iPhone vs Flip Smackdown!

I was at a party, and one of my favorite local fiddlers, Devon Leger, was about to play a tune. I just happened to have two video cameras in my pocket: a Flip Mino HD, and my iPhone. 

I leaned both cameras against the door frame, one in each hand. The one with finger in the frame is the iPhone, which I held steady for one long take. With the Flip I got fancy―I got multiple angles, I zoomed, and I panned.  

In Compressor, I cropped the iPhone footage to match the 16:9 format of the Flip when I converted both to ProRes. In the first two cuts I alternated the sound―the clips with the captions have sound from just that camera. After that, I ran both audio tracks together. 

The sound is better than I thought it would be, particularly from the Flip. The video quality is about what I expected―the iPhone is a toy, not a camera. The Flip looks a lot better. 

I'm keeping the 5D's though. 

Comments

[Jeff H]

Doug,

Thanks for posting the comparison. I have all there camera's also. My wife got me the Flip HD for my birthday last summer, but I haven't really used it that much. I really wish it had image stabalization, it is very hard to hold it still unless mounted on a tripod. You are correct, the iPhone video is really not worth much. I actually have shot more video with my 5D MkII than the other two combined. I just need to learn more about video editing technique and find a good video editing package for the PC that is easy to use, yet powerful enough to do most basic editing tasks. Anyone have any suggestions for good PC video editing software?

[Doug Plummer]

Sorry, I haven't a clue what people use to edit on a PC.

When I found myself shooting most of my video with the 5D I sold my other video cameras (including a Canon XH A1) to get a second 5D. It's a great camera. The Flip--I've been using it to get a point of view for B roll that would be too hard any other way. I'm working on a dance video where I mounted the Flip to my hat that I wore during the dance.

[Jeff H]

Can't wait to see your 'hat' video! I wondering how jumpy the image will be without any kind of IS? I have a real hard time holding such a light weight camera still, even when sitting or standing still.