Tyler Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 (edited) for this upcoming season, i will be in the market for a comcorder to take on the mts with me. I want to use it primarily for some park videos and edits. As of right now the samsung sports camcorder is leading my list. Im looking to keep it under $400 and fairly small in size. What do you suggest? What have you seen as far as good/poor video quality? ease of use? etc...Any suggestions would help Edited June 11, 2006 by Oakley21 Quote
Justo8484 Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 dont get digital 8. i made that mistake. it was cheap, at just above 400 when i got it like 4 years ago, but looking back, i should have spent the extra 200 or so for a mini dv, as the quality is much better. i havent really looked at video cams recently, at least not the lower end ones, but i'm sure you can get something much better than what i have for 400 now. what i've found to be really important though are some of the accessories you can get. definately get a second battery. you dont know how many times we were just starting to get warmed up, the weather was getting good, etc. when the battery died. also, get yourself a wide angle lense if you want to do any kind of follow cams. i got a tripod free with mine, but i rarely use it, since it takes too long to get it all set up and leveled out on the hill. we usually do follow cams anyway. Quote
Papasteeze Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 I hear the best are the ones that record directly on onto DVD. I am just learning and the Canon what ever sucks that we have.. it;s stabilizer thingy suck or is broke . best buy is of no help.. Quote
toast21602 Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 the best are the kind that record onto those tape thingys that go into those player things called VCRs. thats what i heard. Quote
Justo8484 Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...=&O=&sku=423633 going for 479 right now, but theres some rebates in there to take it down a bit too. there's plenty of features for you on that thing and the picture quality it top notch for a consumer camera. 25x zoom and full manual adjustments for white balance, focus, zoom, etc. not a bad camera for a little over 400 at all. Quote
Tyler Posted June 12, 2006 Author Report Posted June 12, 2006 are mini DV camcorders still able to be loaded on a computer and edited and stuff... Quote
snorovr Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 are mini DV camcorders still able to be loaded on a computer and edited and stuff... Yes. Transfer is done via firewire or USB 2.0. My Mini DV cam has a 4pin firewire output, and it works great. The camcorder has nothing to do with editing in terms of cutting clips. I've been looking at high def, but its just too expensive. Quote
xNick11 Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 You guys have no clue what your talking about.If you wanna spend $400 on a camera add in some extra bucks and buy a cheap 3-ccd camera.Here is a cheap 3-ccd camera http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...egoryNavigation I know it may seem expensive but they quality is really good for the price compaired to all other 3ccd cameras.If you dont wanna spend that much money on a camera any zr series would be fine with bad quality compaired to 3ccd camera. To edit the clips with use either Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere or Final Cut(Mac)..but premiere is hard to get serials to.I use sony vegas and its great.Windows Movie Maker or Imovie will only kill your quality..dont use them. are mini DV camcorders still able to be loaded on a computer and edited and stuff... Yes you will need a Firewire cable and firewire port if you dont already have one in the back of your computer to transfer the clips onto the computer. Quote
Stevo Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 What about the new camcorders with Hard drives? I was thinking about that, but as long as i can get something with "nice" quality i'll be happy. So far, it's miniDV. But seeing as everything is gonna be 100% digital with a hard drive, idk. What do you guys think about them? Advantages are obvious, but what about disadvantages? Quote
snorovr Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 What about the new camcorders with Hard drives? I was thinking about that, but as long as i can get something with "nice" quality i'll be happy. So far, it's miniDV. But seeing as everything is gonna be 100% digital with a hard drive, idk. What do you guys think about them? Advantages are obvious, but what about disadvantages? For now the one con to hard-drive type cameras with flash or disc based storage is size. They really aren't able to hold that many minutes of footage yet, which means you're kind of limited in terms of how much you can shoot if you aren't something you can download it onto. With tapes you can obviously just carry extras. Quote
DHarrisburg Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 The DVD and harddrive cameras are stupid gimmicks, in my opinion. Quote
snorovr Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 The DVD ones I see as great for the people who they are being marketed to. Families and individuals who don't really care to edit. I'd put money on the internal hard drive cameras becoming a big market in the next 5 years as storage devices get smaller and smaller. Who wants to deal with tapes??? Mini DV and High 8 tapes are already outmoded and will sooner or later go the way of all storage media before them. Quote
Justo8484 Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 You guys have no clue what your talking about.If you wanna spend $400 on a camera add in some extra bucks and buy a cheap 3-ccd camera.Here is a cheap 3-ccd camera http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...egoryNavigation I know it may seem expensive but they quality is really good for the price compaired to all other 3ccd cameras.If you dont wanna spend that much money on a camera any zr series would be fine with bad quality compaired to 3ccd camera. To edit the clips with use either Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere or Final Cut(Mac)..but premiere is hard to get serials to.I use sony vegas and its great.Windows Movie Maker or Imovie will only kill your quality..dont use them. Yes you will need a Firewire cable and firewire port if you dont already have one in the back of your computer to transfer the clips onto the computer. ummm, first, he said he was looking to keep the price around 400. 750 is not all that close to 400, and thats just for the camera body itself, not including extra lenses and batteries. yeah, its cheap for a 3ccd camera, but if you're just filming at the mtn without really having a ton of photography knowledge (how to set exposure, white balance, iris, etc.) and only really plan to upload the stuff to your comp and throw a few edits together to post online, whats the point of paying almost twice as much, when in the end, your edit is going to get compressed down to about 20mb anyway, in which case it wont matter what you shot it with. sure, if i watch what i shot on a 30 inch TV straight off my camera, it doesnt look as good as something shot with even a miniDV cam, but after its all edited, compressed, and posted online, you really cant tell the difference unless you really know how to fine tune the compression settings to squeeze every bit of detail you can into the smallest filesize, which i certainly dont know how to do yet. also, again, for editing and posting online, movie maker or imovie are fine. they dont give you as much control over your final product, but to get started with editing, they're not a terrible choice. and if you really need a serial for premiere, i can hook you up. nothing is too hard to get a serial for if you look hard enough. Quote
Glenn Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 in which case it wont matter what you shot it with. I'm wondering about the validity of this statement. While actual file size may not matter, there are other components that go into quality video captures. I'm hardly an expert in the field and I could be WAY off. But crap in = crap out. Which is to say... I'm pretty sure there won't be much if any difference between the footage from a $3000 camera put through mpg (or similar) compression and a $1000 camera (again compressed for internet). However, I would take a guess the difference in the lower models goes BEYOND simply higher pixel counts and sample rates. I guess to quantify my statements... a cheap camera that provides poor contrast (reguardless of lighting) will have poor contrast after compressed. However a camera which makes things "pop" will (to some degree) still make things pop when compressed. Make sense? Again, I'm not sure how different the models are, and I really know little about videography. My expertise is in computers. (I've also spent some time learning/doing digital audio recording which is really my basis for my comments above. The a/d conversion parallels, in my opinion, between audio and video). Quote
xNick11 Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 ummm, first, he said he was looking to keep the price around 400. 750 is not all that close to 400, and thats just for the camera body itself, not including extra lenses and batteries. yeah, its cheap for a 3ccd camera, but if you're just filming at the mtn without really having a ton of photography knowledge (how to set exposure, white balance, iris, etc.) and only really plan to upload the stuff to your comp and throw a few edits together to post online, whats the point of paying almost twice as much, when in the end, your edit is going to get compressed down to about 20mb anyway, in which case it wont matter what you shot it with. sure, if i watch what i shot on a 30 inch TV straight off my camera, it doesnt look as good as something shot with even a miniDV cam, but after its all edited, compressed, and posted online, you really cant tell the difference unless you really know how to fine tune the compression settings to squeeze every bit of detail you can into the smallest filesize, which i certainly dont know how to do yet. also, again, for editing and posting online, movie maker or imovie are fine. they dont give you as much control over your final product, but to get started with editing, they're not a terrible choice. and if you really need a serial for premiere, i can hook you up. nothing is too hard to get a serial for if you look hard enough. ...Well actually compressing the file to say 30mb isnt that hard if you have the right compression program.I know a kid who is really good with editing and he said he will help me out whenever i need it so whenever i need to compress something thats a really big file and i wanna keep all the quality i just send it to him..im going to ask him how to do it in a few days tho once i get some new rollerblading shit filmed.Also..it matters the site you host it on.Youtube sucks. Quote
wezlofilms Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Well as a camera and camcorder buff myself i would tell you to save your pennys and buy a better camera.... dont buy a canon bc they blowwww u could buy a cheap mini dv 3ccd camcorder or get a 3000 camera like i am in about a month... and those dvd camcorders well stay away from themm they blow, so stick with 3ccd and mini dv thats where the qualty has been and will stay... Quote
Papasteeze Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Well as a camera and camcorder buff myself i would tell you to save your pennys and buy a better camera.... dont buy a canon bc they blowwww u could buy a cheap mini dv 3ccd camcorder or get a 3000 camera like i am in about a month... and those dvd camcorders well stay away from themm they blow, so stick with 3ccd and mini dv thats where the qualty has been and will stay... hmmmmmmm - sounds like good advice, any rebuttals to the Mini DV 3ccd. what's the best matching editing software to that type of camera? Quote
wezlofilms Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Well .. on Windows Adobe Premiere Pro , Avid Mac Final Cut pro , avid Quote
librider Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 I have premire pro and I love it. Deffinitly the best out there for windowss Quote
Timeless Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 I have a JVC mini DV camera and it has condensation problems whenever it gets even the slightest bit cold or damp. Biggest POS I've ever spent my own money on. Quote
mike0100 Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 what you guys think about this .. not looking for anything professional .. just something to fool around with and get some clips http://www.fotoconnection.com/vi-26244____...h-DCRHC36E.html Quote
wezlofilms Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 thats a decent cam but if u wanna go cheap and get some quality try ebay! Quote
Papasteeze Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 I have a JVC mini DV camera and it has condensation problems whenever it gets even the slightest bit cold or damp. Biggest POS I've ever spent my own money on. WOW - thats not good. thats a decent cam but if u wanna go cheap and get some quality try ebay! Could you send me some quick suggestions? The camera would be used primarily for the snow. Portable, the best stabilization, I'll want wide angles and plenty of battery life. thanks Quote
Tyler Posted June 12, 2006 Author Report Posted June 12, 2006 what do you guys think of this one? Samsung Sports Camcorder i like its size, helmet cam, and durable look Quote
wezlofilms Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 JUNKKKK no tape.... hard drive breakes not a stable shot at all..... poop dont buy Quote
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