Q. We are having a baby any day now and think we need a camcorder. One of the major things we hope to do is to record the baby and then post the videos on YouTube and email the link to family that lives far away. I want them to be able to see the baby without having to burn and mail 47 DVDs every month. My uncle said that some digital camcorders take video that comes out pretty lousy on YouTube and that you have to have the camcorder's software to get a quality picture. Obviously, that will not work.
Can anyone recommend a decent digital camcorder that is good for digital sharing, where my in-laws are not going to have to be trying to install some kind of special software to watch the videos?
Can anyone recommend a decent digital camcorder that is good for digital sharing, where my in-laws are not going to have to be trying to install some kind of special software to watch the videos?
A. Poor home video happens for 5 main reasons:
1) The camcorder cannot capture good video.
2) The person capturing the video zooms and pans a lot and very fast.
3) The lighting when the video was captured was too low.
4) The person captured the video while holding the camcorder and they did not use a tripod or some other steadying device.
5) The person who edited the video used a poor compression method before uploading or burning to DVD.
What is your budget?
At a high level, regardless of media storage type, the camera $ ranges are:
Toys: less than $250
Entry level consumer: up to $500
Mid range consumer: up to $1,000
None of these will do "Good low light video quality". Their lenses and imaging chips are too small.
Larger lenses and imaging chips are in:
High end consumer or prosumer: up to $2000
Prosumer or pro: $3,000 and up.
ALL camcorders' video can be edited on a computer - the trick is getting the video into the computer and into a format the video editor can use - this might be by direct connection between the camcorder and computer or additional hardware or software for converting video.
Step 1: Set your budget.
Step 2: Identify the camcorders that fit your budget.
Step 3: Learn what format the camera captures to.
Step 4: Understand how the video will transfer to YOUR computer.
Step 5: Learn how that video will work with YOUR video editor.
Step 6: Buy the camcorder.
Go out of order and you are setting yourself up for frustration and failure.
You did not tell us your budget or what computer you will edit on.
MiniDV tape based camcorders require a firewire port on your computer. MiniDV tape based camcorders provide best available video quality. Microsoft MovieMaker and Apple iMovie are bundled with the operating systems and will import the video. Do not re-use the tapes - they are the back-up/archive.
Flash memory camcorders use USB to transfer video, but you have an extra step to archive or back-up the video (same with hard disc drive camcorders - more on them later). Depending on the editor, you may need to use a conversion program to get the video into a format the video editor can use.
Hard drive camcorders save to the same format that flash memory uses - but I don't recommend them because of some additional vibration and high altitude issues that cause them to not record video - I presume these will not be issues in your case.
DVD based camcorders are terrible for editing and uploading. They barely make useful doorstops.
The software included with the camcorders - in the box - is useless and not needed.
1) The camcorder cannot capture good video.
2) The person capturing the video zooms and pans a lot and very fast.
3) The lighting when the video was captured was too low.
4) The person captured the video while holding the camcorder and they did not use a tripod or some other steadying device.
5) The person who edited the video used a poor compression method before uploading or burning to DVD.
What is your budget?
At a high level, regardless of media storage type, the camera $ ranges are:
Toys: less than $250
Entry level consumer: up to $500
Mid range consumer: up to $1,000
None of these will do "Good low light video quality". Their lenses and imaging chips are too small.
Larger lenses and imaging chips are in:
High end consumer or prosumer: up to $2000
Prosumer or pro: $3,000 and up.
ALL camcorders' video can be edited on a computer - the trick is getting the video into the computer and into a format the video editor can use - this might be by direct connection between the camcorder and computer or additional hardware or software for converting video.
Step 1: Set your budget.
Step 2: Identify the camcorders that fit your budget.
Step 3: Learn what format the camera captures to.
Step 4: Understand how the video will transfer to YOUR computer.
Step 5: Learn how that video will work with YOUR video editor.
Step 6: Buy the camcorder.
Go out of order and you are setting yourself up for frustration and failure.
You did not tell us your budget or what computer you will edit on.
MiniDV tape based camcorders require a firewire port on your computer. MiniDV tape based camcorders provide best available video quality. Microsoft MovieMaker and Apple iMovie are bundled with the operating systems and will import the video. Do not re-use the tapes - they are the back-up/archive.
Flash memory camcorders use USB to transfer video, but you have an extra step to archive or back-up the video (same with hard disc drive camcorders - more on them later). Depending on the editor, you may need to use a conversion program to get the video into a format the video editor can use.
Hard drive camcorders save to the same format that flash memory uses - but I don't recommend them because of some additional vibration and high altitude issues that cause them to not record video - I presume these will not be issues in your case.
DVD based camcorders are terrible for editing and uploading. They barely make useful doorstops.
The software included with the camcorders - in the box - is useless and not needed.
What type of Camcorder is better Tape or digital?
Q. I am looking to buy another camcorder but I was wondering what is better tape or digital like a hard drive or memory card for a digital camcorder. I currently own a Sony Handycam DCR-SR47 and it can be grainy and a bit fuzzy sometimes. My Samsung Galaxy S 4G phone's camcorder is not grainy and is good quality when I use it but I can't attach a tripod to it.
My old camcorder was a Sony Digital 8 which used tapes but that Camcorder died. I know the quality was good for the Digital 8 so my question is should I buy an old camcorder that uses tapes or a new digital camcorder that uses Hard Drives or memory sticks? By the way I bought my new Sony Camcorder in 2009 for $400 at the time I thought it was a good camera to film with but its too grainy.
I film short movies and documentaries so I want the camera I use to be at least good quality for filming cause some of my stuff does get displayed at our local film festival. So my budget is around $300.
I bought a new computer for editing and I am about to buy editing software. Also I am looking to see if there is better editing software. I have been using Pinnacle 12 for a long time and it crashes a lot sometimes for no reason so I am thinking of switching editing software. I own a PC and not a mac so no Final Cut Pro.
I just need to get a good Camcorder that has good quality and also editing software
my budget is:
Camcorder: $300
Editing Software: $100
I loved everyone's answers as it did help me. I am making a short 20 minute film so I can get sponsored by a group that is interested in my script and I wanted to film the first 20 minutes with a decent quality camcorder.
I decided to go with Pinnacle 12 with editing software as I tried Adobe Production Premium for video editing as well as Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD and Pinnacle 12 had better output options, at least it seems that way. I like to put film scenes about 5 minutes in Xvid to see what my friends think of what i have edited but I couldn't find an Xvid format for Sony or Adobe editing software. But again everyone thanks for your answers as it did help.
My old camcorder was a Sony Digital 8 which used tapes but that Camcorder died. I know the quality was good for the Digital 8 so my question is should I buy an old camcorder that uses tapes or a new digital camcorder that uses Hard Drives or memory sticks? By the way I bought my new Sony Camcorder in 2009 for $400 at the time I thought it was a good camera to film with but its too grainy.
I film short movies and documentaries so I want the camera I use to be at least good quality for filming cause some of my stuff does get displayed at our local film festival. So my budget is around $300.
I bought a new computer for editing and I am about to buy editing software. Also I am looking to see if there is better editing software. I have been using Pinnacle 12 for a long time and it crashes a lot sometimes for no reason so I am thinking of switching editing software. I own a PC and not a mac so no Final Cut Pro.
I just need to get a good Camcorder that has good quality and also editing software
my budget is:
Camcorder: $300
Editing Software: $100
I loved everyone's answers as it did help me. I am making a short 20 minute film so I can get sponsored by a group that is interested in my script and I wanted to film the first 20 minutes with a decent quality camcorder.
I decided to go with Pinnacle 12 with editing software as I tried Adobe Production Premium for video editing as well as Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD and Pinnacle 12 had better output options, at least it seems that way. I like to put film scenes about 5 minutes in Xvid to see what my friends think of what i have edited but I couldn't find an Xvid format for Sony or Adobe editing software. But again everyone thanks for your answers as it did help.
A. There are not many analog camcorders out there - new.
Generally, the flash memory hard disc drive consumer camcorders recrod very compressed AVCHD format video. A poor choice for very high quality or anything with fast action. Low compression AVCHD camcorders are available - they cost more and fast action is still an issue.
Digital tape - miniDV and Digital8 - fell out of favor with manufacturers as they brought the AVCHD cams to the unknowing consumers. But let us be very clear... Digital tape (the "DV" in miniDV = Digital Video) is just as "digital" as flash memory or hard disc drive storage. The format is different, but the video information is zeros and ones. And, by the way, Digital8 tape is also digital. What you may have confusion with at this point is standard definition video (480 horizontal lines of video resolution) vs high definition video (720 or 1080 horizontal lines of video resolution).
"Grainy" video is generally attributed to using the camcorder in an environment that does not have enough light. This is not a recording media issue. Many times, in low-light situations - the camcorder does not know what to focus on because it cannot "see" the object very well.... again, not a recording media issue, but a camcorder with a lens not large enough or imaging chips not large enough to deal with the lighting.
Phones that record video will record to an extremely compressed format - and have little lenses and imaging chips, so expect poor quality. There are tripod mounting brackets available that are adjustable... do a search using "universal cell phone tripod mount" and check the hits.
We don't know what computer hardware you have. The editor could be fantastic (Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere), but if the computer does not have enough RAM (minimum 4 gig) or not enough available hard drive space - and an external drive is not being used for the video files, and an unstable computer operating system environment, the editor won't fix "crashing a lot".
For $300, you aren't going to get much... I'd be looking at the Canon HF M series - they are AVCHD, but also have a mic jack and manual audio control. The Canon HV40 is still around and more than you want to spend - but it is miniDV tape based. Same with the Sony HDR-FX7... unless you can stomach used like a Canon GL2 or Sony DCR-VX2000 series...
Any video editor can work - assuming the video format can be used. If not, then converting - transcoding - is needed. HandBrake and MPEG Streamclip are both very capable. There are lots of others. Just remember to transcode to a low compression version. This will use lots of hard drive space but will not reduce video quality like more compression will.
The minimum I would consider for "film festival entry" potential is more like a Sony HDR-FX1000 miniDV tape based cam with external mics (using a juicedLink or Beachtek XLR adapter) like those from Shure or Sennheiser (among others). As you know, use of miniDV tape assumes your computer has a working firewire port or the ability to add one as bursty USB will not be able to handle the streaming requirements that firewire provides.
Generally, the flash memory hard disc drive consumer camcorders recrod very compressed AVCHD format video. A poor choice for very high quality or anything with fast action. Low compression AVCHD camcorders are available - they cost more and fast action is still an issue.
Digital tape - miniDV and Digital8 - fell out of favor with manufacturers as they brought the AVCHD cams to the unknowing consumers. But let us be very clear... Digital tape (the "DV" in miniDV = Digital Video) is just as "digital" as flash memory or hard disc drive storage. The format is different, but the video information is zeros and ones. And, by the way, Digital8 tape is also digital. What you may have confusion with at this point is standard definition video (480 horizontal lines of video resolution) vs high definition video (720 or 1080 horizontal lines of video resolution).
"Grainy" video is generally attributed to using the camcorder in an environment that does not have enough light. This is not a recording media issue. Many times, in low-light situations - the camcorder does not know what to focus on because it cannot "see" the object very well.... again, not a recording media issue, but a camcorder with a lens not large enough or imaging chips not large enough to deal with the lighting.
Phones that record video will record to an extremely compressed format - and have little lenses and imaging chips, so expect poor quality. There are tripod mounting brackets available that are adjustable... do a search using "universal cell phone tripod mount" and check the hits.
We don't know what computer hardware you have. The editor could be fantastic (Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere), but if the computer does not have enough RAM (minimum 4 gig) or not enough available hard drive space - and an external drive is not being used for the video files, and an unstable computer operating system environment, the editor won't fix "crashing a lot".
For $300, you aren't going to get much... I'd be looking at the Canon HF M series - they are AVCHD, but also have a mic jack and manual audio control. The Canon HV40 is still around and more than you want to spend - but it is miniDV tape based. Same with the Sony HDR-FX7... unless you can stomach used like a Canon GL2 or Sony DCR-VX2000 series...
Any video editor can work - assuming the video format can be used. If not, then converting - transcoding - is needed. HandBrake and MPEG Streamclip are both very capable. There are lots of others. Just remember to transcode to a low compression version. This will use lots of hard drive space but will not reduce video quality like more compression will.
The minimum I would consider for "film festival entry" potential is more like a Sony HDR-FX1000 miniDV tape based cam with external mics (using a juicedLink or Beachtek XLR adapter) like those from Shure or Sennheiser (among others). As you know, use of miniDV tape assumes your computer has a working firewire port or the ability to add one as bursty USB will not be able to handle the streaming requirements that firewire provides.
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