I have a budget of $750 for a digital camcorder.
What features and specs are more important?What about the mic? What brands do you recommend?

Most of the cameras between the $500 and $800 range are going to have very similar capabilities. (Unfortunately you are under the price range for a 3CCD camera.)

Very generally speaking, make these considerations when making your purchase.

1) If you are planning on any computer editing, make sure it has a Firewire (aka IEEE 1394) "DV out".

2) Choose the camera with the largest objective lens.

3) Do not be impressed by "zoom" capabilities. These "digital zooms" from 100 to 900x are useless.

4) Don't be impressed with "night shot" capabilities. They are "fun", but if you are looking to produce quality video, this is probably not a necessary consideration.

5) Whatever you get, put an extra high-capacity battery into the purchase budget.

6) Once you have narrowed down your selections, check the models you are interested in with websites like http://epinions.com to find out what real people have said about that camera. This can be invaluable.

If you have any more specific questions, please let me know.


Michael Sibbernsen
Starr Video Productions

The Sony TRdv's aren't too bad for that price range. With the savings, buy yourself a good tripod (for video, not photography) and a sturdy case.

As far as mic's are concerned, look for the camera's lens and ccd capabilities first. You can always buy a good mic to use with your camera. They'll usually produce much better results than the one that came built in with your camera.

Kevin

Yeah. The extra high=powered battery is a wise investment. Also, make sure you have the appropriate software to edit your film.

Try saving a little more money $1,000 and get the Sony digital that write directly to the DVD.

Another option is to check out Ebay. You can find some great deals from actual stores. Many are new cameras complete with warranties. I would suggest only dealing with Power Sellers due to the dollar amount.

Just my opinion, but I don't prefer the camcorders that write directly to DVD. I like to edit my video precisely, which is not really possible from DVD without a lot of effort (demux, edit, remux).

A nice MiniDV camcorder and a DVD burner works well. You can dump the video to your hard drive then edit it to exactly what you want. You can then create a DVD complete with menus, etc.

If you're looking into making good quality video you can show people, consider investing in a DVD burner, a large hard drive, a tripod, and a good microphone. Sound quality is just as important. You may consider a wireless mic setup also.

I know I'm exceeding the $750 limit very quickly, but you can find used items that work very well. Lots of shareware/freeware software out there (see http://www.videohelp.com) that makes really high quality productions.

It all depends on personal preference. You may in fact like a camcorder that burns directly to DVD and if that's the case, go with it. Be sure you read, read, and read some more then go try out the camcorder. Can someone else use it easily? I'm assuming that they will be taping you performing? If that's the case, you want something that's relatively easy to use, but still produces good video.

I have a Sony MiniDV that I paid about $300 for. It's not professional quality, but it works really well. I like Sony products, but there are many out there.

Here's a neat little project I found. Not sure if it's useful to you, but may be if you're taping moving objects (street magic?)... http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

Do'nt get mini dvd. As these are almost imposible to up load from. Mini dv is just if not better and works as a brieze to up load!

MiniDVD also can only be viewed by very few people. Although the unfortunate truth is that a standard burned DVD can be problematic in viewing and, perfectly burned, may still not be playable on some DVD players or drives. It just isn't a perfect medium yet, regardless of what the buzz is.

I run a college animation program, and my suggestion to students in creating demo reels for employers is: Make a DVD as it is small, light, high quality, and trendy, and is perfect if it happens to work on the employer's player and/or doesn't crash their computer (which will lose you the job instantly). Also have a VHS tape ready in case they have problems with the DVD. It's less quality and "old technology", but it always works, and everyone has a VHS player around somewhere. Just make nice labels and cases for them all (with contact info everywhere...and don't forget the spine of the case so it can be identified on a shelf!)

Also, in making a DVD as a demo, unless you have a real need to put interactive tracks on the disks that require a menu, I would not put a menu on the disk. It actually looks more professional to have a title slate (animated or still) with your contact info, then have it play right into your demo. End with the title slate again. DVD authoring software will let you have the disk "autoplay" so that it starts as soon as the disk is put in with no menu. A flashy menu may seem cool, but often it either looks like a template (which is not impressive) or is so creative that the viewer can't figure out how to navigate it and just play the reel.

As to mics, the highest priced commercial camera will still have a pretty bad mic for most uses. If you are making a demo, a cheap RadioShack mic plugged into the camera will be better and more positional (but of course, the better mic, the beter sound). If you are taping a show, the camera will most likely be out in the audience somewhere, and will mostly just catch the audience noise. In that case, some sort of cordless mic would be best.

I hope this is on-topic enough and pertaining to the uses you have in mind! Best of luck.

I'm not sure I understand the statement about MiniDv...

You aren't going to walk into an agent's office with a MiniDv tape and hand it to them. You would edit and convert it to DVD format first.

I own a production company and we only author DVD's and VCD's for clients. A Video Cd (VCD) can be played on a computer with no DVD player (some home DVD players can play them as well). DVD is more universal now.
For my own promo I put it on my Sony PSP (its cool to bring that out and hand it to an agent!).

Anyway the topic is about a camera and for the money the Sony's (as metioned earlier) are great. Firewire is essential to handle the large files. I suggest spending some extra cash on another hard drive to put all your footage on as well.

Just a point I like Hi8 cameras they look more like film than the 3ccd cameras we have. It has a grainy quality to it which I like. Digital 8 is good as well because you can get it with a firewire. You can probably find a used digital or Hi8 for under your budget.
Cheers,
JTW

DVD compression is a lot higher than DV compression, so DV format is far much better...

Try the new HDV cameras, those are really really nice (I have a HDR FX1 but this is way off your prices)

Yikes! 2004 for the first post! I'm sure in the 2 years since he asked, he's gotten a camera (at least I hope!)

HDV (a consumer high definition format) is an interesting format. It was never meant to be a professional format. It was designed to squeeze a high-def signal onto a miniDV tape. So you're limited to the same bandwith as miniDV, 25 MB/sec. (Please note, you're limited to the same BANDWIDTH as miniDV, NOT RESOLUTION - your picture will be 720 or 1080i - high def).

True uncompressed HD has a much higher bandwidth, 100 MB/sec, so you'll have a much better picture. With all this extra bandwidth, your color will be better, the picture sharper and the shadows will have more detail.

Panasonic's new HVX-200 uses HD, as do their high end HD cameras, like the Vari-cam (we're talking the price of a small house, now).

Plus, HDV uses a similar concept with its compression as DVD. One frame holds the 'starting' info. The next group of frames holds only 'relative' information. If you take one of these frames by iteself, it won't have enough information to reconstruct the picture. When editing this format, things can get VERY complicated and ugly, though it CAN be done.

I know that's getting sort of technical, but the long and short of it is HDV has MORE compression than DVD and in certain cases, looks WORSE than standard def.

If you're going to venture into the High Def world, hire a pro. If you can afford it, spend the cash on true HD (100 MB/sec) and not on HDV (25 MB/sec). Otherwise, stick with standard def, miniDV. Plus, SD is much cheaper.

miniDV is still a great format. JTW is RIGHT ON when he mentions about an extra hard drive. You'll need it! Plus, it's nice to leave the video on the hard drive for archival purposes.

Since I'm assuming most everyone will be capturing in standard def, let me recommend, as a few others have already, of recording to miniDV and NOT to a camera that records to a DVD. You'll be adding tons of video compression when you record to a DVD directly. Then you'll edit that and RECOMPRESS it to burn onto a DVD for clients.

So, stick with miniDV to record your raw footage.

Cheers!
Scott Sullivan

P.S.
On a lighter note, I should add, you will almost always be better off it you hire a professional studio. They know all this stuff already and will do what matters in the end: and that is to get the shot!

Mini DV is a must for editing. dump it to a laptop and edit it or convert it then to dvd using a burner. It's easier than cake. if you want to literally throw it to the agent as he walks out at the show get dvd. but that is'nt necessary. I have a couple psp's to use for promo it's a idea I had before the psp came out.

I have a Hi-8 DV camera. I have a few editing questions and just noticed this post. Is there anywhere in the Café' that I can ask edit questions? Rather than write instructions for a marketed trick which I did in 1990, I have 4 others almost complete, but editing the video is giving me fits. Any help appreciated. I have been to many forums on this and still no luck. Anyone?

Great advice. If you want a professional product you really should go to a professional studio. And besides the large price of a true HD camera, remember that you only keep that 100 MB/sec if your editing system is set up for that which can run into the thousands of dollars (actually tens of thousands I believe). Otherwise the product is right back to 25 MB/sec. But as you note, pro studios are set up to handle that.

Thanks for the input, as you seem to know much more of the tech than I do! This is just the little bit of understanding that I pick up at work.

- Erick

Erick, I feel your pain! It seems just when you get caught up to current technology, someone has to invent something better. Maybe I'll edit my next video as a stapled flip book! At least I won't have to worry about expensive editing suites and archiving on backup hard drives and so forth!

On another note, what type of animation do you do? That's awesome. I'm a Lightwave guy, myself, but probably pale by what you do! Keep up the great work!

Scott

I agree with almost everything above. The direct-write to dvd is too limiting, mini-DV is still the best quality in a camcorder (which really sucks as I hate the whole idea of using tape based media in such modern times), and hi-def should still be left to the pros for most people at this time.

One option to save money that I thought was worth mentioning is the software you use to edit your video. Although I think Adobe Premier is probably one of the best, it's pricey. A cheaper option my sister uses that does an impressive job is the whole Roxio Easy Media Creator suite. It's like 1/10 the price and has more than enough capabilities for the serious hobbyist.

Great ideas CasualSoul!

Did we ever find out what limhanchung bought? I wonder what "first camera" he ended up with.

For practical, entry level considerations, be sure that first cam HAS an external mic input (my first SONY didn't, to my surprise, talk about poor audio) and don't buy a camera that loads tapes from the bottom! I once bought a Samsung digital cam that actually required removal of the tripod attatchment to change tapes, as the "shoe" overlapped the tape chamber door. Live and learn.