Flip Video Flip UltraHD

Ease of Use (8.50)

If we had to pick one single element that is keeping the Flip at the head of the ultracompact class, we would have to pick ease of use. Pure Digital has clung to the bare bones minimum when it comes to these tiny camcorders… the new Flip UltraHD is no exception. There is no menu, no manual controls, and no clutter of options and buttons. The UltraHD records video, plays video, and has a 2x digital zoom. That’s it. Just about everyone you know could pick up the UltraHD and figure out how to use it: more than we can say for nearly every other camcorder on the market.

To make the whole process even easier, the UltraHD has the same built-in editing and upload software that its predecessors had. Making minor edits and uploading a video to YouTube couldn’t be easier.

Meanwhile, the competition hasn’t been able to successfully mimic the Flip formula. The Sony MHS-CM1—also known as the Sony Webbie HD—is far more complicated, with an array of options, a complicated menu system, and frustrating software for uploading to YouTube. Models from RCA (like the Small Wonder) and Kodak (like the Zi6) are also more complex than anything in the Flip series and don’t give you much improvement in manual controls or video quality. The few ultracompact camcorders that do offer a similarly streamlined interface usually fall well short of the video performance—such is the case with the last Creative Vado that came through our labs.

Some may prefer to have the options offered by the Webbie or other more complex ultracompacts, but if ease of use is your sole concern, the Flip UltraHD from Pure Digital reigns supreme.

As with all the Flip camcorders before it, there is only one menu on the Flip UltraHD—and if you don’t look quickly you are bound to miss it. The menu can only be accessed right after you turn the camcorder on from a powered-down state. After pressing the power button, you have a little more than a second to press and hold down the record button to access the menu. It’s a bit of a strange process, but the menu is so limited that its doubtful you’ll have to access it more than once.

When the menu is opened, the camcorder first asks you to set the date and time. After these two screens comes an option to turn off the camcorder’s tones (i.e. the noises it makes when you press buttons). The last menu screen lets you turn the record lamp on or off. That’s it. There are no other menus or options on the Flip UltraHD.

Auto Mode (5.10)

There aren’t really any ‘modes’ on the Flip UltraHD. All recording is done with automatic controls doing the work and there are no manual features or special settings. Since the lens is fixed on the Flip UltraHD, there is no auto focus mechanism. Subjects and images should be in focus as long as they are 1.5-meters away or farther from the camcorder. There are no special scene modes or low light modes on the Flip UltraHD—all you can do is point, shoot, and use the 2x digital zoom.

The Flip UltraHD features updated video compression and some additional tinkering under the hood compared to the Flip MinoHD. In our testing we noticed the Flip UltraHD had much better white balance, as our bright light color results clearly signify. The Flip UltraHD also has better exposure adjustment compared to previous Flip models. Shooting side-by-side with the Flip Mino, the Flip UltraHD made exposure adjustments a bit faster and more smoothly. The Flip UltraHD also didn’t blow out overexposed images nearly as much as the Flip Mino. Overall, the Flip UltraHD’s auto controls performed very well.