I scored a good deal today. Periodically I have been checking the camera section at our local Target store and watching the prices on the HD camcorders. Admittedly, these are the low end HD camcorders, along the lines of the FlipCam’s. But they are small enough to fit in your pocket, easy on the battery, and can take up to a 32GB card. In good light they do a reasonable job.
Here are some sample shots. The first one was taken with the Aiptek at the 8 megapixel setting. The second with my old Fuji S5000 at the 6 megapixel setting. Both images are cropped down by this blog to 480×431. The originals are here.
The colors look richer in the Aiptek (left) image however the colors in the Fuji image are more true to the actual object (some of my woodworking handiwork)
And since it is a video camera, here is a link to 1 minute worth of video. It is in Quicktime MOV format and the file size is 35MB. Right click and “save as”. The 35MB original is here.
Notice the sensitivity to camera shake. This shot was hand held with the lens pressed up against the glass window for added stability, hover you can still see movement. Without image stabilization, or post processing to remove the shake, these small cameras really need a tripod.
//Jon