What is the best, mid-priced, camcorder?

[Motorhead]

My wife wants to buy a camcorder. I think that the new way to go is digital... or is it? Anyhow... with all of the know-it-alls :-laf we have got on this site... . I figured I would be led down the right path!!!

 

[Fireman Dave]

MH:



We looked at them a lot a few years ago, but didn't buy one - we were waiting until we had the money for a good one. Then - right before our big trip west in '01, we decided we really had to have something. We couldn't afford a digital one, so we went with a Sony Hi-8. While I guess digital is the way to go, we still get great usage out of the Hi-8. Another nice thing for us is we have a lot of regular 8 tapes from a previous camera my dad bought, so the Hi-8 can play those tapes too. I figure the one we bought was probably the top of the line model the year before we bought it, so it's a really nice unit. We paid about $300. for it and also got a cigarette lighter charger and an extra battery. 3 weeks of camping and it always had a fresh battery. It's still working just fine, and we still don't have a digital one. These cameras are like computers - procrastination pays off. They only get cheaper because the new and improved keeps coming out. The day after you buy one, a new smaller and better one will come out - that's just the way it is. While it would be nice to have one to interact with the computer, this one serves us just fine.



Good luck!

 

[LSMITH]

Chris, same here as Dave said. Sony Hi-8 is the ticket for us, it makes darn nice movies, has a ton of zoom and was under a grand when we bought it. Digital is only good if you have a laptop with a CD burner AND a 12v adapter, or you can afford the memory in which case this question would not come up... ...



The Hi-8 will interface with the computer to take still images out of the video and all of that, what becomes a problem is digitizing movies. If you do not want to digitize the movies without third-party software then digital is the way to lean.

 

[big jake 1]

stay away from JVC digitals, I bought one a couple of years ago only to find out I had to buy $400 worth of software to be able to download anything off the camera to my computer, software is only available thru JVC







big jake

 

[Motorhead]

Does the Hi8 use a full sized cassette or the small one?

Howard, how was it that Dave spent $300 and you said that you spent a grand? Did you buy the "Gold" model? Chris

 

[The patriot]

Same thing here as Fireman Dave and Lsmith.

The wife had to have one, so we got a Sony Hi-8.

When we bought this, there wasnt any digitals out yet.

It was a high end unit when we got it, it still runs excellent, but the battery is shot.

I'd say we've had this one at least 8 or 9 years now.

Can someone recomend where to get batteries for these at reasonable prices?

Eric

 

[Fireman Dave]

Chris,



The Hi8 takes the small tapes - about the size of an audio cassette tape. It's easy to make copies to full size tapes or just hook the camera to the vcr or TV and watch from there.



Howard just likes to show off and outspend me. He probably bought his a couple of years before me.



Jake makes a very good point.



Eric - I think we bought ours at Best Buy and got the extra battery there too. I think the batteries are pretty easy to find, but they always seem to be about the same price from place to place. I wonder if Batteries Plus has them cheaper. I've never checked. I really like the car charger - if we camp without electricity, we can still charge the batteries while we're driving. Very handy and worth the money.



Dave

 

[wyosteve]

Don't know how much this adds to anything, but I bought a RCA HI-8 a few years back and it has a feature that I never saw on one before. In addition to the regular rechargeable batteries, it also will operate on 6 AA batteries. So if you run out of charge, just pop in the AA's. It uses them pretty fast, but good in an emergency.

 

[The patriot]

Batteries

I've seen them locally for $58. 00 + tax. I dont even think it's the extended play batt.

Eric



PS BTW Mine has night vision, which works pretty good if youre not too far from what youre shooting.

 

[Motorhead]

Patriot... here is a site that sells all kind of batteries at low cost.

https://www.batteries4everything.com/index.html

 

[JHansen]

I've got a Hi8 Sony as well. Nothing much to add to what the others have said except the battery thing-mine came with a battery pack that takes AA's to use in a dire emergency. I bought an extra battery for mine at the time and so far have never had to use the AA adapter-but it's nice to know it's there. Mine was the fanciest one available at the time without the flip-out screen-I had visions of falling down after having 1 too many wobbly pops and tearing the screen off . The Night Vision feature is cool-as is the Steady Shot (digital image stabilization to take some of the handheld jitters out).



The new Sony's are Digital8-they use the same 8mm tapes but record digitally on them. I believe they will still play back the old Hi8 tapes as well.



Jason

 

[The patriot]

Thanks Motorhead.

Oh yea, mine... er ahh the wifes has the flip out screen.

Eric

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I have a LOT of experience with this sort of stuff.



My only advice is to get the following stuff in your next camcorder:



Get digital - I don't care what format, for consumer stuff - any digital format is better than analog. The digital-8 and mini-DV formats are pretty solid.



Get a camcorder with a LOT of optical zoom - digital zoom looks like garbage when you are zoomed all the way in.



If you plan on editing or making digital transfers - get one with i-Link (Sony's name for it) or Firewire (a. k. a. IEEE-1394). If you plan on using 'deck control' via firewire - some cameras are less likely to 'play nice' with video editing software than others. Canon cameras often don't play nice via deck control, whereas Sony is very solid.



Flip-out screen size is only important if you want to play back stuff on the camera - any good shooter would NEVER use the flip out screen to shoot footage.



If you can afford a 3-chip camera ("3-CCD" or 3 Charged Coupled Devices) - get one! The increase of image quality comes with better CCD's or simply having more of them inside the camera. Beware of voodoo magic that digitally fools the video processing circuitry into thinking there are more pixels. Having a chip for each color channel results in a really sweet picture. Sony makes some really good chips - so does Panasonic and Canon.



Manual focus and manual iris (exposure) are a must in my book - having manually adjustable audio levels is really important too.



Spending more is not bad! The more you spend - the more you get. But there is a point where the camera begins to get too complicated..... After around the $1800 mark - things get a little too fancy for most folks.



If anyone needs any further information on this - feel free to contact me. I deal with this sort of stuff all the time.



I understand that not everyone can afford a Canon XL-1 or a Sony PD-150 (heck, I can't... . ) - BUT, the features that make these cameras totally kickbutt pro-sumer rigs are the things that you should look for in a consumer camera.



Do the research and try the camera out before you buy - you'll have it a while if you take care of it.



Matt

 

[Motorhead]

Here's what we bought

We bought a Sony DCR-TRV 350 digital, Hi 8 camcorder. I took all of your advice... . Thanks.

The camcorder has 20X optical zoom, up to 700Xdigital zoom, manual over-rides for the focus and iris, Night shot, (somehow that sounds funny!). It also takes a memory stick for still pictures.

I'm sure there are a dozen or so features that I will never figure out how to use. WE paid $459. 00. So thanks again to all. , Chris

 

[HoleshotHolset]

$459 for a digital-8 camera!!??



Wow - it's been a while since I looked at prices, but it sounds like you got a heck of a deal.



Matt

 

[Motorhead]

Matt, I looked through your GREAT "Look For" post and went shopping. Circuit City had it for $499. and that included a CHEAP tripod and case for the camera. My daughter has a tripod and we have a case. I told them to knock off $40. 00 and I would take it.

OF COURSE, you also need tapes and a memory stick, yata,yata,yata, so you spend the savings AND another $50. 00.

My Wife is happyOo. . She will have a camcorder to record our youngest graduation from junior high. Thanks again for all of your GOOD info. Chris

 

[HoleshotHolset]

Glad I could help... .



Going to stores and looking for stuff like that can be confusing... . especially when the sales staff is either on commission or is not very well informed.



Matt

 

[Philsram]

The best price for a camcorder

The best price for a camcorder is when your wife goes... ... ohhh!



Get one that you can make digital pics with and you will be happy. PW

 

[Motorhead]

PWellwood, the one that we bought WILL take stills also. Look out because I will be trying to post pics on this site very soon!

I was fooling around with the camera last night and this thing has an AMAZING "Super Night Shot"! you can go into a totally dark room and see and take footage. It has two small infared lights.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

Just a warning....

Some of the camcorders take lousy digital pics... .



It is a neat feature, though - the ability to store about 700+ photos on one tape.



All it does is record a single frame (interlaced, of course... ) for about five seconds on the tape... . some cameras even record audio for those five seconds.



Matt