Flip meets goat from myflip.co.uk on Vimeo.

I wanted to test how the Flip would cope with contrasty light, yesterday we had a rare sunny day in the UK so I shot a test at a local kids farm. As you can see the Flip did remarkably well in the conditions. Camcorders are never great with contrasty light but the results were great for an £80 camera.

I am not claiming this clip is award winning but I also want to share some filming tips based on my experience shooting reality shows for TV.

  • Keep camera movements steady, don’t panic!
  • When covering two subjects (kid and goat) use slow pans rather than trying to jump around trying to get the action. It’s much easier on the eye and you will learn how to anticipate the action so your pans reach the subject at the best times.
  • Good camerawork is in the mind. You need to think what is likely to happen next be prepared to gently reframe your shot eg. goat needs food, hand in bag, hand moves to goat, goat eats. It can all be predicted so you can be ready to change the shot accordingly.
  • If you miss something, in a scene like this,  it’s likely to be repeated so just keep going and you’ll get another chance.
  • Fast camera moves can work well but think first if you really need them.

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Flip Ultra Colour Range

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Tags: flip ultra, goats, panning