I picked up a Flip Ultra video camera this weekend, and one of the things I wanted to try was strapping it to my bike helmet to record my morning commute, just to see what it looked like. So, I dorked myself up a bit by attaching the Flip to my helmet via a handy dandy bungee cord, and recorded the morning ride. It’s a bit stomach-churning in spots, because of head motion swinging the camera all over the place, but it’s pretty close to being there…
I’m still trying to whip up a flash version of the video for proper embedding, but in the meantime, here’s a QuickTime version.
Update: there’s now a Flash Video version of the movie posted to Vimeo.com. I still haven’t been able to get Google Video to play nicely though…
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Hey how do you like the Flip? And how does it work with the Mac? Did you get the Mino?
I’ve heard horror stories about the Ultras and how they work with Macs, but the Mino is supposed to work nicely. Any thoughts?
Thanks…
Chris
Oops, I guess your post says it’s an Ultra. How does it work?
Yeah – I got the Ultra (black, not the stupid green one from WalMart). It works really quite well on the Mac. It shows up on the desktop as a regular USB storage device, and comes with all the software you need (although I did also install an updated version of Perian to make it play even nicer). So far, no real complaints about the Flip. It Just Works™ and is really rugged. The video quality is nowhere near HD, but for a cheap camera that I will be willing to experiment with, definitely worth the money.
Thanks for responding. Thoughts on the Ultra versus the Mino? Just wondering.
I watched the video, it’s not bad. It was interesting to see where you looked. I liked the first person shooter-esque perspective.
Chris
We bought the bicycle adapter/mount for the Flip Ultras when we got them from Amazon. The helmet is one cool idea as well. We figured we would use the mount and the underwater case on the front of a canoe when doing science podcasts for our teachers in late summer. Should be pretty cool to see the results.
Whew, I’m exhausted. And that route looks convoluted! Easy to get lost if you’re not paying attention? Some of that must be difficult in the colder months, but it sure is green up there in the summer …
the route is a bit, er, less direct than it could be. I actually helped guide a retired guy whom I met about half way home this afternoon. There’s no way he’d have found the path without a lot of extra hunting (like I did the first few times I went that route
)
some of the hills are interesting when icy, but it’s the suburban roads that are nastier when slushy (esp. when the slush freezes into sharp ridges. yikes!). Still, it’s a pretty decent ride. Wouldn’t give it up for anything. Well, nearly anything…
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It looks less than stable the way you have it bungeed to the helmet. I’d be woried that it would fall off if I jumped a pothole or something.
yeah. I wouldn’t recommend it with a big HD camera or anything, but for a light Flip camera, it’s OK. It’s just a big USB stick with a lens. Even if it fell off, it’s not a big loss.