Camcorders?

[wcw57]

since my camera is sloooooowly dying I am planning ahead. I figger I might as well get me one of them new-fangled video cameras whut can capture snapshots, too!

To that end, without paying a small fortune (I take nice pictures but not fancy-schmancy pictures), does anyone have any recommendations as to what works well. I realize that styles and technology change fast but, still, I'm looking for some general ideas. I suppose memory card technology beats mini-cds? What about when you're cruising and can't download the cards so quickly......do you need multiple high capacity cards?

MANY THANX!

 

[tinkmom2]

Even though my cam corder takes snapshots I brought along my Kodak Easy Share and took photos with that (nearly 500). My video recorder has a battery life of about 2 hours or so and I charged both throughout the day and at night in my bathroom lol! For the cam corder I have a DXG-566V HD. It has pretty good quality and fits in the palm of my hand. It also has a flip out screen so I can see what I am recording. I accidentally erased our first cruise video so I made sure I knew how to use it this time!

Memory wise I have a 15MG memory card in there and about a 8MB in my Kodak camera. You can take your memory card to Shutters on board and they can make a CD for you to free up memory.
I saw some mini cam corders like mine on sale at bestbuy.com for cheap. Mine was around $150.00 but I saw them at bestbuy for under $100.00 The Easy Share is also under $100.00 and does record some video too. I have some video in my trip report below so you can see what kind of video it takes.

 

[truck1]

I have a JVC Everio, and found it to be ideal.I have about 7 hours of video space available, without a memory card, plus it takes snapshots.It also fits in the palm of your hand, with a swingout screen.

 

[Juney]

I bought a new camera right before our cruise last month. I searched and searched and read consumer reports and finally settled on THIS one and I absolutely LOVE it. Consumer Reports really liked it a lot too.

 

[andrewsmommy]

We love our Flip. So convenient, fits in a pocket, takes pretty good video and simple enough that my 6 year old uses it too! Ours doesn't take snapshots, but we always have a little camera handy too.

 

[KSandbergFL]

I have a JVC Everio, and found it to be ideal.I have about 7 hours of video space available, without a memory card, plus it takes snapshots.It also fits in the palm of your hand, with a swingout screen.

I have a JVC too, it is solid and easy to use. The model I have is an older model that has no internal hard drive, and no flip-out screen. It records to SD or CompactFlash cards.

Whatever camcorder you get, I would recommend buying one that records directly into DVD quality MPEG2. A lot of new camcorders record in MPEG4, which is OK... but when recording a DVD, the MPEG4 video will need to be converted (re-sampled) to MPEG2 in order to be put on a DVD (DVD discs use MPEG2 video format). Re-sampling/converting takes extra time, and purists argue whether there is "loss" or "degradation" when converting. Many of the JVC cameras record in the exact same format that DVD's use, so there will be no re-sampling when you burn your videos to DVD. You could also get a camcorder that records directly to DVD's.

The same logic applies to the so-called HD camcorders. Sure, you can spend the extra money for an HD (1080 pixels) camera, but when you burn that video to a standard DVD, it's gonna get down-sampled to the DVD format (720 pixels). You'll never see your videos in 1080 HD unless you play them right from the camera, or burn them to an HD format disc (BluRay or HD-DVD). I wouldn't buy a HD camcorder unless you have a Blu-Ray disc burner and a 1080p HD television. If not, you'd be better off buying a nice camcorder that shoots regular DVD-quality (720p MPEG2).

 

[wcw57]

You guys are very helpful...as always


very interested in battery life for obvious reasons.

also: when using video cam to take photos is it done by a flip of a switch or what? also, when downloading, vids and photos are kept separately in card or download in one big mass and you sort it our later?

obviously, I Know Nothing! (to quote Sgt Schultz)

THANX!

 

[KSandbergFL]

You guys are very helpful...as always


very interested in battery life for obvious reasons.

also: when using video cam to take photos is it done by a flip of a switch or what? also, when downloading, vids and photos are kept separately in card or download in one big mass and you sort it our later?

obviously, I Know Nothing! (to quote Sgt Schultz)

THANX!

On my JVC, photos and videos are saved on the same chip, but in different folders. To switch between still photo and video modes, there is one button to press. I'm sure most other cameras work the same in this regard.

I can just pull the SD chip out of camera and put it into a card reader. Alternately, I can connect the USB cable from the camcorder into the PC and access the chip from there (the camera doubles as a SD/Compact Flash card reader). I'm pretty sure all new camcorders have a USB port, to make copying the files to your PC simple. If you buy a new one, you'll also get software for editing your videos and burning them to DVD. It's pretty painless, and a heckuva lot easier than the old days - when you had to connect your camcorder to a VCR, press "record", and wait.

If you don't want to mess with burning DVD's on your computer... than I'd say you should get a camcorder that records directly to those mini DVD discs. You just take the disc out of the camcorder and pop it into your DVD player. Those cameras usually have a separate memory card slot for still photos.

 

[macd4]

Check out the Flip UltraHD or MinoHD.
It's the size of a point and shoot camera, but records HD video.
Very easy to use and very portable.

 

[truck1]

You guys are very helpful...as always


very interested in battery life for obvious reasons.

also: when using video cam to take photos is it done by a flip of a switch or what? also, when downloading, vids and photos are kept separately in card or download in one big mass and you sort it our later?

obviously, I Know Nothing! (to quote Sgt Schultz)

THANX!

Welcome.
Battery life for the Everio that I have is around 2-3 hours.Give or take.Depends on how much you use the cam between vids and if the camera goes to sleep.You can get a bigger battery if you want one.Quick note on batteries.No matter what the manufacturer says, all batteries over time will develop a memory.To avoid this, charge the battery completey according to the instructions.About once every six months or so, drain the battery completely, then recharge.Then repeat.If you have a pulse charger you dont have to worry.

When you take a pic all you do is push the button behind the zoom.(The new ones are up to 40x digital)To start the vid mode, you push the thumb button.When you download, the pics are in 1 folder the vids in another.They are in 1 parent folder.