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Super Cheap Aiptek GO-HD Video Camera

video cameraA while ago now I bought a Aiptek GO-HD 720p from Amazon for cheap. The FotoRamp review was helpful; links to actual raw video convinced me; but this video review was absolutely no help at all.

You can’t track the brand on Flickr; but a search reveals a few photos (one, two), a video, and even some photo panoramas (one, two) assembled from the video. You can see my own test videos here (note the link to the raw video in the description of each).

The camera works well with both iMovie and iPhoto. Upon plugging it in, iPhoto launches and prompts to import all the photos and video. The video is available in iMovie from within the iPhoto library browser. Though most video gets delivered online (and at resolutions somewhat lower than HD), the additional resolution allows you to zoom in on sections of the recorded video seeing much quality loss in the output. This video, shot on the Aiptek and edited in iMovie, demonstrates:

Update: my biggest complaint with the camera is the lens’ limited wide angle ability. This might not be a problem for others, but it was enough of an annoyance for me that I built my own wide angle add on lens for it.