We also have super fast internet, so I don't think that is the issue either. I suppose it is more to do with the fact that this is HD quality, and the Flip software is compacting it as small as possible so that it can be easily played. I don't really have a huge issue with this, it just was not as fast as I expected.
5) FlipShare channels--These are amazing. I can upload videos that maybe I don't want broadcasted to the world, so that only certain people can see them. I see this coming in handy when the baby is here and we want to video bath time or something...something that family would love to see, but that I don't want on youtube.
All in all, I do not have any major issues with the camera. I would say that if you are looking for an easy to use video camera without a huge expense, this is the way to go. If you want something with more features you have to pay more, plan and simple.
Customer Review: Flip Mino HD
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first camcorder I have ever owned and it is easy to use, just review the instructions a few times to get yourself familiar with the operations. What I did have a problem with is when I plugged it into my computer, nothing happened. After getting some support, the company gave me the steps to get everything working properly:
Please try the following:
1. Go to Control Panel>Add or Remove programs and remove any reference to 3ivx, Muvee, and Flip Share.
2. Reboot your computer.
3. Go to[...] save the Flip Share update to your computer (make sure your camcorder is NOT connected)
4. After you have saved this to your computer, double click the Flip Share icon to run the setup and install Flip Share onto your machine.
5. Reboot your computer.
6. After reboot, connect your camcorder - cancel any window that pops up asking if you want to view the files using the software on the camcorder. The FlipShare software should start automatically.
7. Accept the message that says that it will upgrade the software on your camcorder - IMPORTANT - Watch the progress bar in the bottom left hand corner of the FlipShare software window, as this will tell you when the process of updating your camcorders software is complete.
After this is done, you should be able to use Flip Share. Please feel free to contact us further.
It all works great now and Flipshare automatically prepares the video for where you want to share it online. I love that kind of no-brainer program.
The email part of Flipshare is not working for me, even though it appears to be functioning. I found it easy enough to export a video to desktop then move it to where I wish to store them so I am able to email them.
I love how compact the camcorder is and how easy it is to understand how to use it.