need to get a video camera
I'm taking a trip to Jamaica this summer, and I'd like to get a video camera. This forum was very helpful in finding me an economical solution to taking under water photos, I wanted to give it a shot with video cameras. I'd ideally like to keep the price under $500. I'm looking for best bang for the buck and ease of xfer to my computer and dvd. I'm thinking that one of the types that records to memory is the way to go so I don't have to buy mini dv tapes.
let me know what your opinion is, and links would be helpful. Thanks. BTW, I'm glad I upgraded to the premium membership. There is some great stuff in here! |
MiniDV was a great format, but it's time has more or less passed now. It always had weaknesses (4:1:1 colorspace compression in NTSC, reliance on tapes), but it served as an in-between from VHS/VHS-C/8mm to digital, for many consumers. In fact, we don't have much faith in tapes at all anymore, and consider HDV to be a self-defeating format. Again, it has a number of drawbacks (resolution cheats, reliance on tape).
Solid-state is the future, so your thinking that a camera that "records to memory" is pretty well spot-on. You can choose between internal hard drives, or solid-state cards such as P2 (professional, expensive) or SD/SDHC (consumer, inexpensive). Sony uses it's proprietary MemoryStick/MemoryDuo storage for solid-state. In my opinion -- and the opinion of many fellow videographers, editors and even mainstream video-industry magazines -- you only have two choices at the sub-$1,000 (consumer) level: Canon or Sony. These days, you're looking at HD-resolution cameras, which shoot at a full 1920x1080. The solid-state "flash memory" cameras mostly shoot to AVCHD format.
There are several Canon cameras available right now. Which one you pick is almost more of preference and exact budget:
I also want to mention that it's smart to buy a video camera to shoot video. Some P&S cameras do decent VHS-like quality, and the newer Nikon D90 and Canon 5D MkII make nice short HD clips -- but neither are acceptable for more serious videos. I strongly suggest looking at these cameras in a local store like Best Buy -- just don't buy it there. Especially don't waste your money on the "extended warranties" as cameras from Canon and Sony already come with great manufacturer warranties. After you preview in-store, shop smart, and buy online. Online you'll get the best price, get free shipping, get a tax-free purchase -- let Best Buy make a profit from some other unsuspecting sucker. Amazon.com most likely has the best prices. Once you decide which camera you're after, please use our affiliate links above (it's the same price for you, but Amazon gives us credit for the sale) or contact us for another link, just reply to this post, should you decide on a different camera model. Note that we affiliate with them because of their great reputation, service and prices. I personally would like to buy a Canon Vixia camera, or maybe a Sony, but just don't have a budget for it right now. Maybe later this year. I've only gotten to test them, play with them, and read constant glowing reviews in various video and tech trade pubs. |
is there an advantage one way or the other between using a camera with a solid state storage vs one that records to a hard drive?
How can I tell how many min's equates to how much storage? Ex. is 10 min's ~ 1Gb? |
A hard drive is moving parts, while solid-state is not. Hard drives are prone to mechanical failure, especially when in motion while be used. I'm glad that I don't have to use IBM Microdrives anymore in my pro DSLR cameras, CompactFlash is more stable for this reason.
As far as recording time, that depends on the bitrate of the video. Image quality is determined by ratio of bitrate to resolution, as well as the strength of the compression. These HD cameras largely use AVCHD as the compression standard. You can find the time information in the manuals for most of these cameras. The Canon manuals are listed on the Canon site, under the Support sections for those cameras, as PDFs in the Drivers & Downloads sub-sections. For example, on page 36 of the Canon HF10 manual, it reveals that this camera shoots 9on an 8GB SDHC card):
A mix of mid-priced cards, with mid-grade recording quality, and you could easily squeeze out hours and hours when away from home for a long time, and you want to record. Remember that you'll need a lot of hard drive space, a powerful computer for editing, and decent software. A 1TB Western Digital drive, a copy of Adobe Premiere Elements 7 (or better yet, CS4 if the budget allows), and a decent dual-core or quad-core would go a long way for a fast and pain-free editing experience. |
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