Which Camcorder

[Slavo]

Any suggestions on a camcorder, mainly used for domestic stuff like filming the progeny burping, farting and throwing up, similar for the other relatives, holidays, the odd bit of sport, etc. Something easy for SWMBO to operate on auto pilot but with a few gadgets for me to tinker with when the mood takes me. Probably MiniDV tape instead of DVD or HDD.

I like the 3-CCD Panasonic NV-GS300 or 500 but was wondering if shelling out the extra and going High Definition would be the go. We don't have a High Def TV [yet ] but maybe the High Def would be a good exercise in future proofing - eventhough the standard def output is pretty good at the moment.

Any thoughts?

[bsrlee]

I too have been looking at video cameras, and I think you have a couple of possibly incompatable requirements.

HD and multi-CCD type cameras are very close to broadcast quality & are often used by photojournalists when they have to 'travel light'. They are not intended for casual users or those afraid of technology, so SWMBO might find herself out of her comfort range trying to operate one of those, and they tend to cost a fair bit.

I have been leaning towards the 2nd bottom model Sony DV Handycam, both from the POV of reliability (a few friends have other Sony's) and affordability. The Sony Handycams also have an 'easy' button, which turns off all the fancy menus & gibberish on screen & makes the camera a basic point-and-shoot unit. They also have basic controls mounted on the LCD screen, so you can do 'self portrait' stuff with zoom and start/stop while standing in front of the camera.

[Schtoo]

We don't have a HD TV here either.

Doesn't mean one is not in the future though.

(We have 'that' Sony.)


Great doohickey, easy to drive and plenty of playability. Compared to the one my dad picked up last year, no comparison can really be made.

You only get one chance to tape some of these moments, and if you can afford it, then it pays to go with the best you can get.

Or get the munchkin's aunt to buy it. Worked for me.

[Dean]

I just got the Panasonic VDR-D200 (i think thats the code) today and tried it out for first time this arvo on a few short clips. Seems pretty good for a lower priced vid cam. Writes to 8cm DVDs. Has good stabilization, a huge 30x optical zoom, nice sized pullout view screen and mic/sound seem to work well. Gave it to SWMBO and she had it figured out in under 5 minutes so easy to use and operate.

Happy with it so far!

[Iain]

THe two main players always seem to be Sony and Canon, I have had one of the former and two of the latter, never had any problems.
The latest one is a digital but must admit I prefer the quality of the earlier Hi8.
Tapes make a great difference too and I use Maxell now (Hitachi), had a lot of problems with quality on TDK and found Sony to be quite good too.

[Schtoo]

Iain, a friend here has the previous model of our camera (ours is a Sony HC3, his is a HC1) and he let me in on a little trick on how to exploit the video quality of these things.

Take them with you when you go to a photography studio, and video everything.

When you get home, save selected frames into the computer and print them out.

He has a large (7" x 10"?) printout from the video camera and it looks like it was taken with a high megapixel still camera.

I just have not yet worked out how to get the video into the computer, but it does scare me. Being high definition it will take up oodles of space until it gets compressed...

[Iain]

I download mine directly with the software provided, Arcsoft Showbiz, via the firewire port, this is an AVI download.
I can also drop it straight onto our DVD recorder (which I haven't unpacked yet) via a firewire port.
I can remove a single frame from the download but not sure how to download a single frame from the camera to the computer.

[Slavo]

Schtoo, how do you find the HC3 when panning fast moving action, such as sports, cars etc. I have read one comment on it that it has a lot of 'artifacts' when doing this.

The only other issue with the HC3 is that it doesn't come with any bundled software and you need to use their i-link firewire cable to download into the computer

[Schtoo]

Slavo, the fastest moving thing that we have video'd is a 3 month old.

I just swung it around the room quickly, and didn't notcie anything too untoward other than it's struggling to keep everything in focus.

To download to computer, it is a pain, but since it arrived here a week before the munchkin turned up, I didn't get much say in it. I still have not downloaded anything to the computer yet. It was planned so i could video his arrival for his aunt who couldn't be there, which I did and still got into trouble for doing an inadequate job.

I think that considering what it is, what it does and how much space it takes up, there has to be some compromises. It's never going to be the very best camera on the planet, but there is nothing that can match it at the present time based on it's size, what it does and what it is.

What I can say is this.

Very small, they chopped about 20-25% off the previous model in size. Some say there is a performance loss, but I don't know myself based on zero comparison (First video camera here).

Easy to drive. I think you can adjust almost anything you might wish, but hit a button and anyone can use it and get good results. Handy if you want to be in the picture too. All controls are easy to get at, provided you have reasonable dexterity in your right hand and your hands are not ginormous.

On regular tapes it takes a great picture. I just looked at some now, and I can't say I am at all disappointed with how they look. On the good tapes (switches automatically) the picture is something else. At 5X zoom it looks like a 'home video', but that's about it.

If I were buying, I just don't know. We are not rolling in cash, but we don't like putting up with junk unless we have to. It would be hard to pass up, but it would not want to cost much more than it does.

It's good, really good. With a wider angle lens and a decent stereo mike, you could easily film a movie with it.





(We don't even own a TV so why the heck are you listening to me???)

[Slavo]

Thanks Schtoo, We also have a 3 month old and the fastest thing he is doing is growing up.
I have read that HD has about 4x the info than SD so crunching on a PC could take a fair bit of resources. Some of the stuff on other forums I have read recommend having the latest and greatest dual processor 2GB RAM blah blah blah for PC editing, but those guys who posted seem to collect camcorders like some people collect hand planes always buying the newest technology.
Anyway, I will ruminate a bit more and come to a decision sometime before his 18th

[Schtoo]

I have heard movie files taking up 50Gb.

I think that taking it to my mate's place and getting him to stuff it onto DVD is the answer.

Or try and coax a new puter from somewhere.

[Iain]

An hour of tape on the digital video takes up about 10-15gb, I download and burn a copy to archive then edit and burn the finished product, after editing and compression (software does all this for you) 2 hours of video can fit onto a single layer DVD.
I erase the download after this after making sure I have a hard copy on DVD.
Only grizzle I have is the edit and prep time, about 3-4 times the recorded time, start to construct finished product, go fishing for weekend, come home and it's almost finished

[Slavo]

I have heard that you can get about 20 minutes of HD vid on a DVD (uncompressed), so the Blue-ray and HD-DVD discs of 30GB+ will be able to store more.
Iain, how well does the DVDs store the data over time. It is just that I read that DVDs can only last between 5-10 years unless you get good quality archive ones.

[Iain]

No idea on longevity of DVD's, haven't had them that long but do store them in a cool dark area.
I know a lot of my old floppy discs have lost info and I thought the DVD would be a safer medium.

[Slavo]

There was a couple of articles in the SMH talking about it. Whether it is 100% accurate, I'm not sure, but it might be worth checking out other forms of storage. I read somewhere else where they recommended a backup using those portable hard drives - one on site and one off-site. I'm stuffed if I know the best option but I guess I'll need to look into it sooner rather than later.