camcorder

[Nessa 23]

So i bought the one in yellow and now i'm having second thoughts. those are the ones tax free i'm considering buying:

Does anyone know anything about camcorders? I want a built in hard drive, no cds, no tapes and the one i bought is standard definition, does it make that much of a difference?

It will not be used that much. Mainly to send baby recording to my family in brazil. and in the future for a birthday, christmas, etc.

[Otto 83]

The (2) reviews on it at http://www.epinions.com/reviews/Canon_FS10...ry_SD_Camcorder sound great.

Might consider just a simple (but feature rich) digital cam - mine takes pretty good short videos - suitable for simple video - fits in my pocket and takes great pictures too. Last vacation I took more video clips than photos. (Mine is a casio exilim.)

No need for HD resolution for family photo/videos (in my opinion). Why pay for something you probably won't use.

[Nessa 23]

yeah it is very small and i checked the reviews before buying. the only negative ones were about the software, transefering files to the computer and incompatibility with windows.

[fozzie 41]

yeah it is very small and i checked the reviews before buying. the only negative ones were about the software, transefering files to the computer and incompatibility with windows.

They make things incompatible with windows? why woud they do that?

[Nessa 23]

they didnt make incompatible, just the reviewers were saying when you plug the usb it doesnt recognize.

[ThaiStyleUSA 1]

If you want something really simple and reasonable price with 30 GB hard drive, just get JVCGZ-MG330. It comes in Blue, Red, Silver. I really like mine. I got mine for under $300.

[SuperDuper! 230]

I prefer a camcorder with a flash drive, instead of hard drive. Why? Fewer moving parts that fail, and if camera dies, you just take the flash drive memory chip with you. And its easier to plug the flash drive into a PC to transfer your movies and pics.

The Canon Vixia HF100 HD is the one I got, and I love it. Great Price, too!

[Nessa 23]

so should i just keep that canon? myabe i should test drive it

[Nessa 23]

bump!

so who here has a camcorder? Can you share make, model, if there's a good software to work with the images, if you're happy with it, etc?

[Niels Bohr 72]

After getting used to high def TV, going back to Standard Def is easily noticeable. It's entirely up to you.

[DeadPoolX 9]

I have a Sony HDR-UX10 camcorder. It uses both flash media and mini-DVDs. It's High Definition (AVCHD) as well. I like having the versatility of such, since I can record to either medium and transfer video and images to one or the other. Plus, I can take photos while I'm recording.

If you're looking for a camcorder that has a built-in hard drive, you have quite a few choices. Most of those that record to HD also use flash media, as well. Sometimes that's for storing extra video or just for snapshots (which most camcorders can do nowadays).

It's rare to find a camcorder with less than 30GB, so how large you want it depends on your usage. The one point to remember is that if you're on a trip somewhere and you manage to fill the entire hard drive up, you'll have to either delete some footage or transfer it somewhere. The one advantage to external media (flash, DVD and DV tape) is that you can switch it out if full and it's relatively easy to find more to use.

The major difference between high def video and standard is overall quality. HD just looks nicer, but unless you have a TV capable of displaying HD, there's no point. HD camcorders usually have a lower maximum optical zoom than SD. That's because it'd take a much larger lens on an HD camcorder to capture a higher zoom rating than it would on SD. As an example, it's not unusual to see HD camcorders with an optical zoom of 10x to 15x, whereas SD camcorders can have 30x to 60x. Honestly, I'd imagine using a camcorder at full zoom at 60x would be damn near impossible to hold steady (at 15x it can be difficult to do).

HD camcorders are also much more expensive. Most of them are in the $800 to $1200 range. SD camcorders are generally much less, so if you're worried about cost, SD is definitely the way to go.

Whichever model you get, make sure to buy extra batteries. I know for mine there are several different types of batteries, each with a different maximum charge.

Edited April 2, 2009 by Sentinel

[*Robert* 2]

After getting used to high def TV, going back to Standard Def is easily noticeable. It's entirely up to you.

I agree... I only watch HD channels now (unless there is something else I REALLY want to watch on a regular channel), because anything else just doesn't look right.

I'm an HD junkie!!!

[Nessa 23]

ok dumb question: what's the difference between optical zoom of 10x to 15x and something like 30x up? something i've noticed with this camera i bought is that i can't zoom out enough, it's still too close.

[NickD 203]

ok dumb question: what's the difference between optical zoom of 10x to 15x and something like 30x up? something i've noticed with this camera i bought is that i can't zoom out enough, it's still too close.

You mean the difference between optical and digital zoom? Optical is the expensive kind where the resolution of the camera does not change by zooming in. Digital on the other hand is just like the zoom in feature of your computer, zoom in to close and start seeing pixels. When I look at a camera, really not that hot with high zoom in numbers, not really taking videos or photos for the CIA. What we really need is a wide angle lens. In theory, the aspect ratio of the photo does not change, you can emulate a wide angle lens simply by stepping back that extra distance. But really can't do that practically as either a wall in the way or you may drop off a thousand foot high cliff in trying to get back far enough.

Kind of a camera nut myself, but beginning to wonder about the psychological aspects of this hobby. You are living in the past kind of thing. With my last bad marriage, burnt over 4,000 slides, ex didn't want them, and I sure in the hell didn't want them, a part of history would just as soon to forget.

[Nessa 23]

and which brand is better? canon, panasonic, samsung, jvc, sony?