Buying a camcorder??

[LiveTwinksCam]

I am looking to buy a camcorder to make movies and put on my personal website and eventually make some for my business website, once I learn how to do it right. I am also going to be doing it on my mac, if that helps any with the integration.

I was looking at camcorders and don't even know where to begin. Can anyone give me any advice or suggestions on which type to get?

[basschick]

are you doing this on a budget or is price not a concern?

[Lee]

But more importantly than Pattis question is this...

You gonna be posting naked movies of you?

One thing you need to check is that the amount of storage (if you go digital) is going to be large enough for a long, high quality movie, rather than a medium quality movie.

Regards,

Lee

[nickbaer]

I have the SONY HDR1, 3 chip, HDV cam, $3200.

SONY also makes a 1 chip, HDV cam at Best Buy for under $1200.

[basschick]

yes, and those are good cameras, too. but a lot of people are on a budget. if so, and HD isn't needed, here's a question - do you need to zoom during the videos? if not, i'd consider a canon A570IS or S3-IS or S5-IS. they're not camcorders - they're cameras, but they are much more light sensitive than camcorders below $1200 in my experience, and the video is actually quite good. plus you have a camera for i.d. shots. i'm not 100% sure you can't zoom with the S3 and S5.

if you want to zoom, try the fujifilm S9100. i have one and the video is comparable to my panasonic camcorder but with 2 advantages. it shoots in lower light without looking dark or yellowish and the manual zoom is wonderful to use once you get used to it. the pics from this camera are too grainy for my taste after you get to ISO 400, but at 100 i'm happy with it.

otherwise if you're on a budget, you could go with the Panasonic PV-GS320 - you can get very good results in natural light or just good light.

[gaybucks_chip]

Patti's made excellent recommendations, as usual.

Another option mght be to buy a low-mileage used higher end camcorder. The DVXUser.com community has, so far, seemed to be a very trustworthy group and there are always some Panasonic DVX-100s and occasionally Canon GLs or XL1s for sale, sometimes for as low as $1000-1200. If you have that kind of budget, and can find a camera with 100-200 hours of use (there's an "odometer" on the camera) you'll end up with a really nice high end camera for not a lot of $.

Otherwise, I think Patti's suggestions are excellent.

[LiveTwinksCam]

Thank you all very much for your help!

I went and looked at them today, I think I want the kind where I can store it on the camcorders hd. I mainly want to use the camcorder for when we go on trips or have people down, instead of just taking pics, I can also make some movies and put them on my personal website.

I don't really want to spend more then 1,000 on it, because I really don't see myself using it all that much, kind of like my digital camera.

Thanks again for all of your help. Lee! Hmmm naked movies of me... Maybe... I don't know if anyone would want to see them though... hehehe.

[Xstr8guy]

Doesn't anyone find this ironic? LiveTwinksCam wants a recommendation on a new video cam! Lol. What do you use in the studio now?

[LiveTwinksCam]

Hahaha! We don't use camcorders anymore for streaming our cam shows. We use high end webcams. They are smaller and more practical for our models to use with their equipment. When we did use camcorders mmm like 5 + years ago, we would use sony camcorders with night vision and a svideo card for the input connection, this was before camcorders with usb were out. Plus the usb connection lowers the quality for streaming.

Webcams are a lot more practical to use now for the models to stream to our servers. They have webcams out now that are very good quality.

[gaybucks_chip]

Jacob, just keep in mind that most of the internal disc camcorders (and the ones that write directly to DVD) use very, very compressed video. It's probably fine for web delivery at a medium bandwidth, but if you're ever going to do full bandwidth (1.5-2+ Mbps) or DVD, the quality might suffer a bit. It's probably at least on par with a typical good quality webcam, but the ones I've seen are not as good as regular DV video.

[LiveTwinksCam]

Jacob, just keep in mind that most of the internal disc camcorders (and the ones that write directly to DVD) use very, very compressed video. It's probably fine for web delivery at a medium bandwidth, but if you're ever going to do full bandwidth (1.5-2+ Mbps) or DVD, the quality might suffer a bit. It's probably at least on par with a typical good quality webcam, but the ones I've seen are not as good as regular DV video.

Thank you very much for the info Chip! What kind or brand/model would you suggest I look at? I don't want to spend over 1k, this is for my personal use for just now.

[nickbaer]

I would never buy a cam with an internal DVD or HD, UNLESS it also had simultaneous tape recording.

If you record on tape and there is a problem, you at least have your work recorded to that moment.

If the cam fails with internal DVD or HD, then you have (probably) lost it all.

You can buy external HDs for many types and kinds of cameras. www.VideoGuys.com has several options (be careful when comparing HDs if they are designed for SD capture or HD capture).

[gaybucks_chip]

Jacob, you can probably find a used DVX-100 for right around $1000 or a little more, and definitely a used Canon GL for $800-1000. Both of those are good cameras; the DVX is topnotch and a number of feature films have been shot with it. The GL is a step down but still excellent. Downside to those two is they are fairly large. The current Panasonic model, the DVX-100B, is about $3500 new. There is very little difference between the 100B and the 100, so you'll do fine with a used 100. The current GL is, I think, the GL2, and I think it's around $1800-2000. Again, a few niceties, but the GL is also an excellent camcorder.

If you want new, then I'd suggest the small, very portable camcorder (palmcorder size) with excellent quality made by Panasonic, the PV-GS300 or 320. Those are in the $500-700 range new. They are a significant step down from the GL or DVX, but they are still 3 chip cameras, so will have much better color accuracy and sensitivity compared to the cheapie single chip camcorders. I'm not aware of any new cameras in the $1000 range, at least not ones I hear a lot of people using, so if it were me, I'd probably go with one of the above.

If you're ok with used, check out dvinfo.net or dvxuser.com I can say the dvxuser community seems like a very honest bunch; i'd feel more comfortable buying a used camera from there than from ebay. I have heard good things about the dvinfo community as well but am not involved as much with that one.

[basschick]

you can get a PV-GS300 for under $500 and it's a pretty good camcorder.

still not as good in low light as a camera with video, though

Jacob, you can probably find a used DVX-100 for right around $1000 or a little more, and definitely a used Canon GL for $800-1000. Both of those are good cameras; the DVX is topnotch and a number of feature films have been shot with it. The GL is a step down but still excellent. Downside to those two is they are fairly large. The current Panasonic model, the DVX-100B, is about $3500 new. There is very little difference between the 100B and the 100, so you'll do fine with a used 100. The current GL is, I think, the GL2, and I think it's around $1800-2000. Again, a few niceties, but the GL is also an excellent camcorder.

If you want new, then I'd suggest the small, very portable camcorder (palmcorder size) with excellent quality made by Panasonic, the PV-GS300 or 320. Those are in the $500-700 range new. They are a significant step down from the GL or DVX, but they are still 3 chip cameras, so will have much better color accuracy and sensitivity compared to the cheapie single chip camcorders. I'm not aware of any new cameras in the $1000 range, at least not ones I hear a lot of people using, so if it were me, I'd probably go with one of the above.

If you're ok with used, check out dvinfo.net or dvxuser.com I can say the dvxuser community seems like a very honest bunch; i'd feel more comfortable buying a used camera from there than from ebay. I have heard good things about the dvinfo community as well but am not involved as much with that one.