My iPhone 4s Video sample

Although I still use my Flip Video (I used it the other day to do some timelapse) let’s face it at some point you are going to have to move over to a new camera! I am the proud owner of the iPhone 4S and it rocks. It has a few advantages over regular Pocket cams.

• It’s connected via wifi or 3g so you can upload fast to YouTube.
• There are some really useful apps for video shooters.
• There is a lot of investment in accessories, like tripod mounts, wide lenses, microphones (yes you can use one) so you are never short of options.
• You can tap focus, lock exposure and white balance (with an app) and even push the background out of focus if shooting close-up.

Above is an iPhone4s video camera sample. Shot handheld in a gym with just the in-built stabiliser, no tricks or grading when editing, not bad?

NEWSFLASH: I am preparing an awesome training course if you want to learn how to make videos with the Iphone for your biz, blog or just for fun.

Please have a look at iPhone Video Hero for more details and to get on the early bird list.

I’m not a fan of greenscreens that fold small – too many creases. I use a pop-up greenscreen, not so portable for location shooting but I can set it up in an instant and with nice soft lighting I never have to iron it.

It’s not big enough for full length shots but for anything else, with one person it’s fine. You don’t need a lot of width (unless you want to include someone behind a wide desk in shot). All you need is the person to fall within the edges of the greenscreen, the edges don’t matter, you can crop them out when you edit and place the person over whatever background you choose to key with.

Here’s a video I made for my Video Marketing training course. You Like?

Here is me being interviewed by Scott Skibell of SkillCasting.com. It’s the first of two interviews we did. In the chat I talk about some creative ideas how to use your Pocket Video Camera to market your business.
If the topic of Video Marketing interests you please check my other (newish) blog and comprehensive training programme at Pocket Video Power. I can tell you right now it’s getting a tonne of interest.

Have you been watching the launch of Andy Jenkins’ Video Boss programme? There are some awesome videos in the sequence.

Here’s a short clip, the takeaway for me is how Andy matches real world filming with screen capture. This breaks the video up visually, you get to see the face behind the product. I watch too many back to back powerpoint videos with a voice behind them as if the person selling you the product is hiding. You don’t need to be on screen for a lot of time if you are camera shy just a glimpse is good enough.

Also note how the music and the pace of cutting lifts everything from the bog standard to a video full of energy you want to stick with.

Go check out the rest of the videos they’ll only be up for a few more days.

Check out this Fight club parody from ‘Who is Rachel Jackson?‘

I just tested the Traffic Player plugin and really liked it. It’s handy because you can get a sales/squeeze video up on your WordPress site without eating your bandwidth or having to set up hosting.

The video looks like it’s professionally hosted as you can configure it to be without the YouTube logo, playbar and title line which can make you look like a cheapskate and removing the links stops people leaving your site.

If you set it to autoplay you’ll also build viewcount back on YouTube which helps the video rank higher.

If you make videos for clients and they use WordPress they could invest in the plug-in and have some nice looking skins on their site without visitors realising they are hosting on YouTube.

One downside I just noticed is the YouTube logo still appears when I view the video on my iphone. But that’s not a deal breaker.

See more skins and all the details here.

You can also see the page I used for my test in the video above here.

Bad news again, as if we can take any more. The awesome looking and I expect sounding Blue Mikey for Flip has been well and truly buried.

Hillary Money at Blue Microphones just sent me this:

“In great anticipation of the accessory program announced by Flip Video last September, Blue Microphones announced Mikey for Flip, a professional-quality external microphone for Flip cameras. Due to the announcement from Cisco regarding the abrupt discontinuation of Flip cameras, we sadly announce the death of Mikey for Flip.

As one product life ends, we look forward to taking all that we learned with Mikey for Flip and continuing to build upon our Mikey line of microphones for iPods, iPhones and an upcoming digital version for the latest Apple devices.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Society for Preservation of Totally Awesome Handheld Recording Devices are encouraged.”

So when I received the news I had to probe a bit and ask if the Blue Mikey for Flip actually existed, were they stored in a warehouse somewhere waiting for cremation and could we still persuade them to release it? A lot of Flip users are in despair does Blue Mikey realise that the Obituary newspaper clipping might not go down well? I received this:

“We also share in the surprise and disappointment of Flip users. We dedicate hundreds of hours of energy, creativity and heart into the development of our products and not being able to see Mikey for Flip through to fruition is disappointing to us as well. But we are saying goodbye to Mikey for Flip in true Blue-style, with the same creativity as was put into its creation. There are no user-friendly prototypes available and no inventory to sell.”

For me as a Flip blogger the Blue Mikey would have made the Flip unquestionably the number 1 Pocket Camera, but now we’ll never be able to say that and be taken seriously as most of the Pocket Camera Universe didn’t even know the latest Flip had a Mic port!

I’d say hats off to Blue Mikey for actually bothering to let us know their views even though I’m not too keen on the Obituary idea.

Can this saga get any worse?

PS. I’m going to carry on shooting and make my Flip last, if you need any Flip tips and don’t have it already please grab my free ebook (top right column) before that dies too!

I can’t confirm this but I read this comment from an unhappy Flip Owner on Facebook. It’s in connection the Blue Mikey plug-in mic for the Flip Ultra HD 3g that is overdue for release.

“I just got off the phone with their sales department [Blue Microphones]. Sadly…the mikey for flip is dead. She said that they did indeed halt production. When I tried to find out if consumers would be able to buy any of the ones that WERE produced…she would just say that the product was never released. So I don’t know if there are any floating around out there. SUCH CRAP! Thanks a lot CISCO!!!”

Cisco have just made an announcement:

Confirmed they are exiting the Flip business.

1. Tech Support for Flip Video cameras continues until 31/12/2013
2. New Flips you may buy will still carry a 1 year warranty.
3. Flip cameras still available to buy while stocks last.
4. FlipShare supported until 31/12/2013.
5. Video sharing discontinued after 31/12/2013.

There is no news about 3rd party Mic accessories.

Cisco Systems also write:

“The teams have been reading your comments from emails and our social media community pages and are touched by the overwhelming number of thoughts and messages. We hope you will continue to have fun with your Flip video camera, and we appreciate your loyalty and business.”

You might want to read more and express your oppinion here, it seems like they are no longer deleting or holding back comments.