Q. I am looking to purchase a camcorder to record my golf swing. I am not looking to spend $3,000 on something like the Minolta Swing Vision camera you see them using on TV with the 4000 frames per second. Does anyone have any recommendations for camcorders they have used to record their golf swings that are reasonably priced? Thanks!
A. The ONLY consumer cameras that even approach what you want are a few of the higher-end Sony consumer camcorders that have the "smooth slow record" feature. Be advised that even though these camcorders are considered "high definition", when the smooth slow record" feature is invoked, the video quality is degraded (and no longer high definition).
I am looking for a camera I can take to the golf driving range record my swing and download it to my computer?
Q.
A. Nearly any camcorder will do - you do not need "special" high speed camcorder (but you can investigate them - and buy one if it makes you feel any better).
What is your budget?
For best results, you need good lighting and the ability to manually increase the camcorder's shutter speed to 1/1000 second or more. On regular consumer-grade camcorders with a 30mm diameter lens and 1/6" imaging chip, the 1/1000 second shutter speed will make the image darker. Whether it is too dark for you is unknown. So... using a camcorder with a lens diameter of larger than 37mm is strongly suggested... They generally come with a larger imaging chip, so you should be OK there... THEN...
The video needs to be not very compressed. The least amount of compression comes with using miniDV tape based camcorders. The Canon HV40 is about as low as I would suggest (but you can probably get away with s Canon ZR960, Panasonic PV-GS320 or Sony DCR-HC62 - all are standard definition only, mini DV tape based camcorders). Flash memory and hard disc drive camcorders compress their video a lot more than miniDV tape... and DVD camcorders compress the most and must be avoided.
Assuming you want to import that video to your computer for analysis, all miniDV tape based camcorders mean your computer needs a firewire port because the only way you will get the video from the HV40 to the computer is by connecting a firewire cable to the camcorder's DV port and the computer's firewire port. USB won't work (it cannot handle the streaming requirements of either standard definition DV or high definition HDV).
If your computer does not have a firewire port and you are unwilling or unable to add one, then look into flash memory (Canon FS series or HF series are suggested). The video is copied (not imported) over USB and may need to be converted. Because of the compression, expect to see lots of "artifacts" because of the fast motion - even with the fast shutter speed. I tend to stay away from consumer-grade internal hard drive camcorders. They use the same file types the flash memory cams do, but they have too many know issues with vibration, altitude and data recovery - these might not be important to you for the golf stuff, but if you decide to use the camcorder for other things, you might as well prepare for them ahead of time.
You probably don't need to record in HDV, but that is up to you.
If you think you need a "high speed" video recording device, the good ones will be just a camera head that connects to a computer... Vision Research and Photron make some affordable units. If you rely on something like the Casio Exilim EX-F1, you will be constantly checking the memory to see if there is enough space left on the memory card, and the compression rate is REALLY a lot, so full screen, good, resolution is very challenging.
What is your budget?
For best results, you need good lighting and the ability to manually increase the camcorder's shutter speed to 1/1000 second or more. On regular consumer-grade camcorders with a 30mm diameter lens and 1/6" imaging chip, the 1/1000 second shutter speed will make the image darker. Whether it is too dark for you is unknown. So... using a camcorder with a lens diameter of larger than 37mm is strongly suggested... They generally come with a larger imaging chip, so you should be OK there... THEN...
The video needs to be not very compressed. The least amount of compression comes with using miniDV tape based camcorders. The Canon HV40 is about as low as I would suggest (but you can probably get away with s Canon ZR960, Panasonic PV-GS320 or Sony DCR-HC62 - all are standard definition only, mini DV tape based camcorders). Flash memory and hard disc drive camcorders compress their video a lot more than miniDV tape... and DVD camcorders compress the most and must be avoided.
Assuming you want to import that video to your computer for analysis, all miniDV tape based camcorders mean your computer needs a firewire port because the only way you will get the video from the HV40 to the computer is by connecting a firewire cable to the camcorder's DV port and the computer's firewire port. USB won't work (it cannot handle the streaming requirements of either standard definition DV or high definition HDV).
If your computer does not have a firewire port and you are unwilling or unable to add one, then look into flash memory (Canon FS series or HF series are suggested). The video is copied (not imported) over USB and may need to be converted. Because of the compression, expect to see lots of "artifacts" because of the fast motion - even with the fast shutter speed. I tend to stay away from consumer-grade internal hard drive camcorders. They use the same file types the flash memory cams do, but they have too many know issues with vibration, altitude and data recovery - these might not be important to you for the golf stuff, but if you decide to use the camcorder for other things, you might as well prepare for them ahead of time.
You probably don't need to record in HDV, but that is up to you.
If you think you need a "high speed" video recording device, the good ones will be just a camera head that connects to a computer... Vision Research and Photron make some affordable units. If you rely on something like the Casio Exilim EX-F1, you will be constantly checking the memory to see if there is enough space left on the memory card, and the compression rate is REALLY a lot, so full screen, good, resolution is very challenging.
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