I’m completely sold on the Flip camera. Unchained bought a second one for Brian the other day. We’ll use both of them at the conference, then each of us will take one home. We’re going to buy another one out of our own money for Cathleen. I wrote my Republic column for next week about all the real estate marketing uses I’m coming up with for this little video camera.
Why am I so sweet on the Flip?
- It’s second only to my digital still camera as an on-hand resource for recording and communicating real estate ideas
- It fits on my hip — just like my still camera — and that’s where it rides
- Because it’s so easy to carry and so easy to use, there is no aversion or impediment to using it
- It’s eminently useful for documenting traffic conditions around a house — or weather, as I did earlier today
- It’s simply excellent for doing interviews, whether those are testimonials, vendor reports for clients or video podcasts
The video shared below is a brief summary by Mike Elsberry, my all time favorite home inspector, documenting the repair issues in the home we looked at today. The buyers are out-of-state, but they get to see Mike’s face, hear the confidence and expertise in his voice and judge his level of concern with the issues he raises. This simply rocks, a completely different way of dealing with a remote-control inspection.
I want for Brain and I to both have Flip cameras with us all the time because of the ease of making video podcasts. Whenever we find ourselves talking to anyone with something interesting to say, we can turn the conversation into a podcast, a permanent addition to our library of Black Pearls.
Until now I have shouted down real estate video with my volume knob set to eleven. I still feel the same way about what I call the Lurch video, the painfully boring home tour with swooping and jerking camera movement and a voiceover narration punctuated by way… too… much… punctuation… Cathy shot an interview on Sunday with the seller of our listing on Lookout Mountain in Phoenix, and — because it has something like a story and a visual point of interest — this works a whole lot better for me.
But what is most interesting about this video is that we did it. We talk about doing video for our listings, but they often sell before we get down to the ugly work of editing footage. The Flip takes that pain away. Interview the seller? Done. Interview the neighbors or visitors to Open House? Done. We can knit the videos together with text on a web page, integrating new clips as we shoot them. The problem has become an embarrassment of riches, rather than just an embarrassment.
All that potential, all those opportunities, all there in a tiny little video camera in a Lowepro camera case on my hip. Anytime I come across something that is best communicated with motion, sound or human interaction, I have the means of capturing, editing, storing and sharing it — all just as easily as I have always been able to share digital still photos.
Technorati Tags: blogging, BloodhoundBlog Unchained, real estate marketing, real estate photography, real estate training, technology
Tom Nagle says:
I have been an active user of The Flip for close to a year now, and we use it extensively in for the investment and property management end of our business.
If you want to avoid the jerky camera movements that come naturally with a super-light handheld camera, you should invest in a Steadicam. These are the devices that allow filmmakers the ability to do long tracking shots without making viewers seasick (a common problem with The Flip).
Instead of blowing thousands of dollars on a Steadicam to go with your $100 videocamera, I would opt with the poorman’s version – http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/
We can do long continuous shots throughout an entire house that are smooth and clean.
May 13, 2008 — 8:13 pm
Trace says:
Here’s Creative’s competitor to the flip for $99 with 2 gigs of memory : http://tinyurl.com/5kparh
May 13, 2008 — 11:31 pm
John Wake says:
I have qualms about the seller making “representations” about a home on video, however, I love the inspector interview. Inspectors are professionals and they can alway say the written report is the full and complete report. I’m surprised you didn’t shoot the spa problem.
I looked into the flip a while ago and was very impressed with how easy it was to get video off the camera and into YouTube. I find that process a pain on normal cameras.
For videos of a neighborhood, I don’t think the flip is going to have the quality you would want. It has limited (no?) zoom for example.
For communicating technical information like the inspector interview, however, they are the next best thing to being there.
May 13, 2008 — 11:37 pm
Ann Cummings says:
Greg – thanks for your review of this Flip camera. I’ve been watching the videos of those who’ve been using it, and for the most part, I like the quality I’ve seen. And I have read numberous posts where they’ve talked about the ease of use with this one. I do still see the seasick-movements in some of the videos, but it’s not been there in others – guess it depends on the user.
Many real estate videos I see are too hokey and home-made feeling for me to jump on the band wagon, but this camera has been making me rethink that a little bit.
Thanks!
May 14, 2008 — 3:46 am
John Kalinowski says:
Greg – What about throwing the camera on a tripod and putting both of you in the video? Would be less shaky, and much more interesting, plus it lets the audience connect with both people.
May 14, 2008 — 4:14 am
Greg Swann says:
Tom: > Instead of blowing thousands of dollars on a Steadicam to go with your $100 videocamera, I would opt with the poorman’s version – http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/
Very cool for real video production. My caveat is that I’m using this camera because it’s with me all the time, where a DIY Steadicam or a tripod wouldn’t be.
Trace: > Here’s Creative’s competitor to the flip for $99 with 2 gigs of memory : http://tinyurl.com/5kparh
Very cool. Thanks. Think about where these cameras will be in two years.
John W: > I’m surprised you didn’t shoot the spa problem.
Still photos. The inspection has its own engenu page. But you’re right: The Jacuzzi failing would have made a good clip.
John W again: > For videos of a neighborhood, I don’t think the flip is going to have the quality you would want. It has limited (no?) zoom for example.
The utility is in the camera actually being with you when you want to record the phenomena. A camcorder could do a better job at anything the Flip does — except it’s at home.
Ann: > I’ve been watching the videos of those who’ve been using it, and for the most part, I like the quality I’ve seen.
YouTube taxes so much quality that it almost doesn’t matter what you start with. My camcorder definitely produces better video than the Flip, but the Flip is on my hip. (I just wrote a jingle!)
Ann again: > Many real estate videos I see are too hokey and home-made feeling for me to jump on the band wagon, but this camera has been making me rethink that a little bit.
Check. And the medium is the message. A camcorder makes you think in terms of making a production. The Flip makes me think in terms of podcasting, just straight-up, head-on interviews to communicate information. To me, video is nothing compared to photography at showing of a house. But the Flip interviews I’ve been linking to do a job still photography cannot do. What makes real estate video stink is that we’ve been approaching it wrong, IMO.
John K: > What about throwing the camera on a tripod and putting both of you in the video? Would be less shaky, and much more interesting, plus it lets the audience connect with both people.
Agreed. Richard Riccelli said much the same thing in email to Cathy when I posted the testimonial on Sunday. The downside is schlepping the tripod. Plus which, I think there is something to be said for the verisimilitude of a garage-band production. This is one of the things that makes weblogs work while more formal media have a credibility meltdown. Work it out, though. There’s room for everything, and if it’s working, it’s working.
May 14, 2008 — 7:10 am