Advice on Video Camera

[mreid1974]

I really want to purchase a video camera for our next visit to the World!! But dont know where to start and what is good and bad. Im not looking for crazy expensive. Looking for something that isnt to big. Has good memory time and good zoom. Any help with any of this would be great. Not sure how many hours 16 MB memory would hold.. Thank you for any help!!

 

[mreid1974]

bump!!

 

[seashoreCM]

Get one with a changeable memory or tape. (The Flip does not.) Or bring our laptop every time to upload to so you can continue shooting.

It should have some zoom (not digital zoom).

It should have some manual settings including a night mode. Night mode keeps the camera from automatically trying to make a nighttime scene look like daylight and washing out all the Christmas lights.

Sixteen megabytes (starter memory chip) holds only a few minutes of video. Almost always you have to buy another, larger, memory chip right away to make meaningful use of your new video camera or still camera.

Do not erase or re-use the memory chip until you have viewed the pictures or video on the DVD or in your laptop to see that it was transferred properly. Do not allow a store clerk to clear or erase your memory chip (actually your camcorder does a better job of clearing or erasing or formatting). You are usually safe if you at least proofreed the start of the video, three or four places in the middle, and the end of the video.

Digital camera hints: http://www.cockam.com/digicam.htm

 

[Hootch]

use cnet.com when looking for electronics. You can search by price, brand, etc. They have their own reviews as well as user reviews and a lot of technical data.

I like having a video camera. I still look back at video from our daughter's first trip. Chip and Dale were still at Chef Mickey's. We have video of her pinching their noses and them doing the same to her. That's something we wouldn't have with a posed shot.

 

[solpo]

We have an older Canon HF10 which is great, although we haven't taken it to WDW yet. We have taken a Flip, though. Not only is the memory limited, but it's not good at shooting video in extreme conditions. One example is that we shot video of EE. In the dark parts, the video was black, then, when it went into the sunlight, the video went all white because the camera's exposure system couldn't adjust fast enough between dark and light. A good camera will be much better at doing this.

I just saw one of canon's HD cameras at costco for under $500. You can't go wrong with them.

Another option is to buy a DSLR that is also video capable. Nikon, Sony and Canon all have DSLRs that take HD video for around $500-700 with a lens. You'd be getting two devices in one which is not only cost effective but also reduces what you have to lug around.

Hopefully $450-700 fits your definition of not crazy expensive....

 

[rock_doctor]

It really depends on how you plan to watch the videos. If you have a computer hooked to your tv and plan to watch them on the computer (or though the camera) then i would get the one i have (DXG-587). If you want to watch on the tv w/o a computer then i can't help. This DXG is super cheap (under $200) and uses normal SD memory cards and normal Fuji batteries. The only catch with this camera, is poor video when there isn't much light. So night videos are not possible and dim light situations produce grainy images. It takes 5mp images and shoots in full 1080p video (the videos are crystal clear on my 50in 1080p plasma). You may also consider getting a better digital still camera, most shoot video in 720p now a days but you can only watch it on the computer plus most likely still images that are higher resolution then your current digital camera. That would kill two birds with one stone. I prefer Kodak cameras and the ones i have owned, have done extraordinary well for me. Just make sure what every you do get uses memory cards and batteries you can get at Walmart or Kmart.