Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)

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  Thread Started By:   daywalker   On:   Tuesday 15/12/2009 @ 10:24 Show Newest First    
daywalker
Posts: 1484
London
  #1  Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 10:24
Revision #1 (Last edited: 15/12/2009 @ 10:29)
I know im a pain,

but after so many top repsonses on the DSLR thread i am realising that i simply cant afford one for my son at this time (cash is low this time of year)

so the fact that he is studing media at school, what can i get him on the camcorder front as an intro into filming that he can both, have fun with due to ease of use, keep relative qualirty when editing and is not gonna cost me a fortune???

I have always liked the MINI DV format and have never been too keen on the HDD ones?

any suggestions would be great as im not to clever on these kinds of things and really dont want to spend money on sh*te

so its between SD, DVD, Mini DV and HDD???? (Also although price is stated in the titile, i owuldbe prepared to go up a little if it made perfect sense )

oh and the pocket hand helds (some look like phones dont they not sure i like them)

cheers

Andy
I do NOT fear Death - I fear not living..........er.........and small people with very large hands!

www.bushidokaikarate.webs.com
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inactive_16115
Posts: 4226
  #2  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 10:45
Revision #3 (Last edited: 15/12/2009 @ 10:47)
In reply to post #1 ...
Mini DV is still the most versatile by far. Most pro cameras still use tape but most entry level ones are moving to other formats now because its cheaper. Best thing about tape is the storage, HDD drives are fine but you need massive storage space on your computer for all those files. Its also much easier to edit with tapes. Video shot on any of these memory card and harddrive format cameras are still a pain in the arse to deal with and almost always compressed reducing the picture quality.

It all depends on price, there are still plenty of standard mini DV cameras about and at that price range they will all be much of a muchness as far as quality of picture is concerned. The next step up is a 3CCD mini dv camera, just means it has three chips recording the pictures info (one for each of RGB) instead of the one chip doing it all in the cheaper cameras. the picture quality of much better but they cost a couple of hundred more. I picked one up on ebay last season for 160 quid ish though.

Some people swear by the new card formats but for ease of use and versatility you still cant beat tape. Also its more than likely if they are editing at college they will be using tape format still, you simply cant go wrong with it.

Oh and the pocket cameras are fine but aren't as versatile, a proper camera you can add different lenses (even the cheapest ones you can buy cheap lenses that screw on the front) which is handy you want to experiment with different techniques, something that is pretty likely at college. I got a fish eye lens for mine that screws on the front for 15 quid, you wont be abel to fit anything like that on a compact pocket camera
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daywalker
Posts: 1484
London
  #3  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 11:42
In reply to post #2 ...
cheers nick, nice feedback..

i agree on the Mini DV front...

what cam did you pick up for £160ish?? so i can see if i too could be so lucky??

dont seem to be as many (if any) lower end Mini DV cams about anymore?? i have been looking believe me.

Andy
I do NOT fear Death - I fear not living..........er.........and small people with very large hands!

www.bushidokaikarate.webs.com
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inactive_16115
Posts: 4226
  #4  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 11:47
Revision #2 (Last edited: 15/12/2009 @ 11:48)
In reply to post #3 ...
no they are fazing them out, soon consumer level models will only be disk or card format. Pro level cameras will be tape for a while yet because the amount of data for HD is huge and hard to work with using any other format.

The one i got was Panasonic but i dont remember the name, i did get quite lucky on the price though.

The camera that all the Lockdown Projects films were shot on is for sale at the moment though .....Thee and a half grand if anyone intersted haha
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Alf0nse
Posts: 1507
Somerset
  #5  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 12:29
In reply to post #4 ...
I have had a nightmare with Mini DV can't get any pc to recognise any of the various camera's I've tried

tried installin new firewire cards

gonna get a hd one in the sales

for your son doing media - think ease of use over quality, the college will have the good stuff to use - the HD footage can count as a scrapbook
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inactive_16115
Posts: 4226
  #6  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 12:41
In reply to post #5 ...
Well the cameras firewire out port is probably fu*ked
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Alf0nse
Posts: 1507
Somerset
  #7  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 12:44
In reply to post #6 ...
used different cameras and different PCs- nothing
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inactive_16115
Posts: 4226
  #8  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 12:45
In reply to post #7 ...
frade you're doing it wrong then, human error
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gyro247
Posts: 290
West Yorkshire
  #9  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 13:57
In reply to post #1 ...
I use a mini DV on my trips and connect a bullet cam to use whilst riding. Get very good quality and the bullet cam makes it so easy to use whilst on the move....just point and shoot. Having the cam and batteries in my back pack is a bit of a pain but you do get used to it, but hey its all in the name of art
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daywalker
Posts: 1484
London
  #10  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 14:21
In reply to post #9 ...
Mini DV cams form Argos clearence store??

Refurbs wiht 12 months warrenty etc.... the question is:

go for it?? / or Leave well alone??

good prices but that dont mean much of they are sh*te dioes it


Andy
I do NOT fear Death - I fear not living..........er.........and small people with very large hands!

www.bushidokaikarate.webs.com
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inactive_16115
Posts: 4226
  #11  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 14:25
In reply to post #10 ...
got a link i'll have a look at the specs?
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fatbob
Posts: 9199
Forum Mod
Nottinghamshire
  #12  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 15/12/2009 @ 21:42
My Mini DV camcorder now chews tapes. I'm looking at the handheld Sanyo ones that use SD cards. The one I'm looking at in particular is the Sanyo Xacti WH1.
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daywalker
Posts: 1484
London
  #13  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 16/12/2009 @ 01:07
In reply to post #12 ...
hey pete, didn't you have the canon MD205 once??

if yes, how did you get on with it?

Andy
I do NOT fear Death - I fear not living..........er.........and small people with very large hands!

www.bushidokaikarate.webs.com
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hutchy
Posts: 553
Canada
  #14  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 16/12/2009 @ 02:21
In reply to post #5 ...
There's much more to compare on a camera then it's storage mechanism. Both Nick and Alfonse make good points. It really does come down to how he will use it, how often and how much money you have. If you shoot a frequently then you need additional resources (time/money) to make for a viable alternative to tape. Regarding image quality generally you want to start with the least compression, again currently this is tape.

Have you looked at any SD card camera's? It is looking likely that once they reach the right price-storage point they will replace mini-dv as the preferred choice amongst enthusiasts. PC transfer is ultra quick using SD card slots, they've few moving parts which reduces the risk of component failure, they're small and light, they're getting cheaper and bigger and exchangeable amongst devices.

In this price range unfortunately i'd suggest you'll get more camera buying SD card or HDD than Mini-DV. Once you win lotto or he has more money he can then afford a better camera.

On the subject of compact camera's Nick have you seen or used any micro 4/3 camera's?
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fatbob
Posts: 9199
Forum Mod
Nottinghamshire
  #15  Re: Camcorder needed £100 - £150ish??? - (follow on from DSLR thread)  Posted 16/12/2009 @ 10:45
In reply to post #13 ...
I have a Canon MV510i. Had it for donkeys years, but it now seems to have bitten the dust.
Clicky here to donate to my London to Paris ride
Use the code LZP12 at Proskins for 10% off and 10% to Christian Aid
Love Snow
Born Extreme Quote LOVESNOW for 10% off
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