Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Flip Video Ultra Camcorder is extremely handy. I have other camcorders, that give me greater flexibility in terms of settings, but none is more convenient. I literally carry my Flip around with me now everywhere I go -- so I never have a situation where I want to film something and don't have my camcorder with me. For outdoors shots, or indoor shots with decent light, the image quality is even comparable with what I get on a much more expensive camcorder -- especially if I only plan to show it on a television or the web. Even the sound is pretty good. This quick video review was made using the Flip Video Ultra Camcorder and the Web Cam that comes built in to my Mac Book Pro laptop, and then I edited the footage using iMovie. On my Mac I don't bother to use the built in software -- although there is built in software for Mac on the camcorder -- I just plug it in and the camcorder creates a hard drive icon on my desktop. I can import the MPEG-4 files that Flip Video Ultra creates directly on to my desktop or into a project on iMovie. It is as easy to use as a thumb drive: just flip it open and plug it in. An ideal camcorder for: 1. Anyone. No purse should not have one of these, and it fits nicely in pockets. 2. Parents. No silly or stupid or endearing moment should go unrecorded. 3. Kids. This camera is so easy to use there is no excuse for your child not to aspire to Spielberg. 4. Amateur filmmakers. The way to learn to make movies is by making lots of them. No need to get bogged down in technical details with this one -- just learn to tell stories. 5. Writers and reporters. I bought a fairly expensive Olympus digital voice recorder for use in interviews a while back, and I can honestly say that this records voice at medium range better than that did. The price ($120) was almost the same. Record your thoughts, interview on the fly. 6. Documentary and independent filmmakers. With handy devices like this, you can be a guerrila filmmaker -- and go unnoticed by those who might shut down a more conspicuous shoot. 7. Did I say anybody? Enjoy!