Camera

Mouse · Postby **Mouse** » 29 May 2007, 14:39

My old camcorder copped out on me. I NEED a new one to film this summer. I would like something a little more...sturdy. And perhaps also that translates better onto larger screens. Any suggestions?

PS: I'm poor.

jtaylor · Postby **jtaylor** » 29 May 2007, 14:47

Slightly used camcorder from place such as the ebay?

Mouse · Postby **Mouse** » 29 May 2007, 15:05

jtaylor wrote:Slightly used camcorder from place such as the ebay?

Uh, yes. That's where I was headed. Perhaps I didn't make myself clear: I was wondering also at what kind of camcorder people might suggest

Alja-Markir · Postby **Alja-Markir** » 29 May 2007, 15:13

Mouse, I would recommend using Newegg.com instead. I go to them for most electronics. They're useful because they're cheap, they ship efficiently, they gaurantee items, they have a huge selection, and they also have one more really useful feature:

Each and every item listing can be and likely has been commented on by previous buyers. You can read the comments and find out what other people thought, and from that figure out if it's worth your time. No sketchy E-bay sellers (Liek new! Srsly!), you know exactly what you buy and exactly what people think about the product.

So for example I bought a pair of new headphones. I was looking at about five different headphones, but reading the comments narrowed it down to the two that weren't way flimsier than they looked. From those two I read the comments and found out one was large and comfortable (I have a big head) with a silly force feedback system (which could be disabled, while the other one was cheaper but smaller and people reported poor sound quality. So I went with the first.

Anywho, I'm gonna browse Newegg for ya and see if I can't spot some camcorders I might buy, and let you know what I find.

Edit: How poor are we talking? Also, digital camcorder, or would analog do? I'm not seeing many new digital camcorders for less than $200+ USD. Although the ones I am seeing for that kind of money are pretty decent looking.

~Alja-Markir~

Captain_Anarchy · Postby **Captain_Anarchy** » 29 May 2007, 15:56

That's all well and good if you live in the states. That site doesn't ship to anywhere else. If it did, with exchange rate and shipping, it turns out to be basically the same price as buying stuff here.

Per Mouse's question, I would suggest staying away from the DVD camcorders if you like to edit, they tend to just be more annoying than useful.

The Happy Friar · Postby **The Happy Friar** » 29 May 2007, 16:34

get a MiniDV one.

3CCD if you can, those are MUCH better then the 1CCD ones but cost more.

b&h in NYC are good. www.bhphotovideo.com

I used them to get my current camera.

but give a price & recommendations come a flowing.

Alja-Markir · Postby **Alja-Markir** » 29 May 2007, 16:37

They only ship in the US eh? Hmm. Well, I'll have to remember that. I was hoping to move back to Perth in a few years...

~Alja-Markir~

jtaylor · Postby **jtaylor** » 29 May 2007, 17:29

I would recommend one with an internal hard drive.
I haven't owned a video camera, so I'm not much help, but a hard drive seems much easier than tapes or discs. Or perhaps one that uses flash memory cards for storage.

Actually, I just saw this which is less than $300
Product page here
You also might want to check out the Sanyo Xacti

The Happy Friar · Postby **The Happy Friar** » 30 May 2007, 06:05

it's easier, but you must delete things to get more space (a duh in two respects), it's normally mpeg4 & the quality normally isn't up there with DV.

Same issues with DVD camcorders. They're great for recording but not for editing.

Unless you're talking a really high end HDV or DV camera that records HDV or DV to a hard drive. Then those are damn fine pieces of equipment. If you can afford one.

Paul · Postby **Paul** » 30 May 2007, 07:35

1. MiniDV is the way to go. It is the standard and will probably be for at least a few more years. They are easy to find, relatively inexpensive and compatible with all editing programs.

2. Make sure the camera has an external mic jack. All built in microphones suck because they pickup to noise of the camera operating. If you want to do anything above "home movie" quality, you are going to want to use an external mic. For some reason this is not stardard on many low end cameras.

Other then that, there isn't really that much difference in the low end cameras, get whatever is cheap. CNet has pretty good camera reviews. Nightshot is handy sometimes and widescreen mode is also cool. 3 chip is sweet but will probably be out of your price range.

Mouse · Postby **Mouse** » 30 May 2007, 08:17

Alja-Markir wrote:
Edit: How poor are we talking? Also, digital camcorder, or would analog do? I'm not seeing many new digital camcorders for less than $200+ USD. Although the ones I am seeing for that kind of money are pretty decent looking.

Poor=a little over 300 dollars (hopefully more soon). I was seriously thinking of Craigslist and/or pawnshops, but I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted (or what was good), so I thought to ask here.

Also, at Paul's comment: I do so need a boom mic with the little fluffy cover to cut down on the wind on the audio (that's a terrible issue with the Porridgers).

emma · Postby **emma** » 30 May 2007, 08:28

I'm buying a camera at the end of the summer when I've made money. SO EXCITED ^_^

I will definitely resurrect this thread then. Just warning you.... =P

The Happy Friar · Postby **The Happy Friar** » 30 May 2007, 08:33

Paul wrote:2. Make sure the camera has an external mic jack. All built in microphones suck because they pickup to noise of the camera operating. If you want to do anything above "home movie" quality, you are going to want to use an external mic. For some reason this is not stardard on many low end cameras.

30000000% agree! When I bought my camera, I check for top loading (so if I used a tripod I didn't need to remove the camera) AV in (to copy from analog to DV but not an issue as I ended up buying a PyroAV Link anyways), took photos (in case I didn't have my digital camera handy)... got everything but FORGOT about the mic jack. Biggest mistake ever, and I didn't realize until 3 months AFTER I bought the camera & went to plug my mic in.

Paul · Postby **Paul** » 30 May 2007, 12:38

Might want to look at the Canon ZR800. I don't know about the video quality but it is one of the cheapest that has the external mic jack.

Mouse · Postby **Mouse** » 31 May 2007, 11:46

3mm4 wrote:I'm buying a camera at the end of the summer when I've made money. SO EXCITED ^_^

I will definitely resurrect this thread then. Just warning you.... =P

*shrugs* Go for it.

Mouse · Postby **Mouse** » 31 May 2007, 11:48

Paul wrote:Might want to look at the Canon ZR800. I don't know about the video quality but it is one of the cheapest that has the external mic jack.

Actually, I've always had a much easier time with camera that wasn't miniDV, so I'm actually looking for a tape loading one, its really so much easier (for me) and its what I had before (8mm tapes). And I already know the basic concept.

Paul · Postby **Paul** » 31 May 2007, 14:26

8mm or Hi8 is going to be much worse quality then MiniDV. Plus you won't be able to transfer it to a computer to edit (unless you buy a separate analog - DV converter). Since miniDV is a cassette technology just like 8mm, it should be pretty much the same from an operational standpoint.

Mouse · Postby **Mouse** » 01 Jun 2007, 06:26

Paul wrote:8mm or Hi8 is going to be much worse quality then MiniDV. Plus you won't be able to transfer it to a computer to edit (unless you buy a separate analog - DV converter). Since miniDV is a cassette technology just like 8mm, it should be pretty much the same from an operational standpoint.

True, and I already have all the junk to edit with and so on for Hi8. But I've worked with miniDV before and found it incredibly frustrating. I'll look in to it further, but I think I might stick to what I know.

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