Well I've not done one of these in a while... so please be gentle! I got the Philips HD Camcorder to review and thought what better way to get to know it than take it on a real test drive over the weekend. From set up, to filming, and then uploading the files to my macbook it was easy peasy. The quick set up instruction manual got me recording within 10 mins of opening the parcel and the camera has a clever USB built into the bottom which charges it when connected to the computer and transfers your files over too.
I'm really happy with the picture quality, and only slightly less happy with the sound but I think I can adjust the parts that are too loud next time in Imovie. Keeping the microphone out the way of the wind is probably a good idea in hindsight (doh) So all in all I'd honestly say that editing all my footage together and uploading the video was the hardest bit! It was good fun once I got going, but then Imovie took ages to process my 'project' into a film, and then uploading to youtube takes time too. I think the HD footage is worth the little extra wait though. Thanks to the camcorder for being so simple to use, the filming is the fun and easy part! It's small and compact enough to fit in my bag just like a phone, can take pictures as well as record and has some decent presets such as black and white, vintage filters etc.
At £49.99 (not including memory card, I got a 16gb one for £10, and it holds about 4 hours worth of footage) I'd say this is a pretty nifty budget travel gadget if you're looking for something to take away with you. If you are going on holiday, it means you can keep your mobile phone in the hotel safe and use this wee gem for capturing candid footage when you're out and about. I'll be keeping this fully charged and in my handbag for any opportune moments that pop up over the summer. I love my iphone but filming with something that has a dedicated purpose just feels so much better! I'm looking forward to getting some more footage and hopefully working on my video editing a bit more *cough cough* So yeah, I hope I did okay for my first proper vlogging attempt in many years. Let me know if you'd like to see more of these! And I promise the next one won't be so lengthy...
