So the reviews for the new generation of pocket solid state video cameras are reminding me of how fun it used to be to be able to take little videos on my old Sony Clie PDA, even if there were certain limitations.
While I'm really happy with my Nikon and am not looking to replace it, I like how all the current generation of cheap digicams have video modes, which are in any case much better quality than the old Clie could ever do, even if the megapixel count on most of them has gotten beyond ridiculous. Contrasting that, my wife's camera does have a video mode, but [a] it's her camera, and it would be nice to have one to bring around with me and leave hers with her, and [b] we never seem to use the video feature in the first place. Likewise, we have an old Sony MiniDV camcorder that, aside from the obligatory delivery room footage a couple of years ago, has hardly been used at all. It's a scary, beastly thing, it is.
Enter the Flip cameras and its many imitators, which are most of all small and simple, following Douglas Adams's advice in "What have we got to lose":
Some of the most revolutionary new ideas come from spotting something old to leave out rather than thinking of something new to put in. The Sony Walkman, for instance, added nothing significantly new to the cassette player, it just left out the amplifier and speakers, thus creating a whole new way of listening to music and a whole new industry. Sony's new Handycam rather brilliantly leaves out the zoom function on the grounds that all a zoom does is cost money, add a lot of bulk and render every amateur video ever made unwatchable. (They might, while they're following this line of thought, consider marketing a record-only video player, and video companies might consider releasing movies that are actually recorded in fast forward mode.)
He'll never know how prescient this was, as it's nearly exactly what the Flip offers: an iPod sized box, a lens on one side, and on the other a screen and buttons for "record" and "play", and that's about it. There are limitations, sure -- no optical zoom, SD quality video suitable for YouTube and old TVs but not fancy new HDTV sets, etc -- but the very simple idea is just that this device is small, simple, unintimidating, friendly, accessible, and ready to go.
Okay, so I'm sold on the concept, but maybe not on the limitations. Optical zoom isn't a "must have" -- after all, May's camera can do that if necessary -- but it's nice to have. Resolution better than SD/VGA isn't mandatory -- after all, higher resolution also means more wasted disk space, and I'm not Stanley Kubrick -- but a picture that looks "good enough" on a 720 or 1080 sized screen would be nice. I don't care about removable batteries and would actually prefer rechargeable LiON to AA, but swappable SD storage would be nice, but not critical.
Basically, it seems like there are a huge array of similar camcorders for relatively cheap (under $200), and even more digital cameras with video modes. So how does one choose?
Of course, this whole problem would go away if the iPhone could just do video. Well, aside from the fact that the iPhone camera isn't very good, but nevermind that, I'm obviously not picky.
Hmm....
