anyone buy a video camera lately?

i'd like something as close to "tv quality" - but really not sure if 1000 bucks is enough for that. got virtually no experience with these things, so would appreciate suggestions

1/5/2010 8:11:47 AM

do you need super duper low light performance? if not, how about a ~$400-500 Canon Vixia HF100

check it out on amazon and youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6KI8eyc-G4 (may have added grain to this vid)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bptOhfXQQjE

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 11:06 AM. Reason : ]

1/5/2010 11:05:35 AM

what exactly do you want to do with it? And what do you mean by "tv quality?"

1/5/2010 12:52:20 PM

remember the days before HD and torrents noted as [tv quality] were absolute crap?

1/5/2010 1:02:52 PM

oh, you just needed some HD vision glasses..duh

1/5/2010 3:16:38 PM

Quote :

"what exactly do you want to do with it? And what do you mean by "tv quality?""

i'm working on making some technical training videos for my work, exactly. and by tv quality, i dont want it to look like a youtube video... i want it to look like something on television.

1/5/2010 8:08:17 PM

Isn't that as simple as adjusting the gama setting for the recording?

1/5/2010 9:24:51 PM

so picture quality or production quality? resolution isn't a major issue, and at far less than $1000.

if you're talking about production value, i would go with a less expensive camera, a tripod and some cheap lights and microphones. Resolution-wise, most cameras are going to be fine. What you're going to have a tough time doing, especially if you don't have much experience, is getting that polished look/feel.

Cameras don't pick up light like the human eye, proper lighting will make a huge difference. Do you know how to frame shots (2-shot, bust shot, over-the-shoulder shot, etc.)? Pans, tilts, trucks, zoom and when to use each, and how to do so if it's just you and a camera? Microphones that are built into cameras usually aren't that good (not tv quality anyhow).

At the end of the day, it's not all that complicated. You can read and figure all that out. But buying a nice camera alone is not going to provide "tv quality" in that sense.

So i guess the question is; are you just worried about image quality, or is it that you want it to have a more "polished" look?

1/5/2010 9:26:16 PM

Quote :

"Isn't that as simple as adjusting the gama setting for the recording?"

is it? i don't know anything about video... which is why i'm asking for suggestions.

Quote :

"So i guess the question is; are you just worried about image quality, or is it that you want it to have a more "polished" look?"

actually, i'm kinda looking for a combination of both there.... but it doesn't matter to me if the editing looks homemade as long as the picture is good - so image quality. your post got me thinking more about what exactly i mean when i say TV quality, and i think i'm actually talking about that crisp widescreen look. which is probably a production thing. i just need a good camera

also, to quickly address a couple of other things that you said: i definitely don't have to spend a grand, it's just that important that we would spend that much. if i can get out for 500, that'd be great too... then maybe i could pay some college kid studying film to put it all together

and, i do plan on doing voice-over when needed, not gonna talk through the connected microphone.

1/5/2010 11:46:25 PM

Get a Cannon 7D DSLR. Its more than $1k but you get a kickass DSLR that takes great HD video.

My cousin who is a professional photographer has one and its is fan freaking tastic.

1/5/2010 11:58:55 PM

^or the comparable Canon T1i, it shoots 1080p video as well.

1/6/2010 12:21:48 AM

gotcha. I would definitely go with something that was made with the intention of being a video camera over a still camera that takes video.

Is format important? I prefer hdv to a hard drive. but there are a lot of benefits to a hard drive... how fast you can transfer files, ease of accessing scenes, storage capacity, etc.

What software do you think you'll be using to edit the video? Some versions of some software won't work with certain cameras (well, the format they record in).

This site could be a good start: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

If you're willing to go with hdv (which is tape), check out the canon hv30 or 40. The 30 is last yrs model and you should be able to find it for around $500. The 40 is usually closer to 900, but i've seen them for around 700. One of the big differences is that the 40 records directly in 24p, if that's important to you at all.

You should be able to google or go to youtube and find video shot on those cameras.

1/6/2010 2:01:12 AM

I prefer Panasonic gear, but in the 500-600$ range Canon is the way to go. HV30/40 and HF200/20 are great cameras. AVCHD is a wonderful codec and they take decent stills.

I'd shy away from tape media and go with solid state.

Vimeo is one of the better sources for seeing video footage from varying camera models.

1/6/2010 10:46:10 AM

i agree with greeches regarding panasonic. if you're willing to go closer to 8-900, look at panasonic. I would say panasonic > canon > sony generally speaking.

Any yeah, tape is just my personal preference/bias. In honesty, hdd or flash would probably be better for you.

And regarding the hv30/40, I've only used the hv30 and the only big difference i know of between the 30 and 40 is that the 40 can record directly in 24p. I'm sure there are other subtle differences, but I'm not certain they're worth the extra $200-300 for you. greeches may know more about the differences.

1/6/2010 12:56:57 PM

if you want to go with canon, i got the canon hf20 recently for approx $600 and absolutely love it. the picture looks really amazing during playback on our hdtv, especially in well lit situations (as expected)

i picked the hf20 over the hf200 for the internal memory (32GB vs 0), and you can still use a large SD card if needed

fwiw, my previous experience was with an old canon mini DV camcorder, so anything HD would look pretty great i guess, but it was still even better than i expected

1/6/2010 2:42:25 PM

Quote :

"gotcha. I would definitely go with something that was made with the intention of being a video camera over a still camera that takes video."

why? the video quality is probably much higher with a DSLR since they have much better sensors and glass.... the only benefit of a video camera that i could think of would be video length and amount of storage.

HF20 is nice though

[Edited on January 6, 2010 at 3:19 PM. Reason : .]

1/6/2010 3:11:11 PM

you're right, sensors and optics will be much better in the camera. Which in turn, will give you better image quality on a still image for sure. My concern would be their ability to deal with motion, focusing on the fly, etc.

I have not seen what new dslr's can do in regard to video. So I can't honestly say they're not as good as a good video camera. But people put a lot of time and effort into making 2 very different products which are used for 2 different end goals. Taking an educated guess here (and what has been true in the past), each does the other's task well enough for here and there, but neither does both as well as either does the thing it was meant to do.

And i was always taught to use the right tool for the job. Sure, you can hammer a small nail in with the end of a heavy screwdriver, but it would be easier to just use a hammer. -- not a perfect analogy, but you get what I'm saying.

Another thing to consider is that the things that will be better about the image quality on a camera, may not be all that important compared to what he'll get with a 500-600 camcorder. Also, what is the cost of a dslr that will take video-camera quality video vs a decent camcorder?

If his company plans to make several videos, i think a camcorder is definitely the way to go. If this is a one time thing and they'll have use for a good camera... maybe that would suffice.

1/6/2010 4:27:00 PM

I agree with the right tool for the job. And after looking closer the 1080p on DSLR is limited to 20fps or something like that, not great. I think the HF20 does 24p

1/6/2010 4:46:57 PM

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/597442-REG/Canon_3536B001_VIXIA_HF200_Flash_Memory.html#specifications

i'm looking into buying this camera this week, but i wanted to see if anyone knew 1) if this camera was any good or 2) if there was a better camera for a similar price. the biggest seller on this is that it's 200 bucks off until the end of the month.

1/27/2010 7:56:02 PM

i went with panasonic hdc-hsx line, in case anyone cares for the update. thanks

3/7/2010 7:43:19 PM