High Def in the world of Flip

I am doing my best to skip the cheesy and easy word-play about this camera’s name. No comments about flipping over,  flipping out, or doing back flips. But if you write about Pure Digital’s Flip MinoHD camera then folks will find you. The hunger to learn about how to get the most from it is the epitome of “if you write it they will come.” Fortunately I am not pandering to the blogosphere. I’ve been shooting with Flips for over two years and continue to marvel at how much fun they are to use.

 

Video: How to shoot with the Flip MinoHD Camera | by Drew Keller

 

HD cameras are hitting rock-bottom prices. The Flip MinoHD, the Kodak Zi6 HD and other pocket pinhole wonders are flooding the market. Some might argue the cost of these nearly disposable cameras has put them in the category of an impulse buy at the electronics store. But once you buy one, what do you do with it? And how can you get the best image possible. This video is a primer that will show you the good, the bad and the ugly of the smallest profile HD cameras on the market.

 

Users on social networking sites like Facebook, Windows Live, Blip and Vimeo are creating videos specifically to communicate to a small audience — or even a single person to whom the user is already connected. It is not broadcasting, but the ultimate in narrowcasting. The shift in behavior is being caused by a proliferation of easy-to-use devices that produce easy-to-upload videos. It is creating a whole new class of video content on the Web.

The Flip MinoHD camera, made by Pure Digital, is the very definition of "less is more." There are only two buttons… one that turns it on and the big red one for recording. When you turn it on its ready to record in less than two seconds.

The camera is not without compromises. The first thing you should know about the Flip is that as far as HD pictures go, the video is only OK; it is definitely great for the web, but don’t bother comparing your video to other camcorders.

One other limitation to work around is the microphone is the size of a grain of rice and very susceptible to wind noise. Additionally, it is best to be close if you want to really hear what people are saying.

The Flip Video camcorder uses the MPEG-4 format for recording and playback and the image quality is acceptable. The MPEG-4 3ivx codec maximizes the space on your camcorder’s flash memory as well as your computer’s hard drive, but still enables high quality videos. In average light the images have rich hues and sharp details (such as the snowflakes stuck in my beard as I was skiing.) The camera also handles low light situations acceptably, particularly in comparison to other cameras in its class.

In the next installment of this three part series we’ll explore the ins and outs of moving your files to your computer and editing solutions.

 

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Edit in HD… Well No, Not Quite

I am feeling a little too far in front of the curve these days with my FlipMino HD. I had such high hopes for using this camera as part of my regular production flow. But the process just doesn’t really work yet, and it is really aggravating. Perhaps someone out there will have a better work flow. Trust me, I am all ears.

As you probably know, Pure Digital’s Flip MinoHD shoots 720p HD footage. I have rather fallen in love with the little camera. I take it with me all the time. Don’t get me wrong, no one will ever confuse the camera’s footage with Red, nor is it a Mark5dII or even an EX3. It is a fixed focus $220 camera. I expected significant limitations. And with those limitations the footage is awesome. But once you shoot the HD footage what do you do with it?

The previous versions of the camera our family has used are standard definition. It has been super easy to cobble together great movies in MovieMaker and iMovie. My 13-year-old daughter started using these cameras nearly three years ago. But the Filp’s 720HD format is completely unsupported by editing manufacturers. I have had to jump through so many hoops to get clips I can edit with that I feel like I work for Wham-O. Here are the problems.

PC

The FlipShare application is great for moving your files from the camera’s flip flash memory to your computer. So far so good. But then what?  I can export the files to a local directory, but they are still in the 3ivx .mp4 wrapper. That means I need an application that will handle the files natively for editing.

With the 3ivx codec installed on my computer the Windows Media player displays the video clips flawlessly. It is great for viewing vibrant, full screen previews of the clips. But that does not solve my editing conundrum.

The Windows Media Encoder totally fails when it tries to read these files. It gets lost and quits.

Microsoft’s Movie Maker on the PC creates exclusively standard definition Windows Media files. The application recognizes that the source files are 1280×720 mp4 files. You can see that in the clip property page. But there is no way to publish a HD movie. The output that you create is 640×480 standard definition. It recognizes that the flip files are oversized sources and scales them in real time down to SD.

Impressive, but not what I am after. The Beta version of Movie Maker displays similar behavior.

 

Adobe’s Premier can’t even recognize the file format.

 

 

 

 

Mac

On the Mac side it does not get any better. Using the legacy version of iMovie (The iLife 06 version, you know, the one that actually works as an editor) I can import the files. But the process is really laborious because it has to transcode all of the files to the project’s selected video format. In this case 720 HDV. At least it is in HD. That is an improvement.

Unfortunately it can take hours for 30 minutes of source footage to be converted in the QuickTime engine. There is no way to define a custom project format, like .mp4 or 3ivx, in iMovie.  You have to choose from the preset flavors provided by the application.

Trying to get the footage into iMovie08 was hopeless, but it really does not work as an editing application so I would have used it as a transcoder. It was a total waste of time and I moved on.

At least once you get it into the iMovie06 application you can string the footage together and publish a QuickTime file using the QT “Expert Settings” function. Just don’t expect speed. Last week it took over 22 hours to export a 32 minute string of clips. Not only is this unduly time consuming, but converting the file to a third format when exporting is not a very good idea. I was converting the files from 3ivx to hdv when I imported them into iMovie, and then to animation mov files when I exported. All that jumping from one format to another is very likely to introduce significant errors to the files. If I could have just batch flipped the files to uncompressed QuickTimes in the FlipShare tool that would have been more efficient.

One other problem I have had with exporting longer video strings out of iMovie is the audio and video drift out of sync. The videos of my kids skiing look more like a poorly dubbed Mothra movie than the family out on the hill.

Final Cut Pro is of no help as there are similar limitations to project formats and converting footage when it get dropped into the timeline. I can not create an 3ivx or mp4 project, so again I am stuck with HDV or DVCProHD or some other generic file flavor from the 1990s.

So what’s the solution? I don’t really know. For now I am having to convert the files in QuickTime Pro. It eats up oodles of hard drive space, too much time and is decidedly inelegant. I want a solution where I can create a project in a decent editing tool that edits these files natively. And I want an easy way to flip the final product into an HD deliverable. It could be a high quality file, it could be HD tape. Just something that is not as insanely broken as what we are faced with now.

So what have you discovered out there? Why do we have such a popular tool that only takes us only half-way through the production process? We can acquire, but we can’t distribute. We have a camera that is so easy to use it only has two buttons, but a file format that is so broken and unsupported you need a PhD in math to use it. Let me know what works for you. And I will be happy to share your discoveries.

 

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Gormley, The Hoff and Interstellar Glitter

There are times when you must stray from your stated purpose and venture into silliness. So today I step away from camera techniques, editing tricks and insights on how to make great personal videos and bring you three of the worst music videos of all time. I am not entirely certain they were created with anything more than a genuine sense of goofiness, but I am pretty sure the creators were serious about their craft. While there is fun in looking askance at another’s efforts, you have to give credit where credit is due. All three of these videos represent someone who had a vision and stuck with it. Of course, they may have stuck with it a little too long.

For the past five years I have been convinced that David Hasselhoff’s epic, “Hooked on a Feeling”… complete with bad spinning video cubes, two faux angels, insulting parodies of world cultures, spears, wind machines and a rubber fish, is the worst music video of all time. What’s not to love.

 

Well I have found two more gems that are worth noting. The first, “I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper” reminds us that it is amazing we survived the 70s as a race of thoughtful people. It is amazing those of us who were in college made it to see the 80s. I particularly like the guy who throws the glitter up in the air. Wonder what he does for a living now?

 

And the third video… well… The word INTENSE doesn’t even give this video justice. As one wag noted, “Somebody tell me where i can buy a Mark Gormley t-shirt. I don’t care what they cost. Mark Gormley is a legend of rock, that i can’t simply just watch pass me by.” I couldn’t have said it better. Enjoy.

 

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CES and video tape

To no one’s surprise, tape is dead in consumer cameras. And 1080 (again to no one’s surprise) is THE format in the consumer space.

Personal video on the web is moving away from the "one to many" model of YouTube over to the "one to few" model of Facebook. Hard drive and flash memory cameras are making it not only possible but easy for folks to put their movies on the web. Cannon, Panasonic, Sony and Samsung are all showing great little HDV cameras file based cameras.

But it is the advent of the uber-simple cameras like Pure Digital’s market leader Flip camera that are having such a huge impact on personal video. And the Flip MinoHD is not the only 720p mini camera on the market. The Kodak Zx1 camera is a direct competitor to the Flip. And is just as easy to use. It does not have the clever built in USB plug, but it has multiple zoom levels that don’t appear to be as dreadful as the Flip’s. Both come with software and both create files that are native H264 QuickTime. It should be fun to see if there is enough room in the market for these players.

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CES – Odds n Ends Day 1

 

The second floor in the back of the convention center is always my favorite place during any tradeshow. It’s where you find the startups, the dreamers, the companies working the margins of an industry. Here at CES it is no different. Cheap radios, funky lighting systems, low voltage muscle massagers. It’s a 21st century flea market. I love these guys taking a break in the muscle massage chairs.

Green technology is seeing very little visibility at CES. I expected more but perhaps the green movement is falling by the wayside with the current economic turmoil. An expensive “convenience” for consumers. That is for everyone but Panasonic. They have devoted a significant amount of floor space to emerging green technology and it was great to see.

But interestingly Greentek is green only in name.

The companies that are traditionally the big technology drivers are only putting a careful toe into social networking. It is very hard to find evidence of social networking technology on the floor. It appears evident most of the big tech companies don’t know what to do with it. Sony has created a walled garden for gaming and media distribution, but so far I have only seen Microsoft show how all the parts fit together.

Who is missing from CES? As always there is no Apple. But I was surprised that technology leaders Phillips and Pure Digital (makers of the Flip Camera) are no-shows. And I would have thought Adobe would have been here touting their flash media player and online media solution. Real is here in a big way.

I can’t wrap my head around 3D television. To me it smacks of a desperate ploy by broadcasters to stay relevant as distribution models change. It is just like Cinemascope in the 50’s when television first appeared in America’s living rooms. The super wide screen was a gag, and ultimately didn’t change the storytelling experience enough to survive. It feels like broadcasters are worried about how internet distribution and channel creation makes them largely irrelevant. Besides, who other than a couple of 15-year-old gamers want to wear those dopey glasses while watching television?

Finally, my room at the New York New York hotel is an epic dump. But at least I have a room. Be happy for the little things.

 

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CES – Monitor/TV technology

These posts appear to have stacked up in the cue, so let’s get them posted now. Sorry for the delay.

Everyone is overcranking their refresh rates. 60hz, 120hz, even 240hz for clearer playback on high motion video.

 

 

 

 

 

The other trend is (unlike me) tvs are getting bigger and thinner. LCDs at 82". How about Sharp’s 108" monitor?

OLED (Organic light-emitting diodes) screens are getting bigger. Last year the screens were 11”, now Sony is showing 21” & 27” and other manufacturers are showing up to 32".

 

 

 

 

 

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Camera Baggie

It is time for the Winter Solstice. As Autumn changes to Winter, it is important to protect your camera from inclement weather. This simple little "how to" shows you a quick way to create a water resistant cover for your camera.

Camera Baggie Video

All you need is a rubber band, a waterproof plastic bag and a pair of scissors. Just sharing the list of parts probably gives you enough information to figure it out on your own, but then you would miss out on… well, I am not really sure what you will miss out on. Perhaps it is the satisfaction of seeing how to do it and not wasting time trying to figure it out on your own.

I have to admit, the thumbnails from soapbox always make me look like either the scariest or the most bizarre guy on the web. This one is particularly charming. I am always a smidge befuddled over how they choose the moment they do for the freeze. There is never a rhyme or reason. Alas. Perhaps it isn’t Soapbox making me so scary. The Vimeo version is in HD.

Enjoy and have a great holiday. Get out and create a movie.

 

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The Rule of Thirds

You may think you “don’t need no stinkin’ rules” when you shoot video. Rules are old school… lame… a lazy technique for the unimaginative. But if you learn only one rule for shooting, learn the rule of thirds.

What the heck is the “Rule of Thirds”?

 Media Notes Episode 11 | Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds Video

The Rule of Thirds is one of the most important things to learn when you start shooting. It’s the basis for pleasing, well balanced and interesting shots. Sure it is a formula, but with practice you may find it is a great starting point for shooting.

Why would you need this rule?  Using the Rule of Thirds helps produce nicely balanced, easy on the eye pictures. All too often a photographer only looks at the center of the frame when shooting… so focused on the subject they just plop it into the middle of the frame. Boring.  

What is the rule of thirds and how do I use it?

So what exactly is the rule of thirds? When you are looking at your camera’s screen, before you press the record button, imagine your picture area divided into thirds horizontally and vertically… So that you have 9 rectangles. The intersections of these imaginary lines suggest four options for placing the center of interest. .

The rule is simple to implement. You can place points of interest in these intersections as you frame your shot.

Your options for compositions and what you select depends upon the subject and how you want that subject to be presented. You can use a single point for the focus or an entire line. For example, a good technique for landscapes and establishing shots is to position horizons along one of the horizontal lines.

The most important questions to be asking of yourself are:

• What are the points of interest in this shot?
• Where am I intentionally placing them?

The rule of thirds is there to help you when you are uncertain how to frame a shot. The theory is if you place interesting stuff where the lines cross it will improve the look of your shots.  Balance in the picture can often be achieved by placing a secondary object (known as a "counterpoint") at the opposing intersection.

Remember, following a rule can stifle your creativity. Knowing when not to follow the rules is just as important as knowing when to. As you are composing your shot the rule of thirds can act as your destination or it can be a starting point. After all, its up to you to know which rules to follow when you are telling your own story.

 

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Capturing the Holidays

Holidays are the time when we are most likely to grab the video camera and capture family events. For most of us, it is why we bought the camera in the first place. Taping a holiday home movie can be fun, and should be something you will cherish years from now.

Media Notes Episode 10 | Holiday Videos

Capturing holiday events, quick tips and tricks

The holiday video does not have to just document annual events. With a little planning you could create a great video postcard from the family that you send out before the holidays.

The Video Post Card

One topic idea could be to shoot some of the activities where you are getting the house and family ready. If you get a tree, shoot a little sequence of the journey there, choosing “just the right one”, bringing it home and decorating it. If you have young kids have them describe their version of the meaning of these holiday celebrations. Have each member of the family give a message why they are thankful, or who they miss, or what gift they are hoping for, or any topic that has special meaning for your family. And shoot to edit. Don’t be afraid to shoot something more than once, and only use the best version.

A great way to get your video post card ready for distribution is to edit it all together using iMovie or MovieMaker and upload it on to web sharing site like Vimeo, Blip or Soapbox. Write your family letter and include a link or embed the video. For those friends and relatives that are far away, the chance to see your family may be the best gift of all.

Holiday Movies

When it comes time to record the family holiday gathering, here are a few survival tips to make it a movie to remember, in a good way.

First of all, use a tripod whenever you can. I realize most tripods are so clunky and big they could be considered lethal weapons in six states, but they really help improve the watchability (if there is such a word) of your work. Things like breathing and body movement can be exaggerated significantly on your camera, particularly when you are zoomed in. Using a tripod can make your video look more professional, and can eliminate the nausea-inducing movement common to most home video. This is particularly true of the holiday classics like concerts, plays, religious services, gifts, and video taping in low light.

Second, film a few set-up shots of an event before you film the actual event. For instance, film the tree sitting by itself before you film people opening presents, or film people filing into an auditorium for a concert before the actual concert. Hold each shot for at least 10 seconds. When you edit you won’t have to use all of it, so don’t make the mistake of shooting each moment as if it were a snapshot. Just count to ten quietly to yourself until you get a feel for how long is long enough. Years from now you will really appreciate the footage of your holiday decorations, or the holiday meal. Look for camera shots that catch the feeling of where you are and set the scene for your holiday home movie.

As I have indicated in earlier posts, interview your subjects. Have them describe what is happening, have them tell you what is going on around them. If your child performs in the Holiday Pageant, asks him about his performance. If gifts are a part of your celebration, ask your kids what they want the night before, and then get their reaction when they finally discover what’s in all those packages.

No matter how well you plan, how well you shoot, how succinct your interviews, the odds are that you will shoot tons of boring video that no one, not even you, will want to watch again. So shoot to edit and edit what you shoot. It is not that hard. Try to trim out sections of the video that don’t have much going on. If your video looks choppy, a fun idea can be to make a holiday music video. Select your favorite holiday song, and the set clips of your holiday celebration to the music.

Enjoy the Moment

Plan ahead. Plan when you will shoot and when you will put the camera down. Don’t let your camcorder keep you from celebrating the holiday with your family and friends. A home video can give you great memories, but nothing will match the memory of being fully present in the holiday events yourself. Besides, some folks will get really tired of having the camera out all the time, or may not appreciate the intrusion to their vision of the perfect holiday. Keep it in balance and appreciate every moment of the holidays. You only get one shot at it so make it the best you can.

Drew Keller

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Of Video Tape and Hard Drives and Time Code

Truth be told, I don’t closely follow the latest developments in camera and computer hardware. Sure I am aware of how the sand is shifting under our feet… away from tape-based production and over to file-based acquisition. But I don’t really have the time or interest to delve into the nuanced differences between all the different camera models. I think for most of us a camera is just a tool for storytelling. And don’t ask me if it is best to buy a flash, hard-drive or DVD camera. Each has benefits and liabilities, and you are currently running a 2-in-3 risk of buying a handsome doorstop instead of a camera. It will be well over a year before one of these particular formats emerges victorious as the de-facto home movie standard.

I work a lot with file based media in my other life as a producer and editor. Probably 50% of the content I work with comes from a hard drive instead of tape. And if the economy had not landed so decidedly in the dumper, I have a feeling Christmas sales of file based HD cameras would have been epic. The manufacturers certainly thought so. It is difficult to find a camera for sale that uses tape… DV or HDV. You may find one or two of them tucked away on the end or the back of the shelf, out of direct view.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the change is bad. I really like what Pure Digital Technologies is doing with the Flip MinoHD (especially at the price point), and Canon’s HG30, HF100, and Sony’s HDR-SR11 all call out to me when I walk through the store. I love window shopping, picking up a camera to see how it feels in my hand, checking the balance, the weight, access to features. I just don’t know if I feel compelled to buy one.

Media Notes Episode 9 | Timecode Breaks

With changes in our spending habits because of the worsening economy comes a change in the adoption curve for these new cameras. Logic says it will flatten out with early adopters taking longer to move to an early majority and critical mass. In other words, we will be in this state of technical flux longer than most manufacturers anticipated. We won’t be buying many new cameras and we will hold on to our old ones longer.

This brings me (in a long and indirect way) to the notion that most of us are still using tape. And we are likely to use tape for some time to come. The cameras we have purchased in the past few years still make great movies. Not to mention the hours of legacy content we have of our families, sitting in a cardboard box on a shelf in the hall closet (the tapes are in the box in the hall, not our families. Although with four kids there are times…).

It is best then to learn the most efficient ways to manage your footage. Time code is a great tool to catalog, organize and capture your footage for editing. And you should shoot to edit. Even if it is just to chop out the wiggly bits of camera movement when you start and stop your camera. Editing takes your movies from unwatchable to enjoyable. Especially for others.

When you are shooting with tape, and you have a partially or previously recorded tape, when you put it into the camera and start recording it will pick up where the numbers left off. That’s a good thing. But this only happens if the tape is at a point where the camera can read where you left off.

You need to be careful if you rewind the tape to look at your footage, or take it out of the camera. When you are done reviewing you’ll cue the tape up to where you left off. You need to do this just right and here is why. When you’re trying to find where you left off you may roll past the end of your footage and then you are in snow (the screen will look blue). If you start recoding here, the timecode will not pick up where you left off, it will reset to zero. That’s because the camera thinks you have started a new tape. 

You don’t want a tape that starts at zero over and over again.

You see your computer uses these numbers as a guide when you transfer your footage for editing. If you have multiple instances of the same number, your camera and computer probably won’t know where to find your shots. It can’t tell which time code you intended to use.

In this episode of Media notes I talk about a few ways you can avoid the headaches that come with broken timecode. And here is the enticing part, I show you my shoes. No really. And there is a reason why.

 

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