Shooting HighDef Video on a Budget

When my camcorder died, I started looking for a replacement. When I came across the new Flip Mino HD, I started thinking about convenience vs. quality and features. The Flip was cool, convenient, and had decent 720p HD quality video. For me, a camcorder with tons of features simply isn’t worth the extra money if you never use it. A smaller pocket cam makes sense for me since I shoot a lot of short scenes for blogging and posting on the web.

I started reading reviews and everybody kept comparing the Flip back to the Kodak Zi6. Although the Zi6 is larger and less sexy than the Flip, I decided that it was the better pocket cam for me. The biggest reason is that the Zi6 has more features. It uses regular AA batteries and SDHC flash memory. That means as long as you keep extra batteries and flash cards, you can keep recording without offloading the video to a computer. It also offers a higher 60 frames per second recording mode for action scenes and it also can record in SD or take pictures. And did I mention that it’s cheaper than the Flip as well?

Just last week, Creative came out with the Vado HD. It looks a lot like the Flip. It has twice the built-in memory as the Flip MinoHD, so it can record up to 2 hours in HD. But I still like the Kodak best. As soon as I get some good videos, I will post some on the web. This will be great to record stuff for youth and for church. I’m looking forward to playing with it.

When making a decision like this you can find tons of info on the web. If you are interested in one of these cameras, then start by checking out the specs and features for each one. The three Main Contenders in the HD Pocket Cam market are
Kodak Zi6
Flip MinoHD
Creative VadoHD

Here is the info that I used to help make my decision
See a demo of the Zi6 here
See the review of the Flip MinoHD on Macworld
See a video comparison between the Flip Mino HD and Kodak Zi6 Video here

Mike

I am a former design engineer who now pastors Cornerstone Community Church in Galax, Virginia. I'm passionate about following Jesus and I love technology. I've been married to Jennifer for 28 years, and we have three adult children.

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3 Responses

  1. rockinyp says:

    Here's the hi-def video camera I'm planning to get sometime within the next several months. Can't wait!

    http://www.amazon.com/Canon-HF100-Definition-Ca

  2. That's a sweet camcorder as well. I really like the flash memory based ones. It makes it so much quicker to import and edit the footage.

  3. John Cade says:

    I just posted that Vimeo video on my blog – the Kodak seems to be the one I'm going to seriously take a look at as well. Based on the video I've seen on your site…I think I'm sold. I would like to see a side-by-side comparison with the Vado though.

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