Camera/Camcorder recommendations?

ParsonsMatt

ParsonsMatt

Alas, Tyranny
Nov 15, 2006
2,124
1
38
Athens, GA
www.myspace.com
Hey everyone,

Got a nice bit of Christmas money, and I've been considering getting a decent-ish camera for gear/guitar pics, rehearsal shots, live pics. Recording video is a must, and the higher quality video the better. Honestly, taking video is more important than still shots, as I want to be able to record guitar videos for youtube as well as studio videos and have decent live videos of my/others bands.

Any recommendations in the $200-300 range?

Thanks!
 
Dude! I've been fighting my way through the camcorder jungle for the past 3 days now. At first I was thinking of getting a cheap ass camera for YouTube purposes but then I ended up on an awesome deal on a JVC Everio GZ-X900. Costs about 900€ in sweden and I found it for 400€ online. I thought it was a good camera reading the specs and all but all reviews revealed that it completely sucked ... SUCKED, when it came to low-light shooting. Everyday life contains a lot of low-light situations so that one was apparently not a good choise.

I continued my search and went through all of the cheaper 300-400$ camcorders and finally landed on the Canon HF200. This camera doesn't have any useless bullshit features (such as the Everio X's slow motion mode which shoots really fast video ... at an awful and useless quality). I went to a store today and got a chance to actually hold it in my hands before ordering it and it felt just right. It's even made in Japan! =) This is not in your budget though if you're only looking at 200-300$... this one probably goes for 600-700$ in the US but the clips on YouTube and Vimeo look really nice and almost professional and it does a MUCH better job in low-light than the Everio X.

However, if you still intend to stick within that range... I don't think it'll matter too much exactly what camera you choose because most of them seem similar. Toshiba's Camileo H20 is a really cheap alternative but I've heard really bad things about it on the net but there is a clip of it on YouTube where it has a pretty awesome image quality for that price although it has a rough time focusing on stuff. That won't be an issue though if you just plan to use it statically at home, recording yourself or whatever.

Good luck with the choises.. I still haven't decided myself but I think I'm getting the Canon HF200 while I'm at it. I don't want a toy camera and I want to be able to shoot more artistic stuff than the cheap cameras can offer. I see this as an investment because filming was a hobby of mine back at school but I never owned a good camera so I never got around to filming stuff.
 
ParsonsMatt said:
Got a Creative Labs Vado HD. Mainly because samhillband uses it on Youtube, and in a comparison between it and the Flip HD on youtube, the Vado was way better for video quality.
Click to expand...

The JVC Picsio is also amazing. It has 1080p instead of 720, and it also has image stabilisation which i guess is one of the downsides of the Vado. The JVC is a little more expesnive though. There is one shocking thing I have heard though, if you watch all the youtube videos with it you'll notice they have a high pitch digital noise in the upper frequencies- take a listen

Cant believe they'd release a product with that issue, it would drive me nuts!

EDIT: It looks like a lot of these ahve that horrible whine!!! Kodak's Z8i has it too...




Another thing I have discovered from doing guitar videos is that high frame rate might come in handy. Some pocket cams can be switched to 60fps rather than thirty which is might be beneficial. (HD video as far as I know is shot at 60 for pro releases)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'd guess the 60 fps mode is interlaced though? As far as I know, recording in progressive mode looks better than interlaced but interlaced might give a more fluid motion at the disadvantage of image quality.

I think the Canon HF200 can shoot 24 and 30 fps in progressive mode (not sure if it shoots interlaced at all) while the Everio GZ-X900 for example is only capable of shooting interlaced footage.

Those pocket cameras seem like a really good alternative though but I'm really not keen on having another mobile phone-like device to carry around. I'd rather prefer having a "real" camera... it just "feels" more right.
 
You guys have got me hooked on getting one of these now LOL. I reckon i might go for a Sony MHS-PM1 Webbie. Seems like a great pocket cam, full HD, none of that crap noise. In a few years I guess all mobile phones will be shooting in full HD. I like the idea of a pocket cam in comparison to a proper camera Erk, easier to smuggle in to concerts and less hassel all round I reckon. I have no idea about the progressive/interlaced stuff mate, you'll have to tutor me on that haha. I've just watched some guitar videos however, and none of these cams are suffering from the problems I used to face with a typical JVC video camera.

Now... what colour :D It has to be orange really!

sony-webbie-cameras.jpg
 
I have a Sony TGE 3 cam that I bought for my wedding and I'm using it for the youtube vids. Beautiful picture BUT...

...as Erkan wrote about the JVC, in low light situations suck it sucks ass. There is so much distortion and noise and it pissed me off so much after paying like 900 euro for a new cam(this was early 2008 when there werent many cheap options at all like there is now).
 
kev said:
I have no idea about the progressive/interlaced stuff mate, you'll have to tutor me on that haha. I've just watched some guitar videos however, and none of these cams are suffering from the problems I used to face with a typical JVC video camera.
Click to expand...

Well basically a camera records an image either progressively or interlaced. The camera records in "lines". Think of the lines as horisontal rows spanning across the image.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlaced

"Description

With progressive scan, an image is captured, transmitted and displayed in a path similar to text on a page: line by line, from top to bottom. The interlaced scan pattern in a CRT (cathode ray tube) display completes such a scan too, but only for every second line. This is carried out from the top left corner to the bottom right corner of a CRT display. This process is repeated again, only this time starting at the second row, in order to fill in those particular gaps left behind while performing the first progressive scan on alternate rows only.

Such scan of every second line is called interlacing. A field is an image that contains only half of the lines needed to make a complete picture. The afterglow of the phosphor of CRTs, in combination with the persistence of vision results in two fields being perceived as a continuous image which allows the viewing of full horizontal detail with half the bandwidth that would be required for a full progressive scan while maintaining the necessary CRT refresh rate to prevent flicker.

CRTs and ALiS plasma panels can display interlaced video directly, other display technologies may require some form of deinterlacing. Modern CRT-based monitors used as computer displays utilize progressive scanning, thus also require deinterlacing."

So basically... if you're recording stuff for computer use (such as YouTube and stuff), progressive is the way to go. But really... we're way too deep in "professional" movie making now. Any camera should be fine for just YouTube purposes really unless you know you have a very low-light environment to shoot in. Then you'll need a better camera for that stuff, or simply light the room up =)

I was thinking of getting just a simple camera myself, like one of those pocket cams but I didn't want a "toy". I'm interested in filming a video for one of my songs in the future so I reckon it might be a good investment to get a decent camera instead of a really basic one.

So unless you plan on shooting more advanced stuff which will require you to manually control the camera's different parts (such as the shutter speed and exposure and whatever) a pocket cam should be fine. They don't do much other than simply record so you have no manual control over the image but most people don't need that anyway for YouTube and stuff.
 
Haha Kev tell me about it :D I've been considering which camera to buy for a whole week now. A few days ago I spent about 8 hours reading up on cameras on the net to help me decide what to buy and what not. Well I'm glad I decided not to go with a JVC at least!
 
More news: kodak z8i's problems all pretty much fixed with latest firmware- including the noise.

Erkan said:
Haha Kev tell me about it :D I've been considering which camera to buy for a whole week now. A few days ago I spent about 8 hours reading up on cameras on the net to help me decide what to buy and what not. Well I'm glad I decided not to go with a JVC at least!
Click to expand...

Yeh dude! I spent a good few hours last nite on it lol. There isnt one that does everything better than another lol. In the pocket world, z8i and vado ftw at the mo.

Vado has 8gigs of inbuilt memory which is plenty really and wins on price hands down @ around £100. It's also smaller and has a nicer usb trick AND comes with a protective casing. Vado also has a wider lens, but is only 30 frames. Here's my analysis of what matters for any one who is pocket camera shopping:

Vado-

12-11-08-vado_hd.jpg


Pros


  • 8 GB inbuilt memory

  • Wide angle lens

  • Cool USB flipper

  • Great price

  • Protective case

  • Its tiny

Cons


  • No 1080p

  • Color is a bit saturated

  • Memory unexpandable


Kodak

kodak-zi8.jpg


Pros



  • Bigger screen

  • 1080p

Cons


  • 150% more expensive after you've carded up

  • bigger than the creative

  • small lense coverage
 
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