Hey guys. I'm quite obsessed with filming footage and making short movies. The only problem is the only recording device I have is my Canon EOS 450D, plugged into my laptop and the pain of lugging around a laptop to wherever you want to shoot is to great for me to bear.

After seeing some footage of the "pocket" sized camcorders available I decided to go for one.

I'm essentially broke. I'm a student that has no job (I'm volunteering at a summer camp at the ROM) and the only money I have is $100 I earned putting together a computer.

I could scrounge up another $30. So $130. Canadian.

I found a Zi6 for that exact amount. I also found a flip mino HD for the same amount.

I already have a good 4GB SDHC card that lives in my camera.

All my footage will be done with either a DIY steadycam or a tripod. I don't care about colour as much as I do a lot of work in After Effects. Sound is no concern as I will either have no sound or add sound later.

So, which camcorder would fit my needs? Or, if anyone has any other suggestions feel free to voice them. I might be able to save my money but tthe most I could come close to would be $200.


Regards,

Kieran

The fact that the Flip is limited to the internal memory without the option for an SD card expansion kills it for me.

That aside, I've been impressed with the quality of the Kodak Zi6 video and the audio quality seems above the others.

I'm not actually worried about not being able to expand the storage, as I will only be shooting limited footage at a time.

Hey guys. I'm quite obsessed with filming footage and making short movies. The only problem is the only recording device I have is my Canon EOS 450D, plugged into my laptop and the pain of lugging around a laptop to wherever you want to shoot is to great for me to bear.

After seeing some footage of the "pocket" sized camcorders available I decided to go for one.

I'm essentially broke. I'm a student that has no job (I'm volunteering at a summer camp at the ROM) and the only money I have is $100 I earned putting together a computer.

I could scrounge up another $30. So $130. Canadian.

I found a Zi6 for that exact amount. I also found a flip mino HD for the same amount.

I already have a good 4GB SDHC card that lives in my camera.

All my footage will be done with either a DIY steadycam or a tripod. I don't care about colour as much as I do a lot of work in After Effects. Sound is no concern as I will either have no sound or add sound later.

So, which camcorder would fit my needs? Or, if anyone has any other suggestions feel free to voice them. I might be able to save my money but tthe most I could come close to would be $200.


Regards,

Kieran

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I own the Zi6, Mino HD and the Ultra HD, out of those 3 the Ultra HD is by far the best of the bunch, the Mino HD I think is a better camera than the Zi6.

The Zi6 is fine though on a tripod with good lighting, thats the only time I use mine, and the Flips do much better in low lighting than the Zi6.

Hope some of that helps.

Cheers
Davyo

The Ultra also has a 'Stereo' mic which is huge to me...............go with the Ultra HD you won't be disappointed.

This video will give you a good idea of the differences:

Flip Mino HD vs. Kodak Zi6
http://www.vimeo.com/2259235


There's also this YouTube video below where the guy filmed the same video on three different camcorders:

Flip Mino HD, Creative Vado HD and Kodak Zi6. He set it up so that you can click the link to the other videos from within any of the three videos/camcorders.


This links to the Flip Mino HD and then you can click into the two others from within the YouTube screen..and do the same with the others, etc.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsydBfIkZy0&annotation_id=annotation_336766&feature=iv

I would definetly get the Ultra if I had the money, but as of now I'm leaning more towards the mino, as the picture quality looks better than the zi6 in my eyes.

I've seen the mountain comparison video, and I think the mino looks bad in that, but I've seen video where it performs very well. I'm not worried about colour as I will use filters to give it a film look. The sound is also not a big concern.

Thanks for the help guys.