Digital SLRs, Interchangeable Lens Compacts & Lens: what type of digital camcorder is best for making amateur movies?

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

what type of digital camcorder is best for making amateur movies?

I’m into filming and making videos. What type of digital camcorder would be best, keep in mind of editing etc. And delight list the cheapest ones.

Answer by Small Dog
MiniDV tape based.

The least expensive with a mic jack are the Canon ZR900, ZR930 and ZR960. They do not have manual audio control.

The least expensive with a mic jack AND manual audio control are the Canon HV20/HV30/HV40 and the Sony HDR-HC9.

Your computer will need a firewire port because connecting the camcorder’s DV port to the computer’s firewire port and importing the video is the ONLY way that will happen – It won’t work by USB.

If your computer does not have a firewire port, hopefully it has an available expansion slot so you can add one.

USB to firewire cable/hub/adapter/converter things won’t work.

If your computer has no available expansion slot, then the sparkle memory camcorders are your best bet – Canon FS100, FS10, FS11 for standard definition; HF100, HF10, HF11 for high defintion. Video quality will not be as excellent as the miniDV tape because these sparkle memory camcorders compress the video a LOT more than miniDV tape does. I do not believe any of these sparkle memory camcorders ahs manual audio control.

video compression = discarded video data = reduced video quality

All of these camcorders are consumer grade and have small lenses and imaging chips. Video captured in low set alight will be grainy. If excellent low-set alight behavior is a requirement, you need a camcorder with larger lenses and imaging chips… and they start with the Canon GL2 at about $ 1,500.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Back of CVS Disposable Digital Camcorder

Image by @boetter
This is going to be huge for videoblogging, a digital video camcorder for 20 bucks!

I recorded footage on my Samsung digital camcorder by a Maxwell DVD-RW mini disk. All the footage can be viewed on the camcorder, but not on my computer, laptop or DVD player.

Is there any way I can retrieve the files from the disk?

Answer by Silver7
Two things you could try – if you load the disk and it doesn’t appear, it may require a driver (which you should be able to download from the Samsung site), or, if the disk comes up but the files do not run, try to “Explore” to the disk rather than simply clicking it open. Steer to everywhere you see the drive, right-click and select Explore, which may show you files you won’t see simply by clicking.

Answer by zombi86
With a usb or firewire cable.

Answer by just me
you might need to finalize the disk.. on some mini-recorders (like the one i have) you have to finalize the disk before you can veiw it on other devices… after you finalize a disk, you will not be able to place anything else on the disk…

Give your answer to this question below!
10 Things Killed By the Smartphone
Cisco’s recent announcement that it was closing its Flip mini-camcorder business got us thinking. It’s pretty clear that now’s smartphones, with their brilliant HD video cameras, are partly to blame for the Flip’s demise. But how many other consumer products and services–digital or analog–are being killed off by the huge, terrible smartphone?
Read more on CIO