Bendable Media

I’m a big believer in letting children use digital cameras to take pictures. Kids will experiment with cameras in ways adults don’t consider, which often translates into unique and entertaining images. (I suggest giving your kid an old digital camera to call his own — but don’t buy a kids’ themed camera.)

Kids can explore video creation with a portable camcorder such as the Flip Slide HD.

Now I’m letting my 6-year-old explore video, as last weekend I let him use the new Flip Slide HD digital camcorder to shoot video at a family wedding. As I expected, he created many interesting and compelling videos, featuring friends and family. The videos were often shaky, with a few featuring his index finger a little too prominently. (Hello, trash can icon.)

But boy did he have fun! You can hear him giggling in the background in most of the videos he shot as he worked the room at the wedding and rehearsal dinner the night before. He occasionally pretended he was a spy, quietly peering into conversations to capture video.

Over the two days, he shot nearly 30 videos. Here’s the second, shot shortly after I gave him a lesson on how to use the super-simple Flip Slide HD.

Is it the best video? Of course not. It was filmed in a noisy and poorly lit banquet room in the basement of an old Italian restaurant. Still, the video is more than acceptable despite the lighting and sound challenges.

Also, the boy does have a little trouble framing the shot — don’t we all? — but no problem controlling the camera. The shaky video will correct itself over time, as the boy gets more comfortable using a video camera as opposed to a still camera.

The Flip Slide HD is the newest version of the popular Flip Video line of portable camcorders. I’ve been a fan of Flip products since the first camera came out several years ago. They are iPod-simple to use — indeed, they are getting even easier — so they are ideal companions for vacations, family events or just capturing video around the neighborhood.

The new version continues that trend but it is the priciest model to date, at $279. Several other models are priced below $200.

The reason for the high price on this model is largely due to storage. It can hold four hours of video, providing twice as much storage than other Flip models. Also, it is easier to view the videos on this model, as it cleverly doubles as a stand. Now, the screen is small so it’s not ideal to always use this approach to view the video, but it sure is convenient to show other people what you have shot.

I’ll write more about the Flip Slide HD in future posts, but I’ll tell you this: I quite like it. And so does the boy, who wants to use it again to make more movies.

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