New handheld video cameras in the popular Flip line acquired by Cisco in March last year will hit Australia in early November, the company announced this week.
The cameras are among those used by amateur videographers — and even some professional media outlets — to shoot video for platforms for YouTube. Sony is also targeting the market in Australia with its Bloggie line-up of cameras, which feature similar specifications to the Flip devices.
In a statement, Cisco said three new Flip cameras would hit Australia in early November. The MinoHD comes in two models, with 4GB and 8Gb of storage and will go for a recommended retail price of $229.95 and $279.95 respectively. Cisco has ported the image stabilisation feature found on its UltraHD Flips to the MinoHD model, which is more slimline.
The UltraHD — which comes with 8GB of storage — has been re-modelled with a slimmer style, and Cisco has addressed several common complaints about the device, adding the ability for it to take rechargeable or AAA batteries and adding what it calls a FlipPort — which allows external accessories such as a microphone to be connected.
All of the Flip cameras can easily be connected to a PC for direct video upload — with the ‘flip out’ USB port which gives the cameras their name. They record in resolutions up to 1280×720.
In Australia the new Flip UltraHD will sell for $279.95 — the same as the MinoHD model. All of the new models also feature a higher frame rate than previously. The devices will be available from a wide range of outlets — from mass retailers like Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi to more specialist outlets like Ted’s Cameras and CameraHouse.
