Good Replacement for a Flip Camera?

April 3, 2013 11:03 AM

I taught a class a few years back where students had to shoot short videos. At the time, the Flip cameras were the perfect solution for this class. Sadly, Flips are no longer manufactured and I'm now at a new institution where I don't have access to my previously-acquired Flips. What the best replacement for the Flip?

I'm looking for something that's relatively inexpensive, has a screen to look at the video as you shoot it, is easy to use, and has decent video quality (i.e. HD is nice, but even SD would be fine). I realize that the standard answer these days for this is "smartphone," but I'd like something that I could buy to provide to students who may not have access to a smartphone.

Previously and previously, but I'm hoping that there's new news in this space since it's been a bit longer since Flips stopped getting made.

posted by Betelgeuse to Technology (13 answers total)

The fifth-generation iPod Nano had a camera that could shoot video, and was explicitly marketed as a Flip competitor. The camera was dropped for the sixth generation, but you can probably find some old models at a discount.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:07 AM on April 3, 2013

Any compact digital camera made in the last few years (and possibly earlier) would serve this purpose perfectly well.
posted by Magnakai at 11:09 AM on April 3, 2013

How about getting a few Refurbished iPod Touches? Add on a couple of apps and you've also got the ability to edit the video a bit.
posted by jeffch at 11:14 AM on April 3, 2013

I'd look on eBay for old Flip cameras. They are perfect for your ap.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:16 AM on April 3, 2013

I'm in exactly your position.

We replaced our Flips with Zoom QHD3s. Which I just found out last week also went off the market. So we're currently deciding what next. I am leaning towards something like this. I own one and am pleased with the quality of video coming off of it.

We do use some digital still cameras for video, and also allow students to use their own smartphones. We also have a few ipads and ipad minis we'll use with grad students.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 11:19 AM on April 3, 2013

Koday PlaySport. They are rugged, waterproof, HD, and cheap. Although discontinued they seem to be available at a number of price points.
posted by Gungho at 11:21 AM on April 3, 2013

Koday PlaySport.

Second this. This is my "toy camera" I use to record auditions and things like that. It gets the job done and avoids the "gotchas" of DSLRs like short battery life, overheating, etc.
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:31 AM on April 3, 2013

Thirding the Playsport. They're better than the Flips because they have expandable memory. Pretty great video quality, too.
posted by inturnaround at 11:34 AM on April 3, 2013

I've replaced my flip cameras with iPhones (students' own), and iPads (school owned). People often forget that these (and the iPod touch, of course) can be used as video cameras-- the quality is better than the Flip cameras, in my experience.

It is also sometimes possible to use an iMac or MacBook's built-in camera to film things. This can be done right in iMovie, which eliminates the annoyance of transferring files from camera to computer.
posted by bonheur at 12:03 PM on April 3, 2013

Yeah, my high school students also film a lot of video, and between student-owned iPhones and my devices (two MacBook Pros, 3rd gen iPad, and iPhone 4) and a MacBook Pro lab, we've never needed any actual video cameras.

The major upside of all that is that everything can be uploaded directly to YouTube or to Google Drive (which will play video like youtube, only without being on YT).

Good luck.
posted by guster4lovers at 2:14 PM on April 3, 2013

Our library went with these Sony Handycams.
posted by MsMolly at 3:06 PM on April 3, 2013

Cheap P&S cameras with still and video have replaced single function video cameras in our shop. The current crop can shoot 720p at 30 fps or so. The Nikon L25/L26 models or the Canon A4000 are typical, both in the $120 to $130 range, though I've seen them for less on sales. They fit all of your requirements generally (screen, sort-of HD, short video, cheap). The interfaces to shoot video are typically usable, though clunky. They're cheap enough that we can replace them without worrying too much if they get broken or damaged.
posted by bonehead at 3:08 PM on April 3, 2013

nthing the Kodak playsport.
posted by WeekendJen at 11:53 AM on April 4, 2013