Need to buy new camera - help!

jasonstone

Hi everyone, what's the current verdict on cameras to buy

I want a small, relatively cheap video camera - does not have to be HD but that'd always be nice

I'm editing using iMovie on a Mac so would prefer no "funny" codecs that require 2X or 3X "tape" time to import - but ultimately I could live with this if required

Prefer SD/SDHC cards too - would prefer not to have a HD built in

Don't need to record for hours and hours in a hit - but would like to have the opportunity, e.g. with SD/SDHC cards, to extend recording time

Need wide angle as I'm filming kids inside the house more often than not - so prefer 28mm or wider

Oh and low light performance is important

Now price - well I know I can get SD/SDHC HighDef 1080 video cameras for around 800chf here in Switzerland - but I'd prefer to pay less

Hope I've not restricted myself too much here :wink

Cheers, Jase
btw my old video camera is a Sony DCR-TRV33 - here's a review of it for reference

jasonstone

hmmm ok - anyone recommend either the

Canon FS10 or HF100?

FS10 is 1/2 the price of Hf100 but HF100 is HD and has a sweet LCD

Thanks, Jason

ziggy53

I haven't been in the market for a camcorder for years but I still appreciate www.camcorderinfo.com as a source of fairly reliable information about new equipment and editing software.

I suggest reading this:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/d/Reviews&level_b=Camcorder&level_c=HD.htm

That article gives a nice overview to the different formats available and especially the hard-drive and solid-state based formats, and I believe those at the consumer level are all some form of high-definition (HD) video.

Pay special attention to the fact that editing software for the new hard-drive and solid-state based formats are often not very universal and that file formats are often problematic in a number of ways.

You definitely need a very powerful computer unless you somehow transcode the original source video.

ziggy53

jasonstone wrote:

hmmm ok - anyone recommend either the

Canon FS10 or HF100?

FS10 is 1/2 the price of Hf100 but HF100 is HD and has a sweet LCD

Thanks, Jason

HF100 review
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-Vixia-HF100-Camcorder-Review-35094.htm

FS11 review
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-FS11-Camcorder-Review-35203.htm

paulh

Canon TX1
I wanted a small still camera with good 30 fps video and a good optical zoom.

I found, have used for a year, and love the Canon TX1. The TX1 uses SD cards, has good battery life, fits in a shirt pocket, shoots 7 Megapixel stills and 720p HD video with stereo sound, and has a 10X optical zoom with image stabilization that works. It also lets you take a still image while shooting a video, and the video works very well under low light. It produces .AVI files for video.

Just after I got it, I shot the movie (link below) while riding my bicycle with a other Dads on a Sunday morning.
http://gallery.mac.com/paulhidy#100252

The Canon TX1 link is: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=144&modelid=14903

jasonstone

paulh wrote:

I wanted a small still camera with good 30 fps video and a good optical zoom.

I found, have used for a year, and love the Canon TX1.

Thanks for the info - looks good but i'm still erring towards a cheaper camcorder somehow...

I guess it's just because i take more photos and would like some nicer lenses too

Cheers, Jason

jasonstone

jasonstone wrote:

Thanks for the info - looks good but i'm still erring towards a cheaper camcorder somehow...

I caved in and just bought the Canon HF100 full HD camera - the quality of the video on the non HD was just rubbish and also the LCD was unusable - couldn't tell if you were in focus or not it was so pixelated

I just got fed up of missing stuff my kids were doing while the camcorder was broken!

Cheers, Jase