Video-camera:What should I get?

Hi,

Digital video camera shopping is definitely the sort of
thing that can confuse you when you don't know what you're
getting. I wonder how many cams out there can take a good
fall off a unicycle without breaking?... don't tell the
insurance company what you're using it for!

Firstly, the "400x digital hyper zoom" labels on the side
don't guarantee that they're 20 times better than the "20x
zoom" models! When it comes to zooming, judge the camera
only on the "Optical Zoom" specs. Optical zoom is how far it
can zoom without loss of quality.

You shouldn't have too many problems grabbing stuff off VHS
tapes, all you do is hook your new video camera up to your
VCRs video out, audio out connections, press play on the VCR
and then record on your camera.

Choose carefully what size tapes you want your video camera
to take, the 2 main options are "miniDV" and the slightly
older but by no means extinct "digital-8". I guess if you're
doing uni stuff then you're going to want the smallest
camera possible which would probably take miniDVs. Get one
with "digital-8" if you want backwards compatibility to 8mm
and hi-8 tapes.

Look out though, because the smaller the camera, the
more "camera shake" you're going to experience. Consider
using a tripod.

There's also "micro MV" tapes out there but I haven't used
them, I guess they're... small.

Other stuff I'd look out for:
- Flip-out view finder thingy (I think most of them
have this)
- Decent battery life
- Firewire capable. I use this stuff constantly and it's
handy because it's fast as hell and lets you control the
video camera from your PC when capturing. I think that
in the "digital camera world", they ususally call this
kind of thing a "DV port", or another name for it is
"IEEE 1394".

I wouldn't worry too much bout special features like built
in special fx because you should really be doing all that
stuff in the editing studio, not on the camera itself.

Would you want it to have nightvision?

I can't think of anything else right now, Have fun

Pete

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pete66 said:

*You shouldn't have too many problems grabbing stuff off
VHS tapes, all you do is hook your new video camera up to
your VCRs video out, audio out connections, press play on
the VCR and then record on your camera. *

This is true in the US. In the UK, dv cams with a video
input are more expensive due to some bizarre law about video
recorders.

pete66 wrote:*

Quoted message said:

- Firewire capable. I use this stuff constantly and it's
handy because it's fast as hell and lets you control the
video camera from your PC when capturing. I think that
in the "digital camera world", they ususally call this
kind of thing a "DV port", or another name for it is
"IEEE 1394". *

On Sony's its called an I-link port I think. Whatever, the
shop you buy it from will tell you whether it has firewire
support. Pete is right though, you totally want firewire.

You'll need a firewire card for your computer unless its a
newish PC or a Mac.

If the video camera has analog input, you can buy a
lipstick camera which is a good way to do filming whilst
on the unicycle. This is a tiny little camera that plugs
in on a long wire to the analog input of the camera. You
can then bung the dv recorder in your rucksack and clip
the lipstick camera onto your helmet to get a view from
the camera. You might want to save a bit of money on the
camera to get one of these.

Joe

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joemarshall - dumb blonde
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