Video Cameras

[Rancher Ed]

You guys seem to know about everything so hopefully you will be able to help. We are thinking about getting a video camera and I have no idea what to look for. What we are looking for is good videos and also we want it to record sounds well. We also want it to not be too expensive.

On the sound thing, we would want to be able to record violin recitals, singing, etc. and have it have a good quality sound track.

I have no idea how to tell if a camera will have good audio so hopefully you guys have suggestions on specific cameras or what to look for in genral.

Thanks, Ed

 

[forgeblast]

I have a flip camera, but
Cisco recently announced that it will be exiting the Flip business and support customers and partners with a transition plan. More information can be found at Cisco’s consumer website.

That being said you may be able to pick one up on the cheap, i have had zero issues with mine, and it does a great little job. You can carry it in your pocket and is youtube ready.

 

[2manyrocks]

I bought a refurb Canon Vixia HF200 for about $400. It uses SDHC cards which make uploading to your PC fairly painless. It also has a 1/8 external mic input and automatic or manual audio metering. I use it to record performances by a children's choir and run a line off the soundboard into the camera. The audio and the video are good. This really cuts down on the coughing, baby crying, and misc. audience noise if you capture audio off the soundboard instead of using the mic on the camera.

Not too many video cameras have external mic inputs these days.

 

[KennyG]

Above post is good. The Canon Vixia series is good quality, very easy to use. We have one for church use and everyone gets good results.

Sound can be difficult with any hand held video camera, but external mike can help a lot if you want to go to the trouble.

Whatever you decide, make sure you go with full HD capability and flash card recording. I'm in the market for a new camera, but I have always found I get better results with a viewfinder (In addition to the flip out screen) because I get steadier video and can avoid the glare problems outside, but that feature now moves the price point way up.

 

[Code54]

Good advise - make sure you get a mic port, on board mics will not provide good audio. You will want to have an ext Mic to the center of your sound source and run directly to the camera.
Good luck

 

[Code54]

Good advise - make sure you get a mic port, on board mics will not provide good audio. You will want to have an ext Mic to the center of your sound source and run directly to the camera.
Good luck

 

[Rancher Ed]

Thanks guys. Sounds like none of them are going to have a good built in mic so just make sure it has a mic port to plug an external mic into? (or the sound board if stuff is already miked)
No doubt we would get one that uses the SDHC cards and it sounds like a mic port also goes on the must have list.

KennyG, I don't know anything about video cameras, what is a viewfinder?

Thanks again guys,
Ed

 

[KennyG]

It used to be that all video and still cameras had a small window on the back that you look through while filming/shooting to compose the image. With the low cost of LCD display panels, most video cameras now just have the flip out 2 or 3 inch screen that you use to watch what you a filming.

This is all fine except that if you are outside with the sun behind you, you won't be able to see much in the screen. A viewfinder solves this. The other issue (which may just be my problem) is that when you use the screen, you are holding the camera out a foot or more from your body, so it tends to move a lot. With the viewfinder, you can hold it against your forehead, which is much steadier.

The downside is that cameras with viewfinders tend to start in price at $600 to $800.

The in camera microphones are pretty good considering how small, cheap and badly located they are. :confused2: There's nothing worse than trying to film a performance and picking up stray conversations, footsteps, etc.

 

[JakeBrake]

We have a Cannon ELURA 100. It Has a 20X optical and an 800X digital zoom. It uses both a mini-cassette and an SD card. You can use either one for video or still photos. We usually use the cassette for video and the SD card for still photos. It has both a viewfinder and a flipout viewer. We have used it to record church services with good results. You have to be careful with the mike because it will pick up your breathing and perhaps other sounds that you may not want to record for posterity.

For things like church services and violin recitals, you will need a good tripod and a remote control. Our ELURA came with both.

We download to an older PC running Windows XP Professional to make DVD's for video's or to CD's for still photo's.

 

[Rancher Ed]

Thanks KennyG, that makes a lot of sense. My camera has one and it is very nice when it is sunny, I just never knew what it was called.

The Canon VIXIA HF S30 looks really nice. Has a viewfinder, mic port, an optional 5.1-Channel Surround Microphone that mounts on top of the camcorder that looks very nice, etc. but cost ~$1,000.

The Canon HF M301 (Costcos version of the VIXIA HF M300) on the other hand, doesn't have a viewfinder but has all the other things the HF S30 has and only cost ~$350.

Everyone is recomending canon, what other brands should I look at?

Ed

 

[KennyG]

To me, the two other big names in camcorders are Sony and JVC. However, you will still find very limited viewfinder availability. Maybe it's just my personal quirk, since there doesn't seem to be much demand for that feature. Canon just came out with the HF-M41 which has the viewfinder and a price of about $800. If you can do without the viewfinder, there are some great deals on the last version of the HF-M series right now. The new ones are HF-M4x but the older ones are very similar and are numbered HF-M3x. About the only criticism I've seen of these cameras is that some people think the touch screen menus are too complicated.

I have had great luck buying from B&H Photo (B&H Photo Video Digital Cameras, Photography, Camcorders) over the years. The currently have $200 to $400 discounts on the older series of camcorders.

 

[srossman]

cnet is another place to look at for camera reviews. I got up a panasonic HDC-xx700 (tm or hs) which was under 800.00. It was one of the few HD cameras that I found that would do true HD 1080p. It also had both the viewfinder and side lcd screen on it.

 

[KennyG]

Good point on checking for true HD 1080 capability. Most of the newer Canon models have that, and, in addition, they have a feature that allows them to output either 1080 or 720 on playback. Sounds odd, but that allows you to export to computer or DVD writer directly at 720 if you are making DVD (not blu-ray) which will save hours in writing to a standard DVD.

 

[2manyrocks]

KennyG's post reminded me that the other factor to consider is how much your computer can handle when it comes to editing video. I'm not so knowledgeable about this part of it, but my general impression is that it takes a pretty powerful PC to edit higher definition video.

 

[forgeblast]

I forgot to mention, sign up for Newegg.com's e-flyer they have some great deals in these and you may be able to snag something for a steal. I have used them for cameras, computers, computer parts, portable dvd player (when flying cross country with a 2 yo). everything was delivered fast and I am very happy with them.

 

[Rancher Ed]

Wow, there are a lot of cameras to look at. I still don't know for sure if we will get one but I now have a pretty good idea what to look for (I think).

I hadn't thought about editing the videos and what the computer can handle. Our computer has windows 7 and an AMD anthon II x2 processer but I have no idea what this will handle editing wise.

Ed

 

[2manyrocks]

Add video software to your list to think about as well.

I made a mistake last week while recording a piano recital. I relied on the camera's sound level meter to set the recording levels. Well, I didn't notice that the output on the sound system's board was cranked all the way up, and the automatic circuit on the camera just clipped the signal. It wasn't shown as distorted on the camera's meter, but the audio was awful when I replayed it.

Moral of story--test runs are important to make sure you're getting what you think you're getting.