Digital Video Camera ??

David I'm a bit like you on this technology, it seems to move so fast these days its so hard to keep up with.

My suggestion is contact Mick O (If he does not respond directly on this thread) he seems to be right up to date and produces some good stuff with what he says is a simple camera system.

Cheers

Saw a good one in the junk mail last night. It was a water proof HD digital video camera for under $500. Don't remember the brand, and it needed extra memory, but the water proof part is pretty cool.

They're not the most robust things, especially the newer ones with built-in HDD (like your computer).
I had a $700+ video camera die at 14months old and was advised by repairer too expensive to fix, buy another!
He said the tape type are more robust, as well as cheaper to replace.
BIG W's latest catalogue had a small one for $140. Doesn't say what memory it uses. If SD card, then many laptops have a slot for an SD card, making it simple to get onto your computer.
http://catalogues.bigw.com.au/portal/offerdetails/aiptek_digital_camcorder/12550513205284?CatalogueID=12550513191939&gotopage=7&CatalogueID=&source=catalogueoffer&jump=&pageview=two.

These days I just use the movie fxn on our digital camera, if needed, otherwise I found I was carrying too much gear around.

Only one thing, don't make the mistake I did and buy one without an eyepiece to view through?

It's a nightmare trying to see what you are recording on the viewing screen especially when it is in bright sunshine. My old Sony bought back in 2000 has an eyepiece and I've gone back to it for most of my videos.

Signman, i have a Sony HDR 11 Video camera. It records 7 1/2 hours in HD and 22 on the lower setting, direct to the hard drive. There is also a memory card slot which i dedicate to photos, using an 8 meg memory card. On 10 mb's it can store over 1000 pics.Once i have taken all the video i want, i then download it to the computer and proceed to edit it using Windows Movie Maker,a very easy entry level programme that came with the computer.
The photos are down loaded from the card and into Picasa 2, which is a free programme you can get off the net.You can then edit the pics and get them ready for printing.
Hope this helps.
PS YOU CAN ALSO TAKES PICTURES ON THE FLY WHILE USING THE VIDEO.

We have an el cheapo that we got from the markets in Beijing about 4 years ago. It has a fixed lens and can take still pics up to 7MP. It's fine for short videos. On our Kimberley trip it got dropped into the creek near Mitchell Falls for a few minutes and is still working fine after drying out in the sun. It doesn't have all the smarts that the new Sonys etc have but fine for short shoots. It has a 1GB card that can store about an hour before we copy to the notebook.

So have a look at the cheaper options as well as the name brands.


Peter

I agree with Notso. I have two camera's and both have through the lens view. In bright sunshine it is nigh on impossible to see an LCD screen. Also, using an LCD screen uses more battery in a shorter time.

One other point is the method of downloading. Both my camera have usb and firewire connections. Most of the software I use to download the stuff I've taken preferes Firewire. (Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas Pro).

A third point is the medium the video is captured on. Both my cameras are DV tape. I was advised not to touch the HDD types as they were not as robust. One of my camera's was dropped from a reasonable height and caused the tape not to fully eject. With a bit of pusshing and prying I managed to coax it out and from there on the camer has worked faultlessly.

The new SD card type I am unsure of but they should be quite ok.

I have used Sony cameras up till now as the lenses in them were quiite a good quality IMO.

WBS

I teach broadcast TV production for a living. I'm a techie type - just finished screwing together a 1/2 million dollar OB truck (which is a cheap one BTW). This will sound like a big statement, but IMHO there is no such thing as a good home-user video camera any more. You used to be able to buy a decent DV camera such as a Panasonic NV-MX300 or a Sony TRV 900 with good dual viewfinders, decent stabilisation, 3CCD's, a robust tape mech, good manual override controls a user friendly layout and a common recording system / codec across most manufacturers.. Today they have removed much of the functionality in the name of cost cutting, and despite claims of brand name lenses and HD resolution the optical quality in some is shocking. The other issue is that there is no one common file standard making editing the output of the cameras in good applications like Final Cut Pro, Premiere or Vegas a PITA.

Having bagged all and sundry - we have had some reasonable results in using JVC GY-HD6 hard disk domestic cameras as "throw-away" items. Converting the resulting .TOD wrapped MPEG2 files can be a bit of a pain but the pics aren't bad. Biggest issue is lack of a focus or iris ring on the camera.

If you follow this youtube link, and then click on the HD button (if you have the bandwidth) you will see the 1080i output of the camera in 720P.

There is plenty of scope in the $3,000 + camera range but below that it is almost pot luck.

Cheers - Pat

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Kogan

Understand what your saying about have no idea about them or how to use them. I would suggest that if you want to just downlaod straight to computer then a camera with a memory card or flash drive would probably be easiest. Probably best to go into Dick Smiths or a camera shop and look and see which are the easiest to use and explain to a pro what your looking for. I recently purchased a Sony Handyman, and its easy to use and cost me about $500 with a bag and extras. Not sure if its the a good one though, but i do like Sony products and the Carl Zeiss lenses seem to be pretty top notch.

Hi Signman,

My lovely wife, Lynne, got me one of these for my last birthday,

Sony Hybrid

We used it on our last trip back home in August and was very happy with it.
Uses a 'mini disc' for recording video and a memory card for photos.

Easy to use and download onto the computer.

Highly recommend it.

Cheers,
Dennis

Well the choice is Hard drive or flash, and some cams have both. I prefer to have the larger recording capacity of a hard drive. Go with High Definition. SD camcorders have actually gotten worse with the MPEG 2 compression, low bit rate. The image stabiliser sucks on cheap camcorders. I recommend going with Sony or Canon. I prefer Sony. The models you should look at are HDR-XR500v, HDR-XR520v (larger hard drive), HDR-CX500v (flash based), HDR-CX520v (larger flash memory). These Sonys all have 1/2.8'' CMOS sensor, which gives excellent colour accuracy and vibrant images, very good optical image stabiliser (the best I have seen on anything in that price range). Also, very easy to use. Yes, you pay more for these camcorders than your basic, bottom of the range camcorder, but I have done enough comparisons to prove it is worth spending the extra $$$$$. Hope this helps.