Flip Mino HD 2G Camcorder

[The#Danger]

The Pure Digital Flip MinoHD is an ultra compact digital camcorder with high definition performance.

This is a model with 720p resolution, extremely easy to use. With a very simple interface, has seven keys, touch-sensitive control, among which are the options for Record, Play / Pause, Delete, Volume Up / Zoom, Volume Down / Zoom, Previous and Next.

Design

The design is similar to its actual version, but Cisco has replaced the back by a plastic behind aluminum. The front is still shiny plastic that attracts fingerprints before and the buttons are still operated by touch, except for the big red button that starts the recording. The retractable USB connector is activated always in the same way, but its constitution is the aluminum to strengthen further. Anchoring the tripod and the strap are still present, but the A / V connector disappears to make way for a connector miniHDMI.

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The screen has also been replaced by a more than 2 "and passes its resolution 320 × 240. Although this change is welcome, it remains too small to see if we have an object in focus or not. To do this, we need a screen at least 3 ", 3.5". That said, watching videos is much better than before. And once you pass the new model is very difficult to return to the old!!

An option was added in the boot menu that allows to keep off the red LED illuminates normally when filming. This may seem unnecessary, but if you have children, that little red light comes instantly out of their business and they look at you, smiling excessively!!

A small detail that I noticed in comparing two files filmed simultaneously with two aircraft (old and new models) is that the new Flip microphone stereo! As you can see on the image side, the video has sound stereo 128kbits/sec!

[The#Danger]

Characteristic

• Redesign
• 8GB (2:00)
• New video equipment (V.3.5)
• Focus fixed 80cm (instead of 150cm!)
• Micro Stereo
• Lens with a wider-angle

Performance

So I tested this new little camera in different situations, and you can judge for yourself the videos below. I recommend you to activate the HD and put them in full screen to fully benefit from 720p at 30 fps this camera. You will observe that, this camera gives still a very good result especially in an environment that lacks light, like an underground parking. Of course, at home or late evening, he could have more light, but I wanted to show you the result in an extreme situation. For comparison purposes, a camera that is doing less well will put a lot of noise (colored pixels) when lack of lighting. The Mino HD 2G attempts to smooth these pixels and represent the true colors.

Comparison with the original HD Mino

Unfortunately, Vimeo did not make these videos in HD because the resolution is unusual 960 × 1080. I tried to reach both vertically and videos show you the differences of color, angle and stability. The method used is the glue holding the two cameras ... very simple but extremely effective!! In the first, you can see the colors of the original Mino are much more vivid and high contrast. In the new model, these colors are less vivid and more is what the human eye sees. It is therefore more real and less exaggerated.

In the second video, I wanted to show you what makes the new lens Mino HD 2G, a request many more people had the next model to provide a wider angle lens. If your loan is about you, the camera saves the image as if you were to "zoom". A major problem for parents in the same room as their children! Even I bought a Wide-angle lens for my old magnetic Flip ... another article another day ... If you can visually see what's new Flip to next image shows that the 2G Mino recorded and the red line represents what the Mino has 1G save! It's so much better now. At the assembly, I asked in my original test of the Mino as videos are H.264 after the assembly and is now the case! This is probably the software that provides FlipShare change, but it's still a big plus not to encode videos in WMV format!

I also noticed that the new camera recorded with a bitrate of 9,000 kbps 10,000 kbps instead. Minor change you say? And of course a one-hour video, we go from 5040 MB to 4562 MB! Or 9.5% less, and with our Internet service providers blocked with 1 Mbit / sec upload, 500 MB less is a good 45 minutes saved, not to mention the disk space you save.

[The#Danger]

Positives and negatives :

Positives :

• Larger angle!
• 2 hours, new gear better optimized
• Micro Stereo!
• Output miniHDMI
• Aluminum

Negatives :

• Digital zoom
• No gyroscopic stabilization

Conclusion

Although Flip Mino 2G HD camera is a more than excellent, it still lacks some additions to make the ultimate weapon of the consumer! The digital zoom is useless in my opinion, because it only degrade the video quality and it should be light, a lens that zooms really close to the subject. And with a good zoom, should come gyroscopic image stabilization to avoid any inconvenience caused by jitter. I still give a score of 90% to this camera that will appeal to many amateur video-graphers.