Kilroy Was
I've been reading reviews on camcorders and I've filtered my selection to these three: Sony HDR-SR12, Sony HDR-HC9 and Canon HV30.
Which of these 3 would you recommend, plus ur review that would give me all these qualities:
1. very good video quality;
2. good picture even on low lighting;
3. easy to operate (specially on downloading and editing for movie making) for beginners like me.
I've got only a month to decide so really need ur replies. Thanks in advance.
Answer
HV30: Uses MiniDV tape; imports DV or HDV using Firewire (IEEE1394a, i.Link - all the same thing). Tape IS the archive (do not reuse tapes). Can do 24p. Has mic-in jack and full manual audio control.
HC9: Uses MiniDV tape; imports DV or HDV using Firewire (IEEE1394a, i.Link - all the same thing). Tape IS the archive (do not reuse tapes). Has "Smooth slow record" slow motion feature and can do zero light with built-in infrared emitter, but reciorded video is monochromatic (green/white). Has mic-in jack and full manual audio control.
SR12: In it's current implementation, I wouldn't touch anything that uses AVCHD for video compression at the point of video capture. It compresses too much and not all video editors can handle all camcorder manufacturer's AVCHD implementations. Please do not confuse "ease" with speed. Downloading video from a hard drive (or flash memory) based camcorder might be faster than importing from miniDV tape, but that does not make it easier. If you follow all the steps, the first thing you do after downloading the video to your computer is copy the files to an external drive or to optical disc. All that "saved" time, just went int making your archive/backup. In the miniDV tape world, the tape you shot is the archive backup. Then, when the project is complete, with a miniDV tape based camcorder, export the project back to the camcorder. Want to watch in high-def? connect the high-def camcorder and use it as a deck - can't do that with a hard drive (or flash memory) based camcorder.
There's lots more reasons, but take the hint from the pros:
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/markets/10014/hdv.shtml?&navid=hdv_products
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=172
http://www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/cat_camcorders.asp
http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/category.jsp?productId=PRO1.1
No internal hard drives using AVCHD (with the exception iof a single incorrectly categorized Panasonic)... The pros use external hard drives like those from Firestore
http://firestore.com/solutions/catalog.asp?id=3
which save video in DV and HDV format... just like miniDV tape.
You might not be a pro, but miniDV tape has been around for a couple of years and it works, is stable, affordable and the video editing applications that say they handle HDV can handle it from any camcorder.
You may need to add a firewire 400 port to your computer - Apple Macintosh computers have had them for many years. Using the DV port on the camcorder, connect to the Firewire 400 port on the computer with a firewire (IEEE1394, i.Link) cable. Launch the video editing application. The camcorder needs to be in "Play/Edit" mode. Import or capture.
HV30: Uses MiniDV tape; imports DV or HDV using Firewire (IEEE1394a, i.Link - all the same thing). Tape IS the archive (do not reuse tapes). Can do 24p. Has mic-in jack and full manual audio control.
HC9: Uses MiniDV tape; imports DV or HDV using Firewire (IEEE1394a, i.Link - all the same thing). Tape IS the archive (do not reuse tapes). Has "Smooth slow record" slow motion feature and can do zero light with built-in infrared emitter, but reciorded video is monochromatic (green/white). Has mic-in jack and full manual audio control.
SR12: In it's current implementation, I wouldn't touch anything that uses AVCHD for video compression at the point of video capture. It compresses too much and not all video editors can handle all camcorder manufacturer's AVCHD implementations. Please do not confuse "ease" with speed. Downloading video from a hard drive (or flash memory) based camcorder might be faster than importing from miniDV tape, but that does not make it easier. If you follow all the steps, the first thing you do after downloading the video to your computer is copy the files to an external drive or to optical disc. All that "saved" time, just went int making your archive/backup. In the miniDV tape world, the tape you shot is the archive backup. Then, when the project is complete, with a miniDV tape based camcorder, export the project back to the camcorder. Want to watch in high-def? connect the high-def camcorder and use it as a deck - can't do that with a hard drive (or flash memory) based camcorder.
There's lots more reasons, but take the hint from the pros:
http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/markets/10014/hdv.shtml?&navid=hdv_products
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=172
http://www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/cat_camcorders.asp
http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/category.jsp?productId=PRO1.1
No internal hard drives using AVCHD (with the exception iof a single incorrectly categorized Panasonic)... The pros use external hard drives like those from Firestore
http://firestore.com/solutions/catalog.asp?id=3
which save video in DV and HDV format... just like miniDV tape.
You might not be a pro, but miniDV tape has been around for a couple of years and it works, is stable, affordable and the video editing applications that say they handle HDV can handle it from any camcorder.
You may need to add a firewire 400 port to your computer - Apple Macintosh computers have had them for many years. Using the DV port on the camcorder, connect to the Firewire 400 port on the computer with a firewire (IEEE1394, i.Link) cable. Launch the video editing application. The camcorder needs to be in "Play/Edit" mode. Import or capture.
Top 5-10 digital camcorders???
camel2575
I'm having a difficult time looking for this, so if you can find one that is good and not really expensive (at least $150), you get the best answer!
Answer
Greetings,
The best camcorder for the cheapest price in the world is the Canon ZR-900. It's running about $215 USD. It even includes a Mic input! (Mini DV, standard def.)
The best consumer camcorder in general, I believe would be the HV30 (or HV20, slightly older). (Mini DV, High Def, true mpeg2 recording.) It's running around $800.
Also, worth looking at also would be the Sanyo Xacti HD1000. This interesting tiny camcorder is HD in the H.264 format (AVCHD) and records to a SD card! The price is around $680.
There are tons of other camcorders. There really is not one answer to your question - that is why you asked about the top five or ten. These are my top three.
My favorite professional camcorder right now is the Sony HVR-Z7U. It costs big bucks but if money was no object... See the review link.
Hope that helps...
Jeff
Seattle, WA
Greetings,
The best camcorder for the cheapest price in the world is the Canon ZR-900. It's running about $215 USD. It even includes a Mic input! (Mini DV, standard def.)
The best consumer camcorder in general, I believe would be the HV30 (or HV20, slightly older). (Mini DV, High Def, true mpeg2 recording.) It's running around $800.
Also, worth looking at also would be the Sanyo Xacti HD1000. This interesting tiny camcorder is HD in the H.264 format (AVCHD) and records to a SD card! The price is around $680.
There are tons of other camcorders. There really is not one answer to your question - that is why you asked about the top five or ten. These are my top three.
My favorite professional camcorder right now is the Sony HVR-Z7U. It costs big bucks but if money was no object... See the review link.
Hope that helps...
Jeff
Seattle, WA
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