Video Shot With iPod Nano: Our First Clips
New iPod Nano in hand, we promptly tested the video camera and the crazy video-record filters. They’re fun, but the camera itself is positioned awkwardly.
We found out that the camera’s unfortunate placement (on the lower left of the back, if you’re holding it normally) is due to there not being enough space to cram it in under the screen. The accelerometer adjusts if you want to hold it some other way, but the natural position for taking video is made harder by the location of the lens.
Why can’t the Nano take still photography? Let’s hear it from Steve Jobs himself, via the New York Times:
The sensors for doing video are fairly thin. The sensors for doing a still camera, at much higher pixel resolution – and we’d really like to have autofocus – they are just way too thick to ever fit inside the Nano.
This is the “cyborg” filter. Very geeky and cool, and matches perfectly with the tunes we were blasting (it’s LP by Discovery, for the record). Notice that you can actually hear the click of the button right as the video stops.
The scratchy film-strip filter is great for arty shots of the back of Brian Lam’s head.
This one’s a security-cam type filter that makes these innocent passersby seem suspicious.
This is the normal setting (no filter) on a bright and sunny San Francisco day. You can see that the colours are a little washed out and due to the awkward placement of the lens itself, my finger blocks part of the shot.
These next two are for comparison. This one is taken by the Nano, a simple rotating panoramic with differing light and a lot of color. The next is the exact same video, but taken with a Flip Mino.
This is the Flip. The colour reproduction is definitely better on the Flip (most notably in those flowers outside the window), and the video is noticeably sharper as well. But all in all, it’s not a huge difference, which is very much to the Nano’s credit.
Low light, predictably, is not the Nano’s strong suit. It’s serviceable, and obviously pocket camcorders like the Flip and Vado aren’t all that much better, but you’re going to want to have some decent lighting when using the Nano’s camera.
Closeups are also a weak point for the Nano—its 640×480 resolution, with no macro mode, is just not detailed enough to pick up the nuances of this gold sparkly thing on Brian’s bookshelf. But like the low light shows, if you’re looking for the Nano to have amazing video capabilities, you probably haven’t noticed that it’s actually a super thin mp3 player and not an HD camcorder.
X-ray mode is actually cool and glosses over some of the Nano’s lack of detail, not that it’s particularly practical.
This is thermal mode, so you can tell that Brian and Lisa are red-hot. Literally.
Tunnel vision is another filter brought over from Photo Booth. It’s one of my favorites, so I’m glad to see it on the Nano.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
I hope the iPhone 3GS gets filters, anybody heard anything?
Garrett Shuffield
@justinpe: There's an app for that... :(
prolly a bunch of paid ones.
@van_line: Well, no. See, what it does is allow you to open up the top, turn it upside down, and shake all those pesky music bits out so that you have more room for your video. AND! It creates remixes of your old songs while you're at it!
This is what makes Apple such an amazingly innovative company!
I mean look what happened when I had T-Pain and a Slapchop commercial on my nano!
so why is it cleaner than my iPhones video and will we get filters also?
Click... Click... Click...
I see a bullet-point in a future software update.
That's decent quality for what is, basically, a cell phone camera module. It's sharp and it handles motion well.
The bad: the filters seem pretty dumb to me. I expect we'll see YouTube littered with videos using them.
And, of course, the finger in the shot.
so if you have 16g ipod but it is loaded with 15g of music then you only have 1g for video?
van_line
Holy crap I had no idea it would look remotely that good.
KStrike155
@FriarNurgle: for an iPod, I found it to be quite clear.
the first three are kinda cool but just cuz of the filters. 2 should automatically play a little bit faster so it looks like those old silent movies. 4 looks like the same garbage that comes out of any phone but it looks perfect for shooting ufo footage
@FriarNurgle: Damn really? I was very skeptical about the camera at first ... thinking YouTube would be flooded with more pixelated kids jumping up and down. But that video is actually quite clear and I think it works nicely with YouTube.
I really wanna see a comparison with a 3GS.
Better quality video than my 6-year-old Olympus camera at least.
tomboygirl
@weatherman: The target demo for taking Nano video has never heard of post-production.
tomboygirl
Wow, it's so mediocre.
The quality is pretty good.. but I still don't see the point.
Luke Michael Timothy
pretty cool, and nice quality.
LEWD98
I'll give them props for the cyborg and security filters, but I'm still hurt the iPod Touch was left in the tracks.
Invisible-Echidna
didn't even think of buying but it's nice toy after all
@Colonel Jack O'Neill: just think about where it can go
hm-m
The camera is nice I suppose, but honestly just about every phone can take video these days, right? (except my freakin' iPhone of course). And the effects are clever, but personally I'd rather add them in post-production so that I can keep the raw footage clean, unless it is possible to upload directly to YouTube via 3G or something...
where's my iPhone 3GS filters!?!?!
@Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo:
That's what I said about Photobooth...
iSpy jello effect!
Holy shit balls, that's actually not that bad. Admittedly I will never use this when I pick one up, but somewhat impressive.
macpatrick
How long will it be before we see some ipod nano porn?
Not bad!
For a MP3 player, the video looks not too bad. For a video camera, the MP3 control is fantastic!
abates25
It looks pretty darn good!
I just want to see some Color patterns, and some color patterns in the dark. I wonder how noisy it is?
thehacker123
"due to the awkward placement of the lens itself, my finger blocks part of the shot."
Yeah, it was pretty evident that the lens's position was going to be a problem.
Surprisingly good. Although I don't really see the practical use for the crazy filters. It's a novelty that'll wear off in a few days.
way better then cell quality
IMT00FIERCE
Hey Apple, take a look at this!
[gizmodo.com]
What is with that click at the end?
shutter roll
maestro72x
Why cant I have video on my ip3g...this frickin sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!
feezy23
If the video quality looks that good, I don't see how it can't take decent pictures.
I can't help but laugh at Apple for putting a video recorder and microphone into an MP3 player, but not allow the camera to take pics. Update needs to come for it soon.
And I still want one. :(
Chris
@Lite: killed Dumbledore: I actually downloaded this video to my phone. :|
Chris
@Luke Michael Timothy: Well you see everything needs to be able to play music, access the internet, and record video. EVERYTHING.
benjamoon
@Luke Michael Timothy:
discovery ftw
Anthony Tran
@LVP: I noticed that too, seems like a pretty noticeable flaw.
x-Ray mode, for Paris Hilton type videos.
LEWD98
By the looks of the apartment/condo in the vids Gizmodo pays pretty good. No?
markntravis
@feezy23: There's something called cycorder out there, google it.
At some point, adding a video camera to a nano will be justified when somebody films police brutality, and everyone will be like, "See! I knew this would be useful!"
Poop Cooper
@Mykbibby: Except Photo Booth has fun effects and it's used mainly for stills. I don't think many people will want to take videos with a cyborg filter.
if only i can get those effects on the 3Gs.....
Riyan Hidayat
It just doesn't make sense that the iPod Nano couldn't have at least included a basic still camera function, even if it is low quality. It wouldn't be too terrible, comparable to cell phones.
MePerson
Not bad at all actually!!! we'll have to se some ron to verify this of course
@tomboygirl: you make the good point. If that generation had any inclination to self-edit, there probably wouldn't be a YouTube at all...
I'm impressed... but I feel hearing the "click" when the video is stopped is kinda un-Apple-ey
To be completely honest, this is amazing quality for a tiny, crazy thin device like the nano. Still, this should have a) happened on the Touch, b) the hardware for the touch needed to change, and c) this was not worthy of one more thing. I WANT A FREAKIN TABLET ALREADY APPLE!!!!
Tim Kautsky
@pɹÉoqÊŽÇÊžuÇÊžoɹq: The filters are cool. But it still fails. Hey watch this video....click... and this one.....click.
Cliff_Dangers
@Riyan Hidayat: that's what i'm saying! I need to record... things in predator mode!
eh... not really impressed. Apple usually makes seemingly good products that dont cut corners (lets try and not think about any shuffle related craziness) but this is just standard sub-par video. its not amazing that its coming from a nano, becuase cell phones already take video and can be just as thin where the camera is placed. Go ahead and flame me or whatnot. i always forget to check my posts for replies anyway...
shorty6049
oh, great, because there aren't already enough useless videos made by 14-year-olds on YouTube.
kiwiagogo
@kiwiagogo: now you'll get videos through the eyes of 14 yr old terminators
The Flip's video looks a lot nicer. Crisp. But I mean, if apple is going to throw people a bone they could have at least put the camera in a better place.
@FuturePastNow:
ouch...
"FuturePastNow was unstarred"
Kerfudle
@Weihovah:
Well as long as their violent 14 yr old terminators I am fine with it.
Kerfudle
@Shini: R.O.A.C.H.: The iPod is thiner and has more memory. Plus on top of it all it's an iPod too. That said if Steve Jobs wasn't so keen to keep it thin they would have been able to place the camera in a better place that could take good stills to but if you are going to try to keep the current users you need to try to not change it too much.
quayzar
@shorty6049: No flaming here but, "Apple usually makes seemingly good products that dont cut corners." What? I'm sure many people can think of quite a few occasions where Apple's wonderful products (I actually do think they're great, got an iPod Touch sitting next to me.) left out extremely basic and obvious shit.
I realize these filters are gimmicky crap, but I love 'em. Weird filters always bring out the little kid in me.
What the hell are these guys listening to in the car?
CutThroatP
"impressive...most impressive...but you're not an iphone yet."
Stay right there girl, let me just adjust my ipod for better listening while you take your clothes off.
Justin Nelson
I like how they are Bumping Discovery, which I happen to be doing when i drive around these days.
glenaypia