New video camera?

[yrdlyprincess]

I had this on another board, put somepone suggested I put it here. I need a camcorder for my WDW trip, I want a long last battery. And which is easier 8mm, hard drive, mini-dvd, or dvd???? Help please!!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

What's your budget?

What's important to you? Size, easy of use, manual control, image quality, low light capability, reliability?

Do you plan to edit your video or just shoot it and watch it?

Do you want to shoot in high definition or are you OK with standard definition? Do you want to shoot in widescreen like new TVs or 4:3 like old TVs?

Are you comfortable using a computer and do you have one with a DVD burner?

 

[deletedpenguin]

In my opinion, MiniDV is easiest to use, and still retain great quality. I own a Canon GL2 camera, which is a 3CCD camera, and although not HD resolution, the quality of the sensor and the number of sensors allow for a very high quality picture. 3CCD cameras and up can be considered broadcast quality.

But as Mark mentioned, it'd be easier to give you better advice if we knew your budget. You can get a really nice MiniDV 3 CCD camera for $1600, but there are great cameras for less now. Panasonic has a really nice HD miniDV camera retailing for around $1200 now.

 

[yrdlyprincess]

to markbarbieri:
i don't really want to spend more than 500-600

all of what you put are important (size, easy, etc)

shoot/watch (no editing)

standard probably (sometimes high def)

4:3

I have a dvd burner, I would like to use dvd to store the images because I was told it lasts longer.
i was reading another one of your threads (forget the title) about taking good pictures- I have to children -one 2 yrs old i find that with digital it takes too long to take the picture (they have already moved) which do you recommend 35mm or digital (with what megapixel?)
thanks so much you did a great job on the other thread!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

all of what you put are important (size, easy, etc)

No camera does everything perfectly. Prioritize and it will help you pick.

shoot/watch (no editing)

I'm a big, big fan of editing videos. I can't believe anyone can really shoot enjoyable video that doesn't need editing. That's just my opinion.

If you really want to watch without editing, I'd lean towards one of those camcorders that shoots straight on little DVDs. That will save you some work.

standard probably (sometimes high def)

High def starts around $1,000, so it's out of your price range. It also makes things much harder. Your focus has to be more accurate. You get more noise at low light levels. You can't shoot it directly on a DVD.

I recommend that you look at www.camcorderinfo.com for reviews and discussions about camcorders.

For a camera, I would recommend a digital rather than film. It's so much easier and cheaper to shoot digital. The only problem is getting a relatively inexpensive digital camera with low "shutter lag." That's the time between when you press the shutter button and when it actually takes the picture. Trying to take pictures of kids with a camera with a high shutter lag is extremely frustrating.

A DSLR solves that problem, but it costs a lot more money, requires additional lenses, and is bulkier. I think it's the way to go if you want the best pictures possible, but most people are willing to make all of the sacrifices that a DSLR requires. If you want to go the P&S route, there are a lot of people here that can help you with suggestions. If you want to go the DSLR route, there are a lot of people here that can quickly fire up a rousing argument over who's brand is better.

 

[Groucho]

For video, the mini-DVD and hard drive camcorders generally take poorer quality video than the miniDV ones. Also, hard drives are unreliable and sooner or later, the hard drive in your camcorder will fail, and when it goes, you'll either get "bad spots" in your video or lose everything, depending on how it fails, and you'll have to get it replaced.

Another advantage of miniDV cameras is that they're pretty cheap. The downside, of course, is that they're tape so you need to rewind, fast-forward, make sure you don't tape over something you want to keep, etc.

For cameras, most current point-n-shoots have much less shutter lag and are much more responsive than ones from a few years ago. Many stores have them set up so you can try them, so you can see for yourself how fast (or slow) they are.