video camera recommendations

Hi, that's an open-ended question without a budget... I mean, for all
your high definition slow-mo 16x9 needs a PanasonicHVX200 and a MacG5
with Avid studio would work well if you happen to have um, US$15,000
lying around 🙂

Are there any specific models you've got your eye on yet?

Any Pana, Canon or Sony will be great, it depends what you're after. If
you get a half good software package you shouldn't need any of the
gimmicky post process "features" like, "sepia" or "mosaic". One
question you might wanna ask yourself is "do I want good night vision
and/or good low light performance?". Sony generally wins for
nightvision (but seriously, no night vision will give a professional
look).

For good low light (and improved overall picture) you want the CCD(s)
to be as large as possible... 1/6" is pretty normal for a crappy little
Sony handycam whereas 1/2" will give a luxurious broadcast quality feel
every time, I'm guessing you'll be aiming for 1/4" or bigger.

Also, are you the sorta guy who likes to have control over every aspect
of the picture or are you more a "throw it on auto, point and shoot"
type where perhaps just a small easy to carry DV cam will do fine?

note for if you're interested in knowing more about CCDs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ccd

--
pete66
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pete66 said:

Hi, that's an open-ended question without a budget... I mean, for all
your high definition slow-mo 16x9 needs a PanasonicHVX200 and a MacG5
with Avid studio would work well if you happen to have um, US$15,000
lying around 🙂

Are there any specific models you've got your eye on yet?

Any Pana, Canon or Sony will be great, it depends what you're after. If
you get a half good software package you shouldn't need any of the
gimmicky post process "features" like, "sepia" or "mosaic". One
question you might wanna ask yourself is "do I want good night vision
and/or good low light performance?". Sony generally wins for
nightvision (but seriously, no night vision will give a professional
look - no offense to Miss Hilton intended).

For good low light (and improved overall picture) you want the CCD(s)
to be as large as possible... 1/6" is pretty normal for a crappy little
Sony handycam whereas 1/2" will give a luxurious broadcast quality feel
every time, I'm guessing you'll be aiming for 1/4" or bigger.

Also, are you the sorta guy who likes to have control over every aspect
of the picture or are you more a "throw it on auto, point and shoot"
type where perhaps just a small easy to carry DV cam will do fine?

note for if you're interested in knowing more about CCDs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ccd

That is some great, helpful info! While I'm surly not about to spend
$15k, or even $1,000 on a videocam, I am looking at something in the
$300-500 bracket. I know that won't buy the best equipment, but I
really only need to shoot some basic stuff so I can watch my progress
and even use it as a learning tool; I have identified a few fundemental
mistakes simply by reviewing tapes of my riding. And it seems that what
really can make or break a great looking video, is the editing and
music bed, even if the video isn't of "Cinematic" quality.

--
terrybigwheel

Impotence: Nature's Way Of Saying "No Hard Feelings".

Uni is just a cycle I'm going through. 😎

You -can- "Tune a fish". You simply adjust their "scales"! 😄
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I personally have a Sony DCR-TRV460. It is a couple of years old but it
was in your price range, maybe take a look at the current model of it.
A few of the nice features it has is that it can record video to the
Digital8 tapes or a Sony memory stick, stills (not super quality) are
saved to the memory card either durring tape recording or
independently, and the night shot works pretty well. It is a little
large for some people's taste but works well for me.

--
fastlane62
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fastlane62 said:

I personally have a Sony DCR-TRV460. It is a couple of years old but it
was in your price range, maybe take a look at the current model of it.
A few of the nice features it has is that it can record video to the
Digital8 tapes or a Sony memory stick, stills (not super quality) are
saved to the memory card either durring tape recording or
independently, and the night shot works pretty well. It is a little
large for some people's taste but works well for me.

I'd say mini-dv is better than digital8 because it's more standard,
it's what most other people will have if you ever want to swap tapes,
and less likely to stop being supported, it's also smaller, so cameras
are smaller. There's not masses of difference in cost now. I've got a
Sony MiniDV camera that is similar to that at work, it's nice, although
like you say not as tiny as some of the cameras out there.

Joe

--
joemarshall

my pics http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albuq44
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terrible said:

I'm quickly outgrowing my Sony Mavica digital camera.

I HATE THE SONY MAVICA CAMERA! It was expensive, poor in anything less
than bright light, and often lost data on the floppy disk.

Thanks for letting get that out. Good luck with you next camera.

--
Chrashing

Regards,___________If the sun is shinning I want to be riding.
Ken
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joemarshall said:

I'd say mini-dv is better than digital8 because it's more standard, it's
what most other people will have if you ever want to swap tapes, and
less likely to stop being supported,

Joe

I concur. I am now filming in HDV which also still uses these tapes.

I'm a big fan of Sony, they have a very user-friendly interface.

ask around at www.videouniversity.com (the unicyclist.com of the video
world)

--
Brian MacKenzie

'Training Wheel Not Required DVD - New 6min short as seen on
www.unicycle.tv' (http://www.LBMmultimedia.com/videos/TWNR_uniTV.wmv)
All proceeds from TWNR go directly into my next movie due for release
Sept 1 2006
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Chrashing said:

I HATE THE SONY MAVICA CAMERA! (Originally Posted by terrible)

Did you "change" my name to "Terrible" for a particular reason? (as in
your quote above) Did my post(s) offend you in some way? Or was it
really meant to descibe your opinion (which is pretty clear) of the
Sony Mavica? Just curious.🙂

--
terrybigwheel

Impotence: Nature's Way Of Saying "No Hard Feelings".

Uni is just a cycle I'm going through. 😎

You -can- "Tune a fish". You simply adjust their "scales"! 😄
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terrybigwheel said:

Did you "change" my name to "Terrible" for a particular reason? (as in
your quote above) Did my post(s) offend you in some way? Or was it
really meant to describe your opinion (which is pretty clear) of the
Sony Mavica? Just curious.🙂

Ha! It took me a minute to figure out what happened.

Sorry, the spelling checker program thought 'terrybigwheel' should be
correctly spelled 'terrible'. I did not even notice that I let that
happen.

You are great, and I'm sloppy. 🙂

--
Chrashing

Regards,___________If the sun is shinning I want to be riding.
Ken
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I have a Canon Optura 40, which is a higher-end point and shoot camera
(as far as I know. Maybe I'm wrong)

It's really nice for me, the only problem is the microphone, which is
somewhat bad. It's hard to get a good microphone on a low end camera
though, and it has a shoe for a shotgun mic, so you could presumably
put a nice microphone on it.

--
Fuego

morons everywhere said:

Get off my Property before you sue me!

James_Potter said:

you'll end up on CNN, with the headline, Unicyclist Beaten to Death by
Policemen...it'll be sweet.

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my panasonic is good for the cash $350-ish and a pv-gs39.
'look here. ' (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/) they have tons of reviews
and stuff, including a "best for under $X" page which is what i used to
find mine. it's the best under $400.

--
markf

stuck in iowa and gainfully employed.
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