At the Adobe event launching the Adobe Media Player, they gave away some pretty cool schwag: a Flip Video Ultra 2 GB (60 minute) camera, a toy I’ve wanted to play with for awhile and came close to buying repeatedly. Given the launch of video on Flickr this week, it was a good time to test both the camera and the video.
The only challenge I had with the camera was figuring out where the two AA batteries went in this sleek, efficient device. Once that challenge was solved, I was able to start taking videos immediately, though the cab driver didn’t seem to be a big fan of starting in my home movie so I refrained from recording the entire conversation he was having in French on his cellphone.
I shot a few more videos the next day walking to work, heading west on 23rd Street in Manhattan across the street from Madison Square Park, with the Empire State Building in the background, and heading by the Flatiron Building.
Uploading the videos was easy. The Flip comes with a built-in USB connector that includes basic video editing software. I tested out the videos (it’s not the steadiest camerawork, and I didn’t even always realize the camera was recording), and then went to make a video mix, all within Flip’s software. I picked up an Arctic Monkeys song, "D is for Dangerous," from Amazon’s MP3 store, selected the videos, and made the mix. It all took a couple minutes and played well in Windows Media Player.
Then it came time for Flickr. Adding a video was just as easy as adding photos. I’m not a huge fan of the 90-second, 150-megabyte limit on videos (for me, someone who isn’t shooting in high-definition, it’s the length that’s the nuisance), but it was a cinch to do using their online uploader. Videos can also work with the downloadable uploader.
With this setup, if I’m at a conference and doing 1-minute interviews with speakers in the press room, I could probably do the entire production, including shooting, saving, and uploading, in five minutes. It would take me longer than that to boot up my computer or write the blog post. Heck, it’d practically take longer to Twitter it.
Finally, here’s the end result:
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