Is this camera anygood?

[ripyellowbee]

I was wondering if this camera is any good, It sounds good but Id love to hear from Clipper who does awesome aerial work, and see what his opinion is of this camera, or how it would compare to his videos. Im sorry I cant seem to insert the link? its on hsn.com and the number is 316413 Thanks if anyone could help

[clipper453]

Let me preface this by saying... I'm not an expert on this subject. What's stated below is just my opinion, drawn from the experiences of trial-and-error in aerial photography. That being said...

I checked out the specs of the Flip Ultra 2GB 15" LCD Mini Camcorder. The first thing I always look at when I'm scoping out cameras is what type of sensor it uses (CCD or CMOS). The Flip cameras, including this one, use a CMOS sensor. The main advantages of a CMOS-based camera over a CCD-based camera are cost and weight. CMOS sensors are generally lower in price (until you get to the really high-end cameras), and total weight of the camera system is generally lower as well.

On the downside, CMOS-based cameras are generally not well suited for low-light conditions or fast motion. The other downside of them is that if a propeller is in its field of view, they tend to get some nasty artifacts in the resulting video.

The Flip cameras are good for general use, but I would probably stay away from them if your intent is to use it on your plane. There are a couple CMOS cameras that do pretty well in aerial applications, but they typically capture video at 60 or 120 fps (instead of the usual 30 fps). I think the Aiptek brand has some cameras with higher frame rates. (But you'll still have artifact issues if you put a prop in the view of one.)

Generally speaking, I would look for a CCD-based camera for aerial photography and videos. These are the compact point-and-shoots from companies like Canon, Sony, Fuji, Panasonic, Kodak, etc. They will be a little heavier than their CMOS counterparts, but they will provide better low-light and fast-motion performance.

For my aerial videos and photos, I use a Canon SD40, which is no longer in production, but you can find them used on eBay. It's really not the best camera for aerial video, but it has a nice balance of performance, size, and weight to suit my needs. My next camera will probably be one of the Canon or Kodak's that is capable of true 720p video (I upscale and crop my 640x480 videos, so that the online video hosting sites don't reduce them down to 320x240.)

Hope that helps.

- Matt

[ripyellowbee]

Thank You Clipper, I will look on ebay. I appreciate it.