Tech Blog

[#1]

The best camera you have is the one you have on you.

The way smartphones are emerging, chances are the camera on your phone is better than the one you were using to take shots just a few years ago.

Still, if you had a choice, would you prefer to have a dedicated camera with you when on vacation?

I'm guessing most would say yes, but when you look at the quality of photos coming from an iPhone 4, you have to wonder.  My pal, Jay Piddy, made this slideshow of pics taken with his iPhone 4 on a recent trip to NY - it's nothing short of brilliant.

It's one of those textbook examples that proves it's not the tool, but the craftsman that makes the art remarkable.  Still, ask any scratch golfer if the bigger head on his driver helps him hit it straighter and he'll quickly agree.

So we appreciate better tools to help those of us with weaker skills keep up with the pros.

For me, the Flip camera series is one of those tools that helps me make better videos.  Sure, I can have video on an iPhone, my camera has a video mode, but when it comes to packing for a winter escape, I'll make sure I have a Flip in my arsenal.

I've been rocking the Flip Ultra HD for the past few weeks and it has been making movie making so easy.  This is the 3rd edition of Flip I've had and each one has improved video and audio quality.  When you compare this model to last year's Flip Mino the leap forward in audio and video quality is huge.

My radio station is doing an effort to highlight Christmas Angels, people doing good for the holidays.  I did a two camera shoot to interview a tanning salon operator, see if you can guess which is the older and which is the newer Flip being used in this shoot.

In addition to the better, brighter picture quality and the snappier audio, the controls are a breeze on this one.  The Flip Mino didnt have rigid buttons for zooming, but rather a touch sensitive area on the back.  This made my zooming very choppy. By having a button that's easier to press, my zooming has been much smoother.

I mostly like the Flip because it keeps my video in one place and my stills in another.  When merging my images to iPhoto I always forget to dump any videos I've taken with my camera to iMovie.  With the Flip, everything on it is a video, and I can use the FlipShare program to pull stills if necessary.

The Flip Ultra HD also has both rechargeable and alkaline battery compatibility.  If you're on a long jungle trek, it can use the built in battery to fill the 2hours of memory, but you can also toss in regular batteries should the recharging juice disappear.  It's a great piece of versatiilty to make sure you're always ready to grab a magical moment.

For me, it's all about keeping everything in it's place and the improvements to the Flip Ultra HD are keeping it as an extra gadget I'll take along because it's a tool that makes my videographying easier.

How do you feel about the Flip?  Do you have just an iPhone 4 for everything, or do you pack along specific video and still cameras when you're going on vacation?

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