I think I have made the following observation in previous posts. My wife and I are easy targets when we enter a store that sells technology. There is no system of checks and balances in play. There is no voice of reason. If we don’t own it, there is probably some reason one of us can think of that justifies why we need it. “We need to evaluate this to see if it would be good for kids” usually works.
Our most recent purchase is a Flip Video. The Flip is a $140 (street value – we purchased ours at Best Buy) point and shoot video camera. The camera holds 60 minutes of material and operates on two AA batteries. Moving the content to a computer is a simple matter. On a Mac, the camera shows up as an external drive. You just double click the icon, locate the folder with the video files (you can play a file by double clicking if you are looking for a specific segment), and then drag the files to the computer. Files can be imported to iMovie if you want to edit or export in some other format. File format is MPEG4 AVI (640 x 480).
Some sample videos (stored in Flickr) (Note Flickr converts to flash. I guess I am not certain what this does to the quality.)
Olive meets Mr. Flower
Pan of Lake Coudry
I found the camera very easy to use. For some reason, it surprised me that the image is so steady. Perhaps the position of the hand allows this. You hold the camera out in front of you while watching in the large LCD display. I thought it was awkward to zoom. Pushing the buttons caused an obvious shake. Perhaps for 2X it is not worth the trouble.
This looks like a great camera for students. It also is a nice size for carrying around in a backpack or a jacket pocket.
Langwitches tutorial on Flip.
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