camcorder buying advice, please
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Hi everyone, I know that quite a lot of you are very much into digital photography - but how about digital video ? I've realized that my almost-9-months-old daughter has to be caught on a video, still images doesn't do the trick alone. So far, I really haven't thought much about digital video cameras, except that I found it annoying that there were always some guy recording various stuff at parties etc. But now I have to be that guy :-D I looked at http://www.camcorderinfo.com/[^] and found that there are 3 main issues to consider when deciding what to get: 1) HD format - or the old one ? The future is HD - but are HD camcorders too expensive or (when cheap enough) just not good enough ? I'm afraid that buying a non-HD camcorder will leave me disappointed i a couple of years (resolution/quality-wise) and buying a HD camcorder now might just be too expensive in relation to what you alternatively could get for your money... I hate when the market shifts technology just as I want to buy something. 2) Mini-DV (tape) or harddrive Again, the market has a new technology on the way... HDD storage. Currently you can get up to 60 or 80 GB I think, but if you record in HD quality what will that give you in terms of recording time ? And when you're on vacation you will have to bring a laptop or a stand alone storage in order to empty the camera. Mini-DV on the other hand can be bought everywhere but doesn't give you quite the same flexibility as a harddrive. Currently I'm most into Mini-DV, but is that the right choice ? 3) The technical details - extra equipment like e.g. a shoe mounted lamp for recording at night / low-light conditions. Some makers seem to use proprietary "hot shoe formats", where others have more common cross-brand solutions. What to use ? Are there any brands to avoid - or should I just accept that buying a camcorder from e.g. sony will leave me with sonys extra equipment ? - 3 or 1 CCDs ? Which is better ? does the CCD size really matter that much ? - Megapixel count ? Relates to the HD / non-HD discussion, but what is the lower limit ? - Weight? - Battery options ? I will not use the camera for still pictures - I have a Canon 20D for that. And I plan on using around $1000 on the camcorder if I have to. Cheaper would be nice, but I'm not going to throw a lot of money after a camcorder I won't be happy with. I see that the
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Hi everyone, I know that quite a lot of you are very much into digital photography - but how about digital video ? I've realized that my almost-9-months-old daughter has to be caught on a video, still images doesn't do the trick alone. So far, I really haven't thought much about digital video cameras, except that I found it annoying that there were always some guy recording various stuff at parties etc. But now I have to be that guy :-D I looked at http://www.camcorderinfo.com/[^] and found that there are 3 main issues to consider when deciding what to get: 1) HD format - or the old one ? The future is HD - but are HD camcorders too expensive or (when cheap enough) just not good enough ? I'm afraid that buying a non-HD camcorder will leave me disappointed i a couple of years (resolution/quality-wise) and buying a HD camcorder now might just be too expensive in relation to what you alternatively could get for your money... I hate when the market shifts technology just as I want to buy something. 2) Mini-DV (tape) or harddrive Again, the market has a new technology on the way... HDD storage. Currently you can get up to 60 or 80 GB I think, but if you record in HD quality what will that give you in terms of recording time ? And when you're on vacation you will have to bring a laptop or a stand alone storage in order to empty the camera. Mini-DV on the other hand can be bought everywhere but doesn't give you quite the same flexibility as a harddrive. Currently I'm most into Mini-DV, but is that the right choice ? 3) The technical details - extra equipment like e.g. a shoe mounted lamp for recording at night / low-light conditions. Some makers seem to use proprietary "hot shoe formats", where others have more common cross-brand solutions. What to use ? Are there any brands to avoid - or should I just accept that buying a camcorder from e.g. sony will leave me with sonys extra equipment ? - 3 or 1 CCDs ? Which is better ? does the CCD size really matter that much ? - Megapixel count ? Relates to the HD / non-HD discussion, but what is the lower limit ? - Weight? - Battery options ? I will not use the camera for still pictures - I have a Canon 20D for that. And I plan on using around $1000 on the camcorder if I have to. Cheaper would be nice, but I'm not going to throw a lot of money after a camcorder I won't be happy with. I see that the
Hi Jan, Well I'm not a camcorder geek but during January I went to Austria for some snowboarding, and I used one of the Sony HandyCams, can't remember the model, but as far as I know it was the top of range one. Anyway this camcorder was awesome. Surround sound, HD recording, touch screen LCD, mini-DVD (DVD+R , -R, +RW, -RW and so on), it's easy to use and there are alot of settings to play with. I would recommend it. Hope this help :) Regards,
The only programmers that are better than C programmers are those who code in 1's and 0's..... :) :) Programm3r
My Blog: ^_^ -
Hi Jan, Well I'm not a camcorder geek but during January I went to Austria for some snowboarding, and I used one of the Sony HandyCams, can't remember the model, but as far as I know it was the top of range one. Anyway this camcorder was awesome. Surround sound, HD recording, touch screen LCD, mini-DVD (DVD+R , -R, +RW, -RW and so on), it's easy to use and there are alot of settings to play with. I would recommend it. Hope this help :) Regards,
The only programmers that are better than C programmers are those who code in 1's and 0's..... :) :) Programm3r
My Blog: ^_^Hi, Thanks for your input. I have two questions for you: 1) The DVD-media solution looks (to me at least) equivalent to the early digital cameras that used floppy disks :omg: for storage. Now it is small DVD disks that cant store that much data, and I would suspect that this is a solution that is on its way out. I might be wrong, though. What is your feeling about this ? 2) The sony cams have touch screens, yes. And I read that this made it practically impossible to keep a steady picture while at the same time operating the camera, as pushing your finger against the screen will shake the camera. Did you notice this behaviour ? /Jan
Do you know why it's important to make fast decisions? Because you give yourself more time to correct your mistakes, when you find out that you made the wrong one. Chris Meech on deciding whether to go to his daughters graduation or a Neil Young concert
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Hi, Thanks for your input. I have two questions for you: 1) The DVD-media solution looks (to me at least) equivalent to the early digital cameras that used floppy disks :omg: for storage. Now it is small DVD disks that cant store that much data, and I would suspect that this is a solution that is on its way out. I might be wrong, though. What is your feeling about this ? 2) The sony cams have touch screens, yes. And I read that this made it practically impossible to keep a steady picture while at the same time operating the camera, as pushing your finger against the screen will shake the camera. Did you notice this behaviour ? /Jan
Do you know why it's important to make fast decisions? Because you give yourself more time to correct your mistakes, when you find out that you made the wrong one. Chris Meech on deciding whether to go to his daughters graduation or a Neil Young concert
Well, onto the first subject: Well, that can be the case, I really don't know. What I would do then, is look into the camcorders that work with HDD (hard drives), I read somewhere that they can store up to 80Gb.:confused: And about the second question, the camcoder has the ability to control all of the settings from the original position, where they placed it in the past. While recording I did'n use the touch screen, I used the controls at the Rec button. :) Hope this helps. Regards,
The only programmers that are better than C programmers are those who code in 1's and 0's..... :) :) Programm3r
My Blog: ^_^ -
Well, onto the first subject: Well, that can be the case, I really don't know. What I would do then, is look into the camcorders that work with HDD (hard drives), I read somewhere that they can store up to 80Gb.:confused: And about the second question, the camcoder has the ability to control all of the settings from the original position, where they placed it in the past. While recording I did'n use the touch screen, I used the controls at the Rec button. :) Hope this helps. Regards,
The only programmers that are better than C programmers are those who code in 1's and 0's..... :) :) Programm3r
My Blog: ^_^Programm3r wrote:
What I would do then, is look into the camcorders that work with HDD (hard drives)
We got a pretty middle of the road JVC camcorder for Christmas. It has a 20GB hard drive which is plenty big for the amount we use it (I think it stores 4+ hours at the highest quality), and picture quality is ok, the biggest issue being light. I didn't want to deal with tapes, and the mini DVD options are just way too tiny. It's not HD but it can do anamorphic widescreen. It's also smaller than our digital camera. Overall we're quite happy with it. The convenience of the hard drive cannot be overestimated.
Faith is a fine invention For gentlemen who see; But microscopes are prudent In an emergency! -Emily Dickinson
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Programm3r wrote:
What I would do then, is look into the camcorders that work with HDD (hard drives)
We got a pretty middle of the road JVC camcorder for Christmas. It has a 20GB hard drive which is plenty big for the amount we use it (I think it stores 4+ hours at the highest quality), and picture quality is ok, the biggest issue being light. I didn't want to deal with tapes, and the mini DVD options are just way too tiny. It's not HD but it can do anamorphic widescreen. It's also smaller than our digital camera. Overall we're quite happy with it. The convenience of the hard drive cannot be overestimated.
Faith is a fine invention For gentlemen who see; But microscopes are prudent In an emergency! -Emily Dickinson
David Kentley wrote:
The convenience of the hard drive cannot be overestimated.
I think you are right.
The only programmers that are better than C programmers are those who code in 1's and 0's..... :) :) Programm3r
My Blog: ^_^