Best solution for super-portable video?

flyingpylon

I'd like to be able to carry a very small, inexpensive device for capturing short video clips to be presented on the web. I already have a DSLR, so I'm not necessarily looking for something that can shoot stills, and portability is more important than quality.

There are several inexpensive devices on the market that can shoot video:

• All in ones - video, still, mp3 player, kitchen sink, etc.
• Solid-state camcorders - such as the Pure Digital camcorder, the RCA Small Wonder, etc.
• Point n' Shoot digital cameras - almost all of them will shoot video.

So my question is this:

Are the video capabilities in any of these any better than the rest? They all appear to be capable of doing 640x480 at 30fps... are they all using essentially the same technology or are they different?

The price range I'm looking at is at or below $150 (yes, I'm being cheap intentionally).

Anyone have any experience with some of these things, and/or have any advice?

Thanks!

ziggy53

What is your application?
Do you need to record sound?
What quality are you expecting regarding image details?
What quality are you expecting regarding motion?
Will you be re-encoding?
Light levels?
Angle of view?
Macro?
etc.?

Airedrifter

http://www2.oregonscientific.com/shop/product.asp?cid=18&scid=74&pid=709

I got one of these for kayaking. I've only used it a time or two and got hohum results. Nothing worthy of uploading. But, when I get back I'll try to upload a bit video I took a couple of weeks ago.

I got it from Mountain Hardware for $89.

flyingpylon

ziggy53 wrote:

What is your application?
Do you need to record sound?
What quality are you expecting regarding image details?
What quality are you expecting regarding motion?
Will you be re-encoding?
Light levels?
Angle of view?
Macro?
etc.?

Good questions. Think YouTube-type stuff, perhaps a little better since I can host it on my own site and can control compression, etc.

I do need sound, though it doesn't have to be high quality. As an aside, I do use a minidisc recorder to make high-quality sound recordings when that's what I want.

Regarding image quality and motion, I am not expecting nor do I require miracles given my proposed budget for this. It's okay to be a little fuzzy if it still "captures the moment".

No need for macro, angle of view will be what it is. Light levels... it may be dark sometimes but I know better than to expect any real low-light performance.

Now for the actual application, I shoot photos and make sound recordings at auto racing events (some big events, some small). However, I really want to emphasize that I am in no way expecting to replicate the quality of ESPN or FOX's HD cameras, or even the type of shots they get. I just want to try to grab some very basic shots of different things around the race track. Maybe it would be racecars going by, but it just as likely could be some fans being goofy or a crew working on a car in a garage or just some general ambiance-type stuff.

I already have a decent Mini-DV camcorder (or at least it was considered decent back when I bought it) but it's not my primary focus, and it's just too big to lug around. I need something pocket-sized. And cheap. I could steal my wife's Canon SD450, but we got that so that I could have the Nikon D70 all the time and well, let's just not go there.

ziggy53

Just slightly above your price range is the Fuji FinePix F10 at $170USD. It's the only thing I would recommend for a night situation that can do both decent still and video. The audio is going to be sketchy in loud conditions, but that would be true of anything in this price range.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16830122074&ATT=30-122-074&CMP=OTC-Froogle

The other cheap quasi camera/camcorders are just not going to work well, and many of those in the $100-$150 range are much worse quality and don't have optical zoom.

Battery life could be a problem, as could video duration and video editing.

Still, I think this is the only thing I would recommend, short of the $600 range, where it gets more interesting.

Airedrifter

flyingpylon wrote:

Good questions. Think YouTube-type stuff, perhaps a little better since I can host it on my own site and can control compression, etc.

I do need sound, though it doesn't have to be high quality. As an aside, I do use a minidisc recorder to make high-quality sound recordings when that's what I want.

Regarding image quality and motion, I am not expecting nor do I require miracles given my proposed budget for this. It's okay to be a little fuzzy if it still "captures the moment".

No need for macro, angle of view will be what it is. Light levels... it may be dark sometimes but I know better than to expect any real low-light performance.

Now for the actual application, I shoot photos and make sound recordings at auto racing events (some big events, some small). However, I really want to emphasize that I am in no way expecting to replicate the quality of ESPN or FOX's HD cameras, or even the type of shots they get. I just want to try to grab some very basic shots of different things around the race track. Maybe it would be racecars going by, but it just as likely could be some fans being goofy or a crew working on a car in a garage or just some general ambiance-type stuff.

I already have a decent Mini-DV camcorder (or at least it was considered decent back when I bought it) but it's not my primary focus, and it's just too big to lug around. I need something pocket-sized. And cheap. I could steal my wife's Canon SD450, but we got that so that I could have the Nikon D70 all the time and well, let's just not go there.

I have one of the new JVC Harddrive cams the 555. But you can get last years models for smoking good deals. They are tiny, no viewfinder, just lcd screen and no tape and have pretty good video. Here's Cruchfield's link.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-9yaclOcqpUK/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=121300&I=257GZMG27&search=jvc+everio

flyingpylon

Just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions, guys. I still have some thinkin' to do....