what kind of Video camera to buy?

[wdwmomof3]

Hi! I am looking for a new video camera and I need a little help. I would like one that records onto a dvd. I went shopping for one and the sales person told me that some people complain that they "skip" a lot while you are recording. Is this true?

I have a budget of about 400.00 to spend and I found a Sony, DCR-DVD108 for that price. What should I do? Any advice that you can give me would be great.

 

[WDWGuide]

I am no expert, but from what I have heard, direct-to-DVD cameras make editing your videos more difficult than, say, a tape or HD-based camcorder.

 

[NeedABreak]

I prefer a cam that saves to HD.

Main thing you need is something small and light, lugging a big cam around the parks stinks and you will leave it at the hotel after the first few days.

 

[Champion]

JVC Everio.

Don't buy Sony based on the name. The lenses are very nice, but you can get them in other cams for lots cheaper. The rest of Sonys stuff, besides the lens, are mediocre at best.

 

[RiversideBunny]

Watch QVC. They do a good job of demonstrating them and explaining the features.

Good luck.

 

[PhilharMagician]

DVD recording cams only record about 25 minutes of video per mini disc, so that has you changing discs quite ofter.

Hard drive based cameras have the issue of having enough memory to hold enough video for your trip, unless you load it onto a laptop during your trip. Then the issue of keeping the videos or storing them. Video in the raw form takes up huge amounts of HD space and you will probably have to purchase removable HD's to store the videos on for future viewings.

MiniDV tapes are extremely high quality and small. The tapes are easy to store and keep for future viewings of your videos. The tape also holds a minimum of 60 minutes recording time and other sizes are available.

All formats can be downloaded to your PC and with an editing software that is usually supplied with the camera or something like Adobe Elements which you can cut, edit, overlay music, add video menues or even still pics to you final full size DVD's that you keep.

I currently prefer MiniDV, but formats change quickly. A few things to look for are:

• Steady Shot or image stabilization to take out the shaking in the video
• Lowest LUX possible. The lower the LUX the batter the camera will video in low light situations.
• The highest mechanical zoom possible. Once you get into electronic (Digital)zoom, you start loosing pidture detail.
• Rechargable battery.
• Smallest size possible. The smaller it is the more ofter you will carry it and the more video you will shoot.

Good luck shopping:

 

[dazzer68]

my sisters got a dvd camera and she hates it , cant do anything with it hard to edit expensive discs limited to small amount of filming on each disc.
i have a sony dcr fantastic bit old now probably 2 years old but i love it easy to use easy to edit takes stills, good quality thats sony for u!

 

[wdwmomof3]

Okay... now I'm really confused. :lol: I really don't do a lot of videoing so do you think that I am better off getting one that takes tapes? I just want something that takes good video with a good zoom and that is easy to work that is very small. I won't be doing editing and everything. I am NOT good at that sort of thing at all. The last thing I want is problems with a camera while I am on vacation. Can anyone suggest one that is around 400.00 or one that you really like?

 

[dolbyman]

one of those low end 3ccd's from pana with tape .. those are my tip

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

I am not a professional photographer; however, I have purchased a MiniDV camcorder in the past to capture those special WDW and DL moments...

...and I used it on a total of 3 trips, and sparingly at that (I've taken about 20 WDW/DL trips since purchasing it).

Taping parades and attractions is fun, but tires easily (and you miss out on the actual enjoyment of said parade or attraction because your face is looking through a camera).

Capturing cute, fun moments with good quality is what I realized I really want. Really photo-type people enjoy carrying around equipment to get everything on tape and edit/make it great at home. That's just not me, and from your posts, I'm guessing it's not you, either (please correct me if I'm wrong).

If you have kids and want to get their interactions with characters and moments like that, or any spur-of-the-moment things, I would take a look at your regular ole digital camera, if you have one. If you don't, I would strongly consider it. All your files will be in one small package, and you won't have to mess around with equipment, tapes, etc.

My camera is more than 2 years old (Casio Exilim Z750) and takes very good quality movies, up to the size of my SD card (I take more than 500 pics on an average WDW vacation, and several short (2-5 minute) movies, and I do not fill up my card). For the average vacationer, the quality is good (with some cameras, it is extremely good, from what I read...I know there's a new camera from Sanyo, I believe, which takes 5MP pictures and excellent quality video, saves it to SD, and is something like $500).

For your budget of $400 (or slightly more if you'd consider it), you can get an excellent quality camera that will also capture special moments on video and won't be something you dig out of the closet once or twice a year.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[bgraham34]

I had a Mini DV cannon camera that I will need to replace. I liked the camera but now I would like to get a High Def camcorder just because how clear the clarity is.

 

[Matpez]

I am a pro videographer, with professional camera equipment.

I use a similar camera to this as an emergency backup.

http://www.6ave.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=PANPVGS39

DO NOT get a direct to DVD camera...
You can not edit the footage easily (it isn't meant to be edited at all) and
you are shooting directly to a compressed Mpeg format, meaning the video will look better in the viewfinder than it will when you watch it back.
Also, there is no (intended) way to then combine your smaller DVD video to one larger DVD. DVD is only intended to be used as a final delivery format.
I would recommend Mini DV or Digital 8, although I believe Mini DV will be around longer.
Will you have to transfer them to DVD if you want them on DVD, yes, but that has also become extremely easy with $65 dvd recorder units you can buy at any walmart type store.

 

[PanfanAL]

I have a Sony DVD camcorder that was purchased just before my son was born(now 2), and I really like it. It is true that you only get about 30 min of recording time for each disk. But I usually take all of the small videos, and edit them together on my dvd recorder, and can then get several hours on one disk. And if you use the rewriteable DVD's you can reuse them after after they are copied. however, if you do not have a DVD recorder at home, and don't want to spend te time editing the videos together, I would recommend the HD camcorders.

 

[disneyracefan]

i also have a mini dv canon camcorder i like it but the night/inside films only come out so so. but its light and cheap and works great during the day. I would also suggest that a very nice and small camara bag made for the camara you buy is just as importent i have carried mine for the whole week before and somtimes forgot its there.

 

[imagineer99]

Direct to DVD cameras suck...a LOT!

 

[wdwmomof3]

I am a pro videographer, with professional camera equipment.

I use a similar camera to this as an emergency backup.

http://www.6ave.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=PANPVGS39

DO NOT get a direct to DVD camera...
You can not edit the footage easily (it isn't meant to be edited at all) and
you are shooting directly to a compressed Mpeg format, meaning the video will look better in the viewfinder than it will when you watch it back.
Also, there is no (intended) way to then combine your smaller DVD video to one larger DVD. DVD is only intended to be used as a final delivery format.
I would recommend Mini DV or Digital 8, although I believe Mini DV will be around longer.
Will you have to transfer them to DVD if you want them on DVD, yes, but that has also become extremely easy with $65 dvd recorder units you can buy at any walmart type store.

Thank you so much for your help. I think I will skip the direct to DVD camera because of all that I have read. The one that you put the link to looks nice. Have you ever used this brand before? I know that they have been around for a long time but I have only had Sony cameras. (don't ask me why:hammer

To peoplemover, I have a camera that will take videos but I have never done it. Someone else told me the same thing today but I like the idea of having both for some reason. I know... I'm crazy.

I'm still taking notes if anyone has anything else that I need to know. Thanks for all of your help so far.

 

[stephdanielle]

I have the Sony DCR-DVD108 you mentioned in your original post. Personally I think it's a great camera. Very easy to use, small enough to carry around, and we've never had any issues with it. I like how it records to dvd because a lot of the time I don't want to go through and edit everything and its nice to just pop in the dvd and watch it as is.

The only issue I have with this is when I recently (a couple weeks ago) bought a macbook and had issues with transferring everything to the mac. It took quite a bit of time and effort to figure out, but it is the only problem I've ever had. And if you don't use a mac, well then you wouldn't have the problem I suppose!

I would definitely recommend this camera, it's great. Even my Mom, who is not very tech-saavy at all, finds it relitively easy to use.

 

[CThaddeus]

It's interesting what some like and some don't. Up until a year ago, I was using a Sony Hi-8 and I loved it. Unfortunately, I think because of how much I use my camcorder, it died on me...inconveniently right before my trip to Disney World. I figured this was a sign to move into the 2000s and so I bought one of the best Panasonic DVs I could find. While the picture is good, the lux rating was terrible (the person who advised me at Best Buy said pretty much all the DVs were not great with low light levels), its stabilization was horrendous (if you move even slightly, the picture you see later looks like an earthquake hit), and even when put on manual focus, it still changed focus whenever it felt like it. Perhaps I got a faulty camcorder, but needless to say I'm no longer a fan of Panasonic.
So, I went nuts a few weeks ago and bought one of the 100 GB Sony HD camcorders. I love that even at its highest quality I can still tape for about 14 hours. It has great stabilization (as I believe most Sonys do), and it's even good in low light. It has but one flaw - though the picture is amazingly beautiful, when you move the camera too fast the picture "slows down" so it looks like you're moving in slow motion. I read the directions, and it says that's normal. To be honest, if I'd known that ahead of time, I don't think I would have bought it. I'm planning on taking it with me to Disneyland tomorrow to tape Thunder Mountain, or something else speedy, just to see how bad it is. A shame, too. It was $1100.
This hasn't turned me off Sony, though. I still highly recommend their Hi-8s and though I don't have any experience with their DVs, I'll bet those are pretty amazing too. Sometimes, it seems, the cheaper camcorders may be better than the more expensive ones.
No matter what you get though, the most important thing (to me, anyway) is the low light rating. If it's over 2 lux, I'd say forget it. Too many attractions are in the dark to get stuck with crappy videos like I did with the Panasonic. It was so bad I could barely make out the Pirates in POTC. Good luck and if you tape as much as I do, get lots of spare batteries!

 

[dolbyman]

I'm no longer a fan of Panasonic.

what was it ? the GS400 or 500 ?

I had the Gs400 and the stabilizer was great and the lowlight was good (better than any other consumer cam at that point)

 

[CThaddeus]

what was it ? the GS400 or 500 ?

I had the Gs400 and the stabilizer was great and the lowlight was good (better than any other consumer cam at that point)

PV-GS300. Perhaps their newer models are better. As you might guess I'm a bit hesitant to give them a try again.

ed: I guess I expected a lot more from a $700 camera.