Digital camcorder advice

[Rusty]

If it was a french gatso it would be wearing glasses and both lenses would be broke.

[Rusty]

Or wearing at hat

[Canada Phil]

Hi Lanc's glad to see this forum is alive and well... you know what I mean. Serious is no Fun  
Canada Phil
PS what is digital

[Lancs Se7en]

I give up.   before I turn into one of these

[Lancs Se7en]

or do what this is about to do

[Lancs Se7en]

Beep f****ing Beep

[Steve Pyro]

Beep f****ing Beep

Do you mind.  We're trying to have a serious discussion about Digital Camcorders here.  

[Lorry]

Only a slight tangent.  I think you have to be very careful selecting a digi camcorder.  My digi camera is just too slow.  By the time it takes a picture, the subject has walked away, and in the small print, it says its the equivalent to 50 ASA film which is far too slow for motor racing.  On the basis that the technology is the same, you may have a problem.

I'm going back to 35mm - can you still get Super8?

[Lancs Se7en]

Are you avin a larf or what

[Russ]

On another tangent...

You can't really go too wrong with Sony, just make sure you shop around as the prices can vary by about £200. The 'Never knowlingly undersold' tag line of one shop should be changed to 'Check the web and you'll find it half price'...  

What you also need to consider is your editing requirements. Is your PC up for rendering the images? What editing software suits your budget (£40 - £5K) If it's just for home movies then don' worry about getting extra disks on your PC for rendering, just make sure you've got about 60Gb free and you'll be fine.

Try here for actual advice though.

Sorry to get off the subject though...  

[Lancs Se7en]

Thank you thank you thank you

Will read the stuff on the link and go from there.

[nice_person1]

If it's any help, we have a Sony IP7.  It uses MicroMV tapes so it is tiny, but each tape hold 60 mins so that's enought isn't it ?  The std. battery is good for an hour or more too.    Tiny is important here, otherwise you won't be bothered to take it out and have a carry case etc. as it is too much hassle.  The IP7 fits in a case which slides on your belt so you will take it out.  It also takes okay digital pictures and has a memory stick slot for capturing email attachment-type MPEG movies which the IP5 and some other cheapies do not have.

You can connect it to the television to record from, but you can also download the tapes to a computer to edit, add music to etc.  I would warn that I bought ULead Video software which kept on crashing when under load (I had double the recommended RAM before you ask) so give that a miss  .  I would also say that editing a one hour "film" can takes ages and once thenovelty wears off you will just copy the tape to VHS !  


http://www.dvforum.com/ is a good forum to ask questions too.

HTH,
NP1

[Pastis - team JPC]

Serious advice..!

I recently got the chance to talk to a pro (NO! not that kind) re digicams; asked why they were using those bloody huge cameras when all these dinky things were available.

His reply - stability.  Very difficult to hold something small and light perfectly still, you need a min weight to avoid being affected by natural tremor.  Hence all these  fancy 'image stability programs' on the dinky things - but there's always a price to pay in image quality.

Stability even more important when filming action sports when you have to pan with the action.  Apparently there's a minimum weight/mass below which its impossible to pan smoothly and at a steady rate.

And, of course, you will always use a tripod won't you?

Alternatively, a couple of shots of Tropicoma should smooth you out!