Will give proto for digital camera help

Need someone who knows his way around a digital camera who can point me to the best deal.

I need a camera that can shoot video footage of my daughter. If you think you can help shoot me an pm. Your pick of either NTSC PS2 or NTSC Xbox game prototypes (game are my pick) for helping me out.

 

Surely a digital camcorder would be a better option? I've yet to find a really good digital camera that can act as a good camcorder and vice versa.

Most digital cameras do have resonable recording but generally still do VGA or slightly better resolutions, record the sound of the zoom function if used and generally record in mono. My casio Exilim EX-Z850 is a wonderful camera but I wouldn't use the recording function for anything other then basic shots, even if the camera takes some wonderful shots.

 

Same here. I own the latest Panasonic Lumix and while it does fantastic pictures the video quality is only 640x480 with mono sound. Sure it looks nice enough but not as good as my 4 year old Sharp Viewcam. You're best buying a digital video camera that can take at least 5mega pixel shots. Photos won't be as good as a standard 5 Mega Pixel Digital camera but still good enough.

Yakumo

 

first of all what is your budget?

my suggestion is to buy a video-camera and a photo-camera. they'll give you better results, for a cheap price.

for example the canon 350d is a wonderful photo-camera one you'll never want to change, and it's selling at really low prices now...

samsung and canon have various darn cheap videocameras in mini-dv format that are selling at around 189euros/dollars. their quality is good, not excellent, but more than enough for your normal needs. only weak points are in darkness (like almost all digital cameras....)

give us more infos on your need and we can suggest better

karsten

 

Hello,

My in-laws are using this type of camera from Sanyo, it both shoots pictures and videos, they are using it to send us videos of their baby girl since we live quite far away from them and the quality is excellent.

They had one for 2 years and they are very satisified, and my father in-law owns a camera shop so he is quite aware of the good stuffs. The new models seem quite nice, there are 3 of them according to the UK website.

I used it a couple of times to make videos of everybody, it's easy to use, looks different than regular cameras but the shape is excellent when hold as a video camera.

Sabre

 

You are right a digital camcorder is what I am looking for. Hopefully one that is somewhat easy to use and takes somewhat decent footage.

I dunno $500 or so used on ebay I was hoping.

 

those mini-dv digicam are around 200 or even less NEW. for photocamera as i said, go for that canon, i have it and i'm more nad more pleased anytime i use it.

 

JVC and Sony Camcorders generally get good reviews.

A friend of mine has the equivilent of this

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11034162

And he raves about it no end. The quality for point and shoot, ie taking movies of your daughter being a mascot in a Cardiff Blues rugby game was amazing.

 

How does the mini-dvd work. Can I start and stop and go back and rerecord? Or is it akin to burning a dvd where once I start and stop thats it.

 

We bought oneof these for that very same reason...
http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=DSC-W50&site=odw_en_GB&pageType=Overview&category=DCC+Digital+Still+Cameras

Amazing peice of kit for the price (we paid around £150 GBP) and the Video Playback is really good and works great on a TV also!

 

If you use the DVD-R or DVD+R DL media then you can only record on to the disc and record into the blank areas on the disc, obviously you can't delete them.

Using DVD-RW or DVD+RW discs you can record and erase the last film you recorded, you can not delete old films but you can format the disc again.

I wouldn't recommend a DVD Camcorder as in SP mode you get 30 minutes on single layer discs and 55 minutes with dual layer discs. HQ will give you 20 and 35 minutes and LP will give you 60 minutes to 110 minutes.

Digital DV cameras will give you the best quality for price.

 

also mini-dv are friendly when making up videos, tought you'll have to recode it.

also mini-dv cassettes are CHEAP (something like 3euros for 4 60 mins ones)

 

For camcorders, I would go with JVC. Sony is also good, but sometimes it's just the name that makes it seem superior.

The one I use is an older GR-DV500U model that can take both video and digital photos. I can say that I'm very satisfied with it, though, there are some newer models on the site:
http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?productId=PRD1203000

I'm not too sure if there are some JVC models that would allow you to record to a DVD, but it's worth looking.

 

I totally agree with Mark30001 on this. JVC has always seemed better in the Camera Department in my opinion. :thumbsup:

 

I'd go with MiniDV, assuming you have a firewire port. It is better quality than mini-dvds, and the tapes are much cheaper. Of course, if you are not intending on doing any editing, then the convenience factor of mini-dvds might be worth it...

 

I own a Panasonic FZ30, it have the advantage of having a manual focus/zoom lens mode, however the 30fps/640*480 video mode is quite grainy... I have no idea if it was improved for the FZ50

So if you plan to make smooth zooms, it is okay. Most digicams and even some cheap camrecorders have very very cheap/crap/unsmooth/noisy zoom mechanism, so you can't use them to make smooth zooms, beware...

 

I've had a Sony DCR-HC32 DV Handycam for about a year and a half now and am very happy with it. It is easy to operate, has a great zoom (20x optical, 800x digital), and takes both DV tapes and memory stick duo. The still photos are not amazing, but still quite good, and the video is great. I believe I paid around your price range for it back when I bought it.

 

The camera i've been most impressed with to date that has video recording functionality is the Sony DSC-H5. Its capable of taking pics with some very vivid colors. Examples:




Its got image stabilization, But isnt the best when taking pictures at night. Not sure about its video quality though.

 

To my eyes those look either colourised or computer generated. Not real, anyway.

EDIT: I'm not trying to say they aren't real, just that they look weird.

 

Look like "HDR" photos to me, possibly that camera has a function for such?