My videos are too dark. My videos seem shaky. My videos look bad on YouTube.
Are these some concerns that you have about you Flip or mobile video? Don't fret! Get A Flip is here to help! As an experienced photographer and videographer I wanted to share with you guys some basic videography and lighting techniques and tricks used by professionals to get good looking results for small format and Internet video.

Professional lighting tricks
The good thing about the Flip is that it handles poor lighting very impressively but, you may have noticed that your subject is always dark (we call this "under-exposed" in the video world) when you are shooting indoors or at night. The reason is that the automatic sensor is trying to adjust to other light sources behind or to the side of your subject and since the Flip doesn't have a manual aperture or shutter setting so you have to trick the auto sensor software into focusing on your subject some way. The only way to do this is to somehow get a brighter light source on your subject than on the background. There are a few ways to accomplish this:

• Shoot outside - if the interior location is not essential to your shot, move the subject outside in the sun. The sun provides a great looking color temperature and an even wash of light all around. Your subject will be nicely lit.
• Turn on a lamp - if you have to stay inside, turn on a light or a lamp and get the subject somewhat close to the light source
• Get away from windows - close the curtains or blinds and turn on a light, the blinding sunlight from the window is what is tricking your sensor.
• Get closer to a window - have your subject stand closer to a window and include the window in the shot. This creates a dramatic half lit face effect which is sometimes undesirable, I would use this technique as a last option.
• Get a construction work light - this is the cheapest option for professional looking lighting. Go to Home Depot and buy a $10 metal construction light and a 100w or 200w bulb. Ideally you want to get a 56k color tuned bulb available at videography and photography dealers to make skin tones look more natural. Hold the lamp with your other hand and aim it at the subject while filming. These can get very hot! Be careful.
• Get a mini LED video light - you can usually find these at photography stores. You want the kind that has its own power source from batteries because the Flip doesn't have a "shoe" to power the light. Use the same technique as above. Some people have found creative ways to attach their video lights to the top of their Flips so they won't have to hold it with two hands. (I'll get some of these great hacks posted up here soon!)
• Professional softbox - These are what professional photographers and videographers use for their lighting. A softbox is light on a stand. The head is movable and is surrounded by a large heat resistant dome and a white transparent diffuser in the front to make the light coming from the bulb (usually at least 500w) softer and not as harsh. Its hard to go wrong with one of these and with multiple softboxes you can achieve some great lighting effects. There are alot of techniques that go past the scope of this blog for professional studio lighting with softboxes. But if you are interested, check out some books by Scott Kelby and read up on lighting for photography.

Hopefully this will help you get started on your quest for better lighting for your Flip. And here are some links to some great lighting accessories that were mentioned above:


(next: composition for small format video)

Well, there's so many great contests out there for Flip giveaways, I didn't want to wait for next week. So, here's another great contest. This guy is giving away a Flip MinoHD:

I’m giving away a brand new Flip Mino HD to one cool Twitter follower, Free! One random follower will be selected on May 31st 2009 as the lucky winner! It could be the highest ROI on any Tweet you ever send. Just ask @ShawnaCoronado who won last month’s giveaway.

Here’s how it works :

Just send me a simple Tweet with the following message or something like it in your own words so I know to count you in. No requirement to follow me, only if you choose to get my blog or twitter updates.

@BenBehrouzi Ben count me in the Flip Mino HD Giveaway! http://tinyurl.com/df9n9o

or

Win a Flip Mino HD from @BenBehrouzi http://tinyurl.com/df9n9o

I’ll be announcing the winner on Twitter and on this blog at the end of May. Good luck!

twitter.com/benbehrouzi

So get to winning! More Flip news later this week. Stay tuned.

The word is out that the new rumored Flip Ultra HD went on sale without announcement today at various Best Buy stores around the country. The company website, remained dark as to its official release, but Gizmodo, Engadget and Slashgear got the scoop and a few pictures for your enjoyment. Some new features include an HDMI output, and double the recording time (from 60 - 120 minutes) and now has removable / rechargable batteries that also will take 2 AAs if your juice is down. The big boys are reporting the price to be right around $199. Here's a first view unboxing that just got posted on YouTube:



Be assured that Get A Flip will be headed out to the local Best Buy in a few minutes to get a full review and possible video for you guys.

You see them all over the web and social media, companies that are sponsoring contests that give away Flip Video cameras as prizes. Some are legit and some are not. Well here on Get A Flip, I'll filter out the baddies and give you the goodies and the skinny on which contests are out there that are legit and you may have a good chance of winning. Many of the current contests out there are bloggers or websites trying to start up their Twitter account with a lot of new followers quickly. So, it costs you nothing really but a Twitter follow and a few Re-tweets. For more info on Twitter, check out this video:


This week:

WeekInRewind.com blog Twitter follow / Re-tweet contest:

This particular contest is for those who follow WeekinRewind.com on Twitter, and winning never has been easier, though you do have to be a member of Twitter to play.
As with our other Twitter giveaway for the PlayStation 3, here’s how you can improve your chances to win it.

1. Follow me on Twitter.
2. Tweet the following message to your followers:

"Just entered the Flip Mino HD Video Camera contest. Win by following @WeekinRewind and RETWEET. http://xr.com/3cc He follows back everyone!"

Tweet and re-tweet the above message daily. The more your name is in our database, it significantly improves your chances of winning. That's it!

The winner will be announced when WeekinRewind reaches 7,500 followers on Twitter. From the pool that features the above message, we'll randomly select a winner. (7,500 sounds like a lot, but on Twitter, it will grow very quickly).

Be sure to subscribe to Get A Flip (above right) and keep track of the latest Flip contests as they pop up.

(photo by davidciani / Flickr)

With this post I wanted to provide the community with all the quick and dirty specs and stats for each of the Flip models so that the Flip community would have a central place to see all the basic information about Flip video cameras so here they are for your convenience:

• Flip Video (original flip): 1 Gig of memory (60 minutes of recording time), screen size 1.5", screen resolution 280x120, records in MPG-4 AVI at 640 x 480, 1/4" VGA CMOS sensor, 30 frames/second, fixed focus lens (f/2.4, 0.8m - infinity, digital zoom), uses 2 AA batteries (non-rechargeable), dimensions: 4.12" x 2.25" x 1.25", 5.2oz, built in speaker and wide-range mic
• Flip Ultra: 2 Gig of memory (60 minutes of recording time, higher bit rate than Flip Video), screen size 1.5", screen resolution 280x120, records in MPG-4 AVI at 640 x 480, 1/4" VGA CMOS sensor, 30 frames/second, fixed focus lens (f/2.4, 0.8m - infinity, digital zoom), uses 2 AA batteries (non-rechargeable), dimensions: 4.17" x 2.16" x 1.25", 5.2oz, built in speaker and wide-range mic, set time/date function, tripod mount built-in.
• Flip Mino: 2 Gig of memory (60 minutes of recording time, higher bit rate than Flip Video), screen size 1.5", screen resolution 528 x 132, records in MPG-4 AVI at 640 x 480,1/4" VGA CMOS sensor, 30 frames/second, fixed focus lens (f/2.4, 1m - infinity, digital zoom), Internal Lithium-Ion Rechargeable batteries, dimensions: 3.94" x 1.97" x 0.63", 3.3oz, built in speaker and omni-directional mic, set time/date function, tripod mount built-in, touch sensitive buttons.
• Flip MinoHD™: Order Here! 4 Gig of memory (60 minutes of recording time in HD), screen size 1.5", screen resolution 528 x 132, records in H.264 video compression, AAC audio compression, MP4 file format at 1280 x720, 1/4.5" HD CMOS Sensor, 30 frames/second, fixed focus lens (f/2.4, 1.5m - infinity, digital zoom), Internal Lithium-Ion Rechargeable batteries, dimensions: 3.94" x 1.97" x 0.63", 3.3oz, built in speaker and omni-directional mic, set time/date function, tripod mount built-in, touch sensitive buttons.

So there are the straight up quick and dirty specs and stats for all four current Flip Video camera models available on the market at this time for all you video and tech head nerds out there. Hopefully those of you looking to cut through all the hype will refer to this chart when you need a reference of the down and dirty stats. For more design tips and a cooler looking spec chart check out Flip's site where you can meet The Flip Family and See all the Flip Designs.

(Photo by Carissa GoodNCrazy)