I’ve written about the Flip Mino HD on this blog before, but they’ve bought a new chrome version out now. The Chrome Flip Mino HD has the same features as the Flip Mino HD, but it’s chrome.

The Flip range of cameras have been a phenomenal hit all around the world and it’s easy to see why. They’re so easy to use and convenient to carry around that anyone can now capture funny clips of their friends or that breaking news story that’s happening at the end of your street.

The Chrome Flip Mino HD records video in stunning High Definition as the name applies, with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. Now, as many of you will know if you’re a regular reader of this blog, that I have an Apple iPhone. The 3G iPhone that I have doesn’t record video in any format so a Flip Mino HD would be a great addition to my arsenal of gadgets.

I do think that a Chrome Flip Mino HD would compliment the iPhone better than a black or white Flip, but that’s just a personal opinion. I do think that I should get one of these great little cameras just to use when looking for locations to film at. What better way to show the rest of the team a location? You could actually film the shots you were thinking of doing with the Chrome Flip Mino HD and use it as a pre visualisation tool when planning your film. That’s what I would do anyhow.

So the Chrome Flip Mino HD is available now for the great price of around £157 and it’s still the worlds smallest HD camera. Grab yours today!!

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of filming as part of my degree course and needed to get a small camcorder high into the corner of a room. Having tried using all sorts of methods to get the camera in the right position someone suggested the Gorillapod.

The Gorillapod has been designed for use with compact cameras. But they have an SLR version too. That is the version I went for because I needed that little bit extra strength.

So what is a Gorillapod I hear you ask. I’m going to tell you now what a Gorillapod is.

The Gorillapod is a tripod, but a tripod with a difference. It still has three “legs”, but those legs are flexible. You can position a Gorillapod practically anywhere. Even those awkward positions that you thought you could never get to can now become possible.

The Gorillapod is truly a magnificent invention. I don’t know how we managed for so long without it to be honest. Sure, you could carry a conventional tripod around with you, but you wouldn’t get the flexibility that a Gorillapod offers you. With pricing ranging from £16.99 up to £39 there’s a Gorillapod out there for everyone (OK, maybe not absolutely everyone, but pretty much any amateur photographer).

It really got me out of a sticky situation when I was doing my work because the shot could never have been gotten. I highly recommend this one. It’s probably going to be the last compact tripod that you will ever buy. Ideal for taking on holiday with you too.

Oh, and don’t forget, it’s Fathers Day soon!!

Polaroid are well known for their instant cameras, but have taken it one step further by producing the Polaroid Two. It combines a digital camera and their PoGo printer so you can have a print out of your images on the move.

I think it’s a great idea and am glad that the Polaroid Two is available. Nothing beats having a real picture in your hands. It seems that everything is done online these days so a device like this is a novelty. Saying that, it does come with a quite hefty price tag. At just under £230 it’s not the cheapest camera you can get. There are cameras on the market that have much more MegaPixels than the Polaroid Two which only packs 5 MegaPixels.

The prints that the Polaroid Two produces are 2″ by 3″ which is a good, handy pocket size. It’s a little on the small side for me to be honest. These pictures are printed on sticky paper for some reason too. From what I’ve read about the Polaroid Two it takes about 40 seconds to print an image out. That’s an excellent speed for getting instant pictures from the Polaroid Two.

There are some drawbacks to the camera though, and from reading the information that’s available about the Polaroid Two I discovered that you can only take 15 snaps per charge. That’s quite restrictive for this day and age really. If you want a camera that produces small pictures instantly and you have £230 to spare then the Polaroid Two is the camera for you. I would rather spend the £230 on a camera with better features, but that’s just me.

Some of you might remember a while back that I wrote about the Flip Mino on this very blog. Well, they have bought out a High Definition version. The Flip Mino HD is practically the same as the original but with much better capabilities.

The Flip Mino HD is still operated by clicking on the one button and it still has the flip out USB connector. The Flip Mino HD also features the built in software that made the Flip Mino such an instant and international hit.

The Flip Mino HD takes video in stunning 720p High Definition which is also Widescreen. It’s also possibly the smallest and easiest to use HD camcorder in the world. Not only that, but the Flip Mino HD takes 60 minutes of video on it’s built in 4Gb of memory.

You don’t have to carry around any chargers or cables either because it charges the battery through the USB connector. With this kind of quality, style and features they couldn’t possibly keep the price under £100. The Flip Mino HD also surprises on the price front because it’s under £170 - That’s got to be the cheapest price for a HD camcorder too. Go get yours today from PriceGrabber.

This morning I was testing my compact digital camera and found that it was broken. It always seems to be the case that things break just before Christmas in this house; it was the tumble dryer last week. So I had to get a new compact camera. The one I chose was the Sony W110 Digital Camera.

It’s only 7.2 Mega Pixels, but it’s sufficient for pictures up to A3 size which is fine by me. It’s a compact camera and one that I’ll be using as an everyday camera. I’m aiming for a Digital SLR camera for serious photography, maybe a Canon EOS or a Nikon?

Anyhow, the price was right on the Sony W110 Digital Camera at under £100. I’ve already spent far too much on gifts this Christmas and didn’t want to fork out a lot for a camera so this one looked like the ideal solution. Reviews I’ve read about the Sony W110 Digital Camera all give a positive impression.

The camera has some pretty good specs too:

• 3072 x 2304 resolution
• 2.5″ LCD screen
• 4x Optical Zoom
• 8x Digital Zoom
• HD output
• Focal distance: 5.35 - 21.4 mm
• f (35 mm equivalent): 32 - 128 mm
• BIONZ image processor
• Colour enhancement and noise reduction system
• Automatic face detection for children and adults
• Automatic smile detection

I’m pretty excited about some of the features in the Sony W110 Digital Camera and look forward to trying them out when I get the camera. This leads me to my only gripe. The Sony W110 Digital Camera will not arrive until the 24th December. I hope that I’ll have enough time to charge the batteries and figure out the controls of it.

Whilst searching for a camcorder to help me with my Uni work I discovered this little chap. The Canon MD205 is a budget miniDV camcorder with a Wide High Resolution 16:9 system and a 36x advanced zoom system, a couple of good features for any camcorder.

What sets the Canon MD205 apart from the rest is the price. You can get this camcorder for less than £150 - which is truly phenomenal value. The reason I’m blogging about it here is precisely that point; I doubt you’ll find a cheaper camcorder with the same functionality as the Canon MD205 anywhere. PriceGrabber will find you the cheapest price on the Canon MD205 automatically though, so there’s no need for you to go searching.

The reason I wanted a camcorder was to help me primarily with Uni, as always, because we are currently focusing on lighting and camera angles within specific scenes. We have to re-create these ourselves. Although a camcorder is provided, it’s always better if you have one you understand and can take away with you to learn.
The Canon MD205 has a lot of features for a camera of its size.

• 2.7″ LCD Screen
• Firewire output
• 36x Optical Zoom
• 2000x Digital Zoom
• Electronic Image Stabiliser
• Microphone input

The list goes on and on. When I found the Canon MD205, I knew it was the one for me. Being a compact camcorder also helps because it doesn’t mean having to carry around another bag.

I would and will, highly recommend this camera for anyone who’s looking at purchasing a camcorder. Its value for money is such a strong selling point. One that makes the Canon MD205 ideal for anyone, be you a first time buyer or Steven Spielberg. You won’t be disappointed.

The Flip Digital Camcorder has been around for a while now, but it is a good time to revisit this cool little gadget. As I keep saying, Christmas is around the corner and the kids will all want Santa to bring them gifts because they will have been good this year. What a great gift a Flip would make.

So what exactly is a Flip Camcorder? Well, it is, if not the, world’s easiest to use camcorders. They are simple and sturdily built for one thing; making movies. Your two year old child could use the Flip camcorder, it is that easy. Press the button that says “on” and then press the big button that says “start” and you are filming. There’s nothing to it.

You can film anything you want with the Flip; your children’s birthdays, holidays, weddings and, if you fancy it, you can even try your hand at re-creating your favourite movie. They do work in low light levels, which is good for filming in darker locations. With the 2Gb of on board memory, you will be able to shoot 60 minutes worth of MPG4 video before having to transfer it to your PC or Mac. There is also no need to worry about keeping things in focus because the Flip Camcorder does it all for you.

But what I really like about the Flip Camcorder is that there are no cables and, no software CDs that you have to install before you can use it. Once you are done filming and want to transfer your footage to your computer, you just flip up the USB connector and plug it straight in to a USB port. Because all the necessary software is built in to the Flip Camcorder you can be viewing your captured moments in a matter of seconds. Now that’s impressive!

And because the footage is digital, you can upload it straight away to your favourite video hosting site.
The Flip Camcorder has really taken off in America, and it soon will here, so why not get your hands on this little gadget now before it becomes too popular. We all know the trouble people have been having trying to get a Nintendo Wii for their kids at Christmas for the last few years don’t we. Now is the time to act if you want to avoid that.

Home movies are great fun aren’t they. Whether it’s a Christmas, a birthday or something a little less celebratory like your mate Steve doing the drunk pants on head dance, we all love to have those moments captured on video to share and re-live. Quite often though these moments pass us by and we don’t capture them because our damn video camera’s are so bloomin complicated that by the time we actually whip them out, get them switched on and have to fiddle about with settings, Steve has put his pants back on and is sitting rather angelically next to his girlfriend again.

What we need is a no nonsense, simple to use, sharp, stylish, convenient, cheap, good quality video camera that you can just whip out and press start. Now that sounds rather demanding when put like that but the Flip Digital Video Camera meets all of those demands and is a limbo dancing world champion low of a price at £99.95.

The Flip Digital Video Camera is so simple that it is literally just a case of pressing the button with “on” written on it then pressing the other button with “start” on it. With 2GB of memory you will have plenty of filming time and with a sharp 640 x 480 pixels resolution in MPG4 format you are not sacrificing video quality. You don’t have to worry about farcing around with stuff like focus and what not either. With a 2x automatic zoom your only job is to stand and point. Perhaps the most convenient little feature of all though is that it comes with a sweet little USB plug that flips out of the side. So there isn’t even any need for cables or any other uploading garbage, you just plug your Flip Video Camera in and away you go! At £99.95 this is bloody good value.

Live life on the wild side? Constantly crawling up the side of cliffs and always wondering where your next feed of adrenalin is going to come from? Well we have the gadget for you. If you spend your days skiing down the slopes, rallying down mountains on your mountain bike, conquering The Alps or diving out of planes you will probably want to capture all those moments right, however, trying to make it up the face of a cliff with a video camera in one hand is probably not the best idea.

With the AT18 Waterproof Action Camera you can capture it all and not have to worry about plunging to your death. This cool Action Camera from Oregon can be attached easily to a helmet, mast, harness, or your handlebars and all mounting equipment is included. It will deliver digital video in 640 X 480 VGA at 30 frames per second and all captured footage can be played on the TV or uploaded to a PC, so you can share your daredevil antics with the whole world. The 32MB on-board memory is by no means a lot but with an SD card slot expandable up to 2GB you will be able to capture a fair whack of danger. With waterproof capabilities of up to 3 metres and being shock resistant you won’t have to worry about it crashing out on you either.

I myself am definitely not a danger man so I’m thinking it can also come in handy for making creative party videos, strapping to the cat or creating your own version of Peep Show. No? Well I’m sure you have your own ideas but one thing is for sure, the AT18 Waterproof Action Camera can come to good use no matter where you are or whatever situation you are in.

So after a recent holiday in Los Angeles and Las Vegas I finally convinced my better half to invest in a compact digital camera. Up until now she has been happy to use disposable cameras which in my opinion have had their day. Her disappointment upon discovering that a number of the photos had not come out as hoped further convinced her that it was finally time to go digital. Now I myself have had a digital compact for some time but it had been a while since I invested any serious time looking at the latest and greatest features offered - and boy was I impressed.

Firstly and probably one of the first things a number of you look for when considering a digital camera is the all important megapixel number. I was amazed to find cameras such as the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W200 boasting a very impressive 12.1MP or the Canon Digital Ixus 960, again capable of 12.1Mp. At this point however I would like to give a warning about being too focused on that magic megapixel number. A general mistake a lot of people make is that the better the megapixel number the better the image is going to be. Now in principle this is of course correct but given that a number of you will only be interested in uploading these to a website such as Flickr or printing them at 6×4 format the difference beween a 12.1MP camera and a 7MP camera will be extremely hard to tell. Of course if you are planning on printing much larger format photos then you may want to pay a little closer attention to the megapixel offering.

So apart from megapixels what other features do some of these compact cameras offer. Well when I started to look under the hood I was amazed at some of the features starting to appear such as 10x optical zoom on the Panasonic DMC-TZ3EB, or the exposure controls on the Sony Cyber Shot DCS-T200 such as adjustable ISO, white balance and multiple light metering options - something that up until recently was only available on more expensive Digitial SLR cameras.

And of course the really nice thing to report is that you can get all of these features in a very nice looking camera for under £200, fantastic !

Oh and don’t forget you will probably want to get yourself a case for you camera along with a memory card, again with falling prices something you can pickup very cheap. Oh and finally there are a number of websites out there such as Photobox which offer a simple to use service for printing your digital images so you can present them in an album or frame as you would with your normal photos from a non-digital camera.