Hi.

I want to buy a fairly good video camera, and was looking for advice. what shoudl i be looking for/what should i want to avoid?

and stuff…

tatuaje?

I ain’t got time right at the moment, but I’ll come back to this.

I bet brebro has some great suggestions…

i found a hitachi gx3100 for 15o bucks yesterday. but the salesman told me they little mini cdr’s it takes are really hard to find and very expensive. i think he was lying cuz he wanted to buy it for himself, but i wasnt sure….

brebro?

My computer is in the shop, so I’m sneaking onto my wife’s laptop while she’s in the shower, but… I would go for a HD based camcorder (that’s Hard Drive, not High Def, but getting a 16:9 720p or 1080p resolution one would not be a bad idea to keep abreast of future and present capabilities) and avoid the DVD or tape based cameras. I still have a 8mm, Digital 8 and Mini DV camcorder, so I can’t justify getting another at the moment, but I would get one with SD card support or some other solid-state recording format to make things easier and camcorder to computer transfers as easy as possible. Also, iMovie will import directly from Firewire camcorders (Sony calls it iLink and it’s also IEEEE something or other) because that’s a better technology for video than USB, but as with other superior technologies, the USB won out and it may be harder to find Firewire on anything today (even iPods). It’s been a while since I shopped for camcorders, so there may also be Bluetooth options that eliminate wires altogether, but you may not have a newer, Bluetooth equipped Mac. Like I said, I have been out of the loop for a while since I have not been in the market for one yet, and there may be more considerations, but that’s all I can think of at the—- oops here she comes, got to go!

thanks mr bro

feel free to post video of her getting out of the shower.

you know, for research purposes as to the quality of video, and if your wife really was in the shower…

BreBro used to have his wife as his avatar..My god what a lucky man..

The HD High Def format is sort of in between tape and hard drive..definitely go for the hard drive format..you might want to wait til the powers that be decide on a codec that is agreed upon..if you get stuck with an unsupported format you could have difficulty finding editing support..

I like Canon.

If you want something on the cheap, use code KODAKGOLF09   I should come to 130 w/shipping
http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/Zi8_Pocket_Video_Camera/productID.156585800

Just as a completely useless tangent:

I never thought about firewire “losing” to USB. I suppose this is because I have a Mac and it, of course, has a firewire port.

I also never thought about the fact that iPods and iPhones don’t have firewire.

But I don’t think this is because USB “won.” After VHS won, Betamax disappeared. After Blu-Ray won, HD-DVD disappeared.

Firewire devices exist.

USB is simply more abundant.

Why?

Because PC builders are idiots who sell to idiots.

/mac elitism in full effect

USB rocks for keyboards and mice. Sometimes printers. Everything else it just pretty much sucks at.

/tangent off.

Pff, you forgot a crucial element of your search: How much are you willing to spend?

Also, I would imagine Bluetooth transfers of video would suck an egg. Isn’t Bluetooth almost as slow as USB?

i dont wanna spend much. i kinda like the one Will posted above, price-wise and wutnot.

i plan on using it for simple documentation. I wouldnt mind spending maybe 300 for something really good, with lots of zoom, memory and quality. but i basically just need it for documentation purposes. i want to interview some people.

can anyone give me an assessment of the one Will posted? i have no experience with any kind of digital image device of any sort.

anything else…?

pfff - 05 October 2009 11:02 PM

i dont wanna spend much. i kinda like the one Will posted above, price-wise and wutnot.

i plan on using it for simple documentation. I wouldnt mind spending maybe 300 for something really good, with lots of zoom, memory and quality. but i basically just need it for documentation purposes. i want to interview some people.

can anyone give me an assessment of the one Will posted? i have no experience with any kind of digital image device of any sort.

anything else…?

Here is the first and most important thing you need to know.

DO NOT USE THE ZOOM.

Do not buy anything that has the words “digital” and “zoom” directly beside each other. Even if you do, do not turn that feature on. Don’t even use the regular zoom unless you are absolutely certain you know how to use it.

Others might disagree with me and I have a word for those people.

Wrong.

@Mat I think the new USB is much faster than anything else around I guess only time will tell how it performs.

@Pfff I think the camera is like anything else you get what you pay for, that said it shoots the same FPS that my high end SLR shots. 60 fps at 720p is not bad.

I think both matcat & brebro have given some good advice.

digital zoom is less than worthless.

Using onboard hard drives as your video destination is smart, but be wary of the file formats it’s saved in. JVC has a proprietary format (can’t remember what it’s called at the moment) that didn’t work with any standard video editing software win I bought one (and promptly returned it) about a year ago.

Having said that, I still use mini dv. I like having an actual hard copy.

If you solely want to do interviews, keep it small and simple.

The Kodak Zi8 seems like it’s pretty nice for really cheap. (This is the one will posted above)

The Flip is another pretty popular small camcorder.

Here’s a quick breakdown of this type of camera.

Having said all that, my camcorder is a Vixia HV40 which is badass, but just a little outta your price range. BUt check ebay, you never know.

Oh, and Final Cut Pro requires importing with Firewire.

You probably have no interest in using it, just FYI.

thanks.

yeah, if you’re primary distribution is going to be online I would say that Kodak camera will do everything you need for pretty damn cheap.

I might be in to doing some interviews. PM me.

Another option is to get a DSLR with video, that is what I did and I am very happy.