With the coming mini-Adcadet (
http://www.storageforum.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7915), I need to get my digital imaging life in order. My wife has a Digital Rebel XT and we're pretty happy with it. I see no reason to replace it. She's an intermediate shooter, while I'm still very point-and-shoot.
We very much want a camcorder, but we know nothing about shooting video. Something that could also shoot decent stills would be nice if possible. We'd like to go with a cheaper model, but I suppose we could afford something more expensive. I'd love a very compact model, but I have no idea how to balance features, price, and size. Anybody have experience with the Kodak Zi8?
And finally, I'd like a simple, cheap, small point-n-shoot that's better than my iPhone's camera. Perhaps a very portable camcorder could double as my simple camera. Anybody have suggestions or thoughts?
Forget about a PnS still camera if you want video (unless ur willing to spend $1500 for the Panny GH-1 4/3rds system). Go with a dedicated camcorder, not that consumer/prosumer camcorders are anywhere near as capable/easy to use in the experienced hands as real entry level pro camcorders >$3,500. Pro level camcorders have very smooth rocker switch zoom levers that have variable/adjustable zoom speed, can't get that in a consumer camcorder, so go with whatever you find is easiest to control when you demo them. Best drag your wife along too for consensus opinion
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Unless u only intend to keep the images for a short time period, you'll want the *best* optical image stabliization you can get. Go into a BestBuy or like store and *use* the demo models to get a feel for them. If u have plenty of time, then you can read up on the functions of a particular model before demoing them. Always better if you can use a tripod, but most consumers don't...so beware of the Blair Witchcraft phenomena
. I just tried a higher end consumer Sony XR-500, at zoom end of the optical range, OIS did not smooth out a shaky hand very well. If you ever intend to do outdoor vid capture, it's always better to have the option of a electronic viewfinder (EVF) because LCD screens washout in bright sunlight. Only problem is few consumer camcorders have EVF's these days
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Go with HD, even 720p is *much* better in the long run compared to SD images...again, assuming you'll be keeping the footage as archival material a decade or so down the road.
Can never have enough practice, assuming you're going to want to do a vid of the actual delivery
, practice before that happens, practice as much as you can.
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Camcorderinfo-com-Select-Awards-2009-37268.htm
^also look @last years top picks...which is all Chewy had to choose from, many of those models are still available, and while somewhat less capable, might be found at lower prices...perhaps a flash card memory, higher end model, recently discontinued?
*very* few camcorders allow wide-angle video (behind the times, unlike video capable PnS digicams, a number of which you can get at least 28mm film equivalent wide-angle), you might consider that a priority. The a few higher end Sanyo allow a screw on, wide-angle adapter; not as good as true wide-angle zoom lens, but better than nothing to get the shots you want.
The pistol style Sanyo's are best bang 4 buck, but supposedly lousy UI, kind of like Windoze compared to Mac OS X, so that shouldn't be an impediment 4 u
. Same price range as the Flip/Kodak, read the reviews and decide 4 yourself.
http://provideocoalition.com/index....where_no_consumer_camcorder_has_ever_gone_be/
VPC-HD2000A footage shot by Jorge González of Acquest Multimedia
See the video page to see 720p footage shot with the VPC-HD2000A from your computer. If you are reading this on your iPhone,
tap here to see an iPhone optimized version of the same video.
Many readers will recall that Jorge González of
Acquest Multimedia in Miami had purchased, tested, and then returned a
Kodak Zi8. You will recall that Jorge’s main HD camera is currently a Panasonic AG-HPX500, which you may know is a 2/3” model which lists for US$14,000 without lens.
Jorge had purchased the Kodak Zi8 mainly for his wife, but returned it because of poor stabilization and poor minimum distance with its fixed-focus lens. After returning the Zi8 to Kodak, Jorge read my article called
Apple & Sanyo embrace new homophonic video format: iFrame. After reading that article, Jorge became intrigued by the Sanyo VPC-HD2000A, but not because of the homophonic iFrame mode, but because of the 1080p59.94 mode. However, since Jorge knew that the above video was for the web, he shot it it 720p29.97, edited the footage using the new ProRes422LT códec, and gave me the master in that códec. I then determined the TOQ (Threshold of quality) using
DVKitchen’s SampleLab and then encoded H.264 and embedded into a Flash player for the web. In this case, the TOQ for this footage turned out to be 3600kilobits per second, due to the extremely fine detail in the trees. Since some of you will also want to see the camera’s performance in 1080p59.94,
here’s a link to download raw footage in that format. According to the QuickTime Player’s Inspector, these clips were encoded by the camera a little over 24 megabits per second.
Pros
In my opinion (and Jorge’s), the Sanyo VPC-HD2000A produces impressive HD images if you shoot in any of the progressive HD modes. It is one of the best
consumer HD cameras under US$1,000 that we have seen to date. Jorge decided to keep this one for his wife, and his whole family is happy. He just ordered a wide-angle adapter for it.
^the VPC-HD2000A may have industry leading 1080p/60fps..but it uses electronic image stabilization, which is never as good as optical.
on Camcorderinfo.com the reader feedback mentions a site, IIRC something like "vimeo" (read comments on the VPC-HD2000A) where users post up vids for comparisons purposes. You can get an idea, somewhat, of image quality from reading up on those forums.
Buy something now that ur comfortable with, knowing that camcorders are more of less about like what still PnS digicams were 3-5yrs ago, room for much improvement< especially expect wider-angle lenses to follow PnS digicams. I expect something much more capable in your price range will become available in 2-5yrs for which you'll then want to retire your current model for...IMHO.
I'm pretty much in the same boat (sans child coming) as far as interest in camcorder, but there are so many compromises, including easy editing software, even on the Mac side, I"m kind of paralyzed as what to choose...basically they all suck for what I want to acheive. Red Scarlet (1H 2010) 3k res, pro level; ~$4k *large* palmcorder is what I'd like to have, closest to what I want. But even there, it's way too large/heavy...and of course, far too expensive
