Need help selecting a digital video camera

[oldironcollector]

After seeing all the neat videos posted here and there I have decided to look into a digital video camera. I figured most of you who post videos own one and what better place than here to ask for advice!! I notice a great deal of difference in quality of the posted vids, don't get me wrong I like'em all but there is a noticable difference and I feel it is not an operator thing I think it is camera quality. So throw me some suggestions about what I need pleaseeee!

[Tom Sampson]

Hello oldironcollector,
I use a Canon powershot A570 for my pictures and videos. I think it works very well. I've been using it for around a year now and have had no problems. You can see some of my video's at the link below.
Happy New Year
Tom Sampson

[Craig A]

One "word" as to where you can not only get the USUALLY best price but research there as well:

www.buydig.com

I have a model C613 Kodak easyshare thats pretty dang good. I take pictures and videos with it. even though the videos part isnt exactly professional, you can see the videos i've made with mine in this very link at the bottom of my post on the other hand the pictures are very high quality. Some even "professional like" but if your new to the camera, all the adjustment are a little tricky to the first time user but you soon catch on to what you adjust to back and forth and before you know it you have a pretty good pocket sizes universal better then your average camera. A camera you'll soon be glad you had. One word of advice though. There usually "battery eaters" As a rule you may get about an hour OR 2 of battery usage if you use the camera like normal, sometimes more sometimes less But it's a great camera for photos all the same. Here is an example of some past photos i used my camera for of which you would NEVER be able to do with a standard 35mm camera. http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showth...e+shaft+repair

[ListerDiesel]

We use Sony equipment exclusively in the family (except for No2 Son who has a fuji )

Stills cameras are different animals to vidicams, but both can do the other's job with some good results.

The video camera is a Sony DCR DVD404E (the 'E' is for Europe) it uses mini-DVD discs for recording, and also has a Memory Stick socket. Each disc holds 30 minutes of video.

Stills cameras are Sony DSC-F717 and DSC-F828. Both take excellent stills and passably good videos, but if I HAD to chose between a stills or video camera, I'd probably stay with the stills machines as they are used much more frequently for general photography than the vidicam which tends to only come out for shows.

One thing to note: The Video camera takes better pictures in some circumstances than either of our stills cameras, albeit in widescreen format, so if you could only take one camera on a trip, that would possibly slant things towards the video rather than the stills camera.

Peter

[Dave R]

I like to carry just one camera for videos and stills. My present JVC puts videos on mini dv tapes and puts stills on a SD chip card. To make prints just stick the SD card in my printers slot and go. To make videos you connect the camera to your VCR or DV player and record onto tape or disc. Been fine so far but some of the cheaper cameras dont have many pixels available for stills and if you blow them up they get soft and grainy. Newer types of memory systems are available now. If I got a new camera I would look into the new hard drive or disc memory ones. The gizmo you put the mini DV tape cassets into tends to be rather fragile and the tape heads get dirty and have to be cleaned.

[flasks]

Don't get lured in by Megapixel size unless you're planing on making outdoor advertising posters. Today...any small pocket digital camera maker with pixels between 5 and 7 will be more than adequate to give you printer paper sized pictures of sharp detail and equally good videos. Just make sure the camera has video and audio capabilities which most do. A good first and all around camera with a very modest price is either the Canon or Olympus. Buy rechargeable batteries and a charger as these smaller cameras love AA's. Keep in mind also that Windows "movie maker" will automatically reduce the resolution so don't expect you're utube presentation to be theater like. Of course if you keeping these videos for your own enjoyment you may choose to keep them in the resolution you choose when you took the video. Sometimes these little works of technology can be frustrating so be patient...you'll be a professional camera man before you know it. Practice makes for perfection.

[oldironcollector]

I use a Sony 5 megapixel with a Zeiss lens for stills, it has a rechargable li-ion battery and will take short video clips, although I have never tried it. My first digital still camera was a Fuji that used AA's man you would have to buy stock in Duracell to keep that thing going , I used it for years before the Sony. I am just clueless about the digital video thing though, especially the media transfer from the camera to computer.

Thanks to all who have replied!

[ListerDiesel]

5mp is loads for most applications, and that Sony Infolithium battery system really works well for us.

I think that the Vidicam that we have is less than 5mp, probably 3mp, but still takes very good videos and stills.

We have all of our old cameras still, back to the 1.2mp Mavica FD-100, and that still gets used a lot in the factory workshop.

Peter

[Brothers Clemens]

We bought a Sony a coople of weeks ago with a hard disk in it.
Post our first video already on smokstak.
We are very exited and about it.
Wil post a lot more videos in the future with maby some back gound music.

Working on a new one this going to be a very exited one.

Maby our names change in the future to the

New Warner Brothers ------

[Ray Cardoza]

I was using a samsung for videos and pictures it was 3 mp but it was getting old and having problems still a good camera though. now i'm using a nikon cool pix camera with 8 mp and it shows quite a difference in quality of pictures and video.

[Craig A]

As far as cheap and good go......I'm all for the Canon line NOW.......even the most inexpensive ones will do probably more than you need.....no matter what you look at......DO look for an optical view finder so you aren't burning up batteries just composing your shot.
Around the shop I STILL use my old Epson 3100Z and there's nothing wrong with it.
Try to find a digital camera with an F2.0 lense! Go ahead.....look.......

But I wanted a digital SLR and bought a Nikon D40 which outputs ONLY a 6 meg image.
If you would want to get into an SLR......bear in mind that most of them to date, do NOT do video. They are about good photos......not video.

For REAL unbiased reviews there's NO better place than this: http://www.dpreview.com/

I use a Canon A460 now and then and that little thing is remarkable for any amount of money.