When my first daughter was born, I spent like $400 on a totally tricked out video camera. We made one video of her birth (well, not her actual birth--I didn't need to relive that exact moment in technicolor, and frankly, I just don't look good drugged out of my mind and in stirrups), and we shot a few clips here and there of some of those beautiful first kid moments. But, working with the videos on my computer and editing the footage was damn near impossible. Thankfully, my brother was an editor for a certain popular cable show that transforms crappy cars into motorized hot tubs and karaoke machines, so he helped us make a few movies. But, as my bro has become more busy and since our second daughter was born, we just didn't have the energy or the time to shoot any video. Until...
I snagged me a Flip Video camera at our local Costco. I swear, this was the best 90 bucks I've spent since my last pregnancy massage. This little wonder, what I like to call the Ipod of video cameras, is about the same size as our digital camera, it runs on two AA batteries, and it holds 30 minutes of digital video footage. When you fill up the memory, you can take the camera to any Target or RiteAid or a host of other stores and have a DVD made for you. How cool is that? What makes this camera truly sweet, though, is that it's super easy to use, and it comes with its own software and USB plug built in, so all you have to do is literally attach the camera to your computer and edit/upload to your heart's content. The camera has clearly been designed to capitalize on the video revolution on the internet; the camera's software includes easy links to YouTube and Grouper so you can upload and share video lickety-lickety.
Well, we were sold. In just a month I've taken more candid videos of my kids than I had in the last two years, and since my family and friends are all over the country, it's so easy to shoot a minute or two and immediately send it out to everyone. And, it's small enough that I can take it with me everywhere--no clunky camera bag required. We just got back from a trip to Florida, and we took a ton of footage--easy peasy.
Frankly, I can't believe that I haven't seen more of these out and about recently, and I'm surprised that I haven't seen more marketing from the company that makes these. FlipVideo, if you're lookin' for a spokesperson, I'm your huckleberry...
