Video Camera

bomelia · #1 (**permalink**) 09-28-2009, 11:32 PM

My wife wants a new video camera. I have not researched these in a long time. Any reccomendations? I really like the idea of 16 gb flash cards. No tape. In the past, I have been a big fan of cannon (cameras & camcorders)

I would love to find a site like dpreview.com (cameras) for camcorders.

Mike

Silverback51 · #2 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 04:49 AM

I just bought a new JVC, and I'm real happy with it.

http://camcorder.jvc.com/product.jsp...Id=171&page=10

Just last Christmas I had bought a Sony with a hard drive system. The vibration and sound of the Cobra would cause the hard drive to shut down in a self protection mode. The JVC is a Flash Drive, so that is no longer a worry.

I would make sure to avoid any cameras with a hard drive.

Ron61 · #3 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 06:18 AM

Mike,

You might try gong to PC Worlds site. They do tests and reports on all types of cameras almost every month and I was looking at my magazine at some of the video cameras they had tested. They seemed to tend to say stay away from the hard drive ones also.

Ron

tcrist · #4 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 06:43 AM

I have a Panisonic that has a hard drive and an SD card. It takes movies and still pictures and saves on which ever one that you want. The only downfall is that it does not have a flash for the still pictures.

Terry

Ron61 · #5 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 06:50 AM

Terry,

Just for my information as I have been looking at video cameras also and that was why I have been reading the PC World reports, does your flash or what would be flash stay on all the time when recording to the hard drive? I have never had a digital Video camera so I am new to this too. Also when downloading video to your computer do you need the capture card like they used to need for the tape video cameras?

Ron

Ronbo · #6 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 03:28 PM

Samsung has a SSD (solid state drive) camcorder out now.

I use a JVC GZ-MC500 that originally you had to use microdrives (CF), now that the high capacity CF's are out it really rocks. The microdrives chewed up battery life (as well as the vibration problem).

SSD is the way to go, you'll probably see more models coming out in the near future.

There will be a memory card swing very soon as well, FAT32 has a 32gb limit that is quickly becoming a problem so there will need to be a format change to NTFS or (God forbid) LINIX.

Hopefully, we won't see another fiasco like the Blu-ray / DVD-HD mess...

Ronbo · #7 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron61

Terry,

Just for my information as I have been looking at video cameras also and that was why I have been reading the PC World reports, does your flash or what would be flash stay on all the time when recording to the hard drive? I have never had a digital Video camera so I am new to this too. Also when downloading video to your computer do you need the capture card like they used to need for the tape video cameras?

Ron

You have to use a seperate light for video, camera flashes are zeon tubes that can't fire continiously. I have a small, rechargable LED light that I use with mine.

tcrist · #8 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron61

Terry,

Just for my information as I have been looking at video cameras also and that was why I have been reading the PC World reports, does your flash or what would be flash stay on all the time when recording to the hard drive? I have never had a digital Video camera so I am new to this too. Also when downloading video to your computer do you need the capture card like they used to need for the tape video cameras?

Ron

Ron,
Mine does not have a flash. It's good for outside only unless it is very bright in the house.
If you save your pictures or movies to the SD card, you can just cut/copy and paste to your computer like a regular file right through windows explorer.

As far as JVC, I will never buy another JVC product, After fighting with my TV trying to get them to fix it. 52" and it was in the shop for almost 5 months in the first year that I bought it and they would not even give me a loaner. I had to go buy a 32" from Best Buy so I could watch TV.

Terry

bomelia · #9 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 09:17 PM

As for TVs, Samsung is getting some of the highest ratings now, higher than Sony!

Ronbo, Linux is not a file system but Ext3 is (for Linux). It would not make a lot of sense to go to it since most ordinary folk use Windows systems. NTFS would make sense.

I was kind of hoping there was a camera that used both hard drive and flash memory (so I could decide on appropriate storage). I would guess that with flash memory, the manufacturer might decide to use compression with out me having a say.

I don't like things like that. But 32Gb does apear to be the current upper limit. HD video cameras would have no trouble filling that up sans the compression. I just watched a 3 hour movie (Australia) on DVD. Those hold about 4.7 Gb But that means they used a LOT of compression. So 32 Gb might sound like a lot, but compression means "lossy" and maybe I don't want lossy? Or maybe I am OK with it. In any case, having the choice between flash and harddrive is my desire.

Mike

tcrist · #10 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 09:59 PM

Mike,
The one that I have is Panasonic Model SDR-H40. It has a 40 gig hard drive and a built in SD Drive. You can use a max 2GIG SD card. It has a 42X Optical zoom. It came with the software, USB cable, AV cable, battery pack and charger.

My only issue is that it has no flash. I believe I got it on sale for around $250 about 6 months ago.

Good Hunting, Terry

EDIT, It was from Costco on line. I just checked and they do not have there now. Sorry

bomelia · #11 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcrist

Mike,
The one that I have is Panasonic Model SDR-H40. It has a 40 gig hard drive and a built in SD Drive. You can use a max 2GIG SD card. It has a 42X Optical zoom. It came with the software, USB cable, AV cable, battery pack and charger.

My only issue is that it has no flash. I believe I got it on sale for around $250 about 6 months ago.

Good Hunting, Terry

Terry, I bet the SD card is only for pictures, correct? And the 2 Gb limit seems, well, limiting? And ideal solution is one that has a hardrive and a 32 Gb flash card. As for taking pics, that's nice, but I got my eyes on a very nice Canon EOS. SLR baby! Way to go!... I saw a fellow tonight with with an EOS 50D and a very good, wide aperture telephoto taking pics without a flash at our kid's football game (we kicked sum butt BTW, but barely). The pictures were stunning and NO flash! His model did 6 frames per second. So, I want a good video camera, but its qualities as a picture taker are very low on my priority list.

Thanks!

Mike

tcrist · #12 (**permalink**) 09-29-2009, 10:46 PM

Mike,
You can set it up to still or video on HD, SD or SDHC.
After looking at the book closer it looks like it will accept up to a 2 GB SD or a 16 GB SDHC card

Terry

trularin · #13 (**permalink**) 09-30-2009, 05:30 AM

May I suggest you make a list of the things you want in the camera and then shop for those that have the features most desirable.

Then, from those names, you may be able to make a selection.

bomelia · #14 (**permalink**) 09-30-2009, 02:31 PM

I thought I did... sorry. 40X Optical zoom, I could care less about digital zoom...that is an idiotic feature. SD card and micro drive. Large (3"+) LCD. Stabilization. I care very little about picture taking. Lens aperture is important since lighting is unpredictable. Sound.

Thats why I was sishing for a dpreview.com site for video cameras.

Mike

Ronbo · #15 (**permalink**) 09-30-2009, 11:08 PM

40x optical zoom with any kind of decent low light preformance means a huge lens. (optical glass hasn't improved much over the years, or ever will)

Your pretty limited with these requirements: either JVC or Sony pro series ($$$) are about all that will manage this. Not to mention these are rather large camcorders.

For the few times you'll actually need that much zoom I'd just go with a telephoto adapter. This would mainly be outdoor stuff, so the light loss won't be a big factor. Not to mention at those zoom levels you pretty much have to use a tripod.

One thing I should mention, I hate not having a viewfinder for outdoor use. A lot of the newer camcorders don't have them and that panel is tough to use in daylight.

Sorry, I know this makes the choices that much tougher...