Catch a Memory!

A couple of weeks ago my youngest child had to make a trip to the hospital--it seems he had stuck a Leggo up his nose!

My wife had our point-and-shoot camera with her. She pulled it out, put it in video mode, and captured a few minutes of Jacob talking about his "event".

This is a memory that we will play back for him in the years ahead--and being as it is video, will be much more ""memorable" than my wife simply telling the story.

I share this because I encourage you to take not only photos, but short videos of your children. You don't have to use your old bulky videotape camera--use your point and shoot camera--or your cell phone--or something similar to the "Flip Video" I mentioned in aprevious post.

These memories are fleeting--catch them while you can!

Video

I have been using our family’s “point and shoot” digital camera to take not only family photos, but also to take video. As I have mentioned in a previous post, the quality is exceptional, and I like not having to carry around the traditional video camera that requires tape.
When using the old video camera, I found that we rarely took that camera anywhere because it was just too big. Whenever we went somewhere the batteries were undoubtedly drained, or we were out of tape, or neither my wife nor I wanted to be “in charge” of the video camera.
Although our “point and shoot” camera works great, I have been looking for an even simpler solution. This weekend I purchased a “Flip” video camera—I love it! It is so simple to use, and will literally fit in my pocket. The quality is exceptional—as is the software. It comes with the cables to connect the camera directly to your television for viewing.

The model I got has a USB connector built in—so all I need to do is plug it directly into my computer. When I do this, it charges the camera, and shows you the video that you can upload or edit. The software is built into the camera—it just couldn’t be simpler! There is even software built in that will compress the video to use on websites (or in a blog!). When compressed for the Internet parts of the video may be pixelated, but that is a product of the compression for the Internet.
For those with young kids, I would highly recommend this camera. The most expensive model is about $179—and available at Best Buy. Go to http://www.theflip.com/ to get more info.
I came home from a trip last night—wanted to take some video of the kids with my new toy when I walked in the door. This is the greeting I got:

What a great way to hold a memory!