Digital stills on a camcorder?

[florry]

I'm thinking of purchasing a new camcorder for our up-coming trip (quick! - I've only got 10 days to go!) and would like the convenience of taking just one "gadget" for all.
Now I know that the quality of pictures from one of these things will not be as good as a dedicated digital camera but has anyone got one and are they happy with the results?
I can't afford an "all singing all dancing" top of the range "jobbie" but I would just like to know the kind of results from an average 800,000 pixel or 1.3 Megapixel type of camcorder/camera.
I have a digital camera and I have an analogue camcorder - I would just like to cut down on the size and number of things that I have to cart around.

 

[Netty]

our camcorder takes pictures. and the only thing i find is that if you are filming and then take a picture, you miss whats going on. i mean the picture isnt as quick as an ordinary camera and so its like freeze frame, and in the mean time you miss abit of filming. then when it comes to transferring your camcorder tapes onto video or dvd you have to keep stopping and starting to cut out the photo on the finished video.
well thats what happens with us!!!

 

[florry]

Netty,

Does the camcorder have a card to store the photo's on or is it straight on to the tape?

 

[Netty]

it goes straight onto tape

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Our camcorder has this function, with the digital stills stored on a memory card. The pictures are very poor quality as far as I'm concerned, so we no longer use this function of the camcorder and I carry an additional digital camera for still photos. It is a pain to have to carry two cameras rather than just one, but the compromise on picture quality was just too much for precious memories of holidays.

Regards

Rob

 

[nicknsara]

Hi Florry we have just upgraded oure camcorder to one that records straight on to a dvd disc.we just record pictures or footage and take the disc out and straight into dvd player and watch.its a sony dvd 7e.

i agree with other people you miss the action when takeing still pictures and the quality is definately poor.

when we bought oure first camcorder we wanted the same as you.we went into a jessops and after much research we found one.it was a sharp vlz8.has tape and takes a memory card for pictures.this is also a palmcorder only weighing 550g.

we paid brand new from ebay £230.there are loads on there so be very careful.while im no expert on camcorders i have had one over ten years so do have a lot of experience.

if you want any help just ask

nick n sara

 

[alanjones]

We bought a Panasonic camcorder a few years back, which takes still pictures onto a memory card (SD card). The pictures aren't terrible if you just want to put them on a website or something, but they aren't really good enough to have proper prints produced from them.

 

[wilki32]

We have a Panasonic too, pics are a bit grainy but OK. We will still take a normal digital as well.
Sorry to jump in the thread but nicknsara, I have been thinking about a dvd camcorder but was put off a bit by someone who said the quality wasn't brilliant and the disc time was short. At £230 that does sound like a bargain.
Anthony

 

[wicket2005]

The Gadget Show did a group testing of combined camcorders/stills, their conclusion was they were not as good as having separate pieces of equipment.

I bought a Sony digital camcorder for this trip. It was so small especially compared to my old analogue one, just fits into the palm of your hand. Consequently it was a doddle to carry around as it could fit into my pocket.

It does take still photos but I didn't bother using it. The quality was okay but no way as good as from my Canon 3 mp camera. It also records sound at the same time which is a bit strange when viewing the picture on the tv.

 

[dazeddaisy]

If you are technically minded you might consider just shooting everything with the camcorder. Then when you get back, you can take an indivdual frame, and make it into a still and print it out or whatever.

Thus you get almost the quality of at camcorder image, but also have the still. And you cut down on one item to pack.

Florry - what price range are you looking at for a camcorder. I will be able to recommend some good camcorders for around that price (or a cheaper one). PM me or whatever and I will tell you some. I could mention some but cheap to one is expensive to another.

Ignoring my method above, you are better off getting a camcorder that allows you to have a memory card.

 

[nicknsara]

sorry!!

the dvd 7e camcorder was £350 off ebay.the quality is fantastic.if you buy a +dvd rw disc you can have long play which makes the disc 1 1/2hr playtime.it also holds 3680 still pictures.

its the type of disc which makes a difference in record times.

there is r,+,- and a +rw.

only advice is dont buy a hitachi one,bad reviews.

also id only buy a uk version due to the charge time with american voltage although they are cheaper on average in the usa.

nick n sara

 

[Aceman88888]

I've just bought a Casio Exilim EXP505 for my florida holiday. It's like a mini SLR but is the first I believe to record DVD quality video as well as 5 megpix stills onto standard memory card. I've just used it at the Eden Project at the weekend and the results are phenomenal. Its really tiny compared to even the smallest camcorders and can be got for between £240 and £400 (£400 being high street retailers :-().

Now i've got this I will be leaving my Camcorder at home as even though its a mini DV one, it's still bulky to carry around.

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Hmmm, general rule of thumb is that a camcorder is as bad at taking stills as a stills camera is at taking movies.

Now as a previous poster says, still cameras are becoming better at taking movies, especialy due to the ever increasing size of memory cards. In fact my new Fuji can do pretty credible SVGA movies at 30fps...but it does eat into your memory card pretty quick.

My JVC camcorder is better than a lot of camcorders on stills, in that its 1.3megapixel (a lot are still 800,000), but it doesnt come close to the qualtity of My Fuji stills.

I used to have a camcorder that did stills and recorded them to tape rather than onto a seperate memory card, and I considered it to be next to useless. I had to connect it to a pc, find the bit on the tape where the still was recorded, pause it, then use transfer software to effectivley do a screen grab. Not good whatsoever.

One advantage a camcorder will have on a stills camera is its optical zoom, which is likely to be better than any zoom you would find on the best of the digital stills cameras.

 

[Netty]

The Gadget Show did a group testing of combined camcorders/stills, their conclusion was they were not as good as having separate pieces of equipment.

I bought a Sony digital camcorder for this trip. It was so small especially compared to my old analogue one, just fits into the palm of your hand. Consequently it was a doddle to carry around as it could fit into my pocket.

It does take still photos but I didn't bother using it. The quality was okay but no way as good as from my Canon 3 mp camera. It also records sound at the same time which is a bit strange when viewing the picture on the tv.

wicket please can you tell me what sony camcorder you have got. we always buy sony and at the moment we have a digital 8 one, we now want to buy a digital dv one. but i have no idea which.thanks
sorry florry for jumping in on your thread.