advice on camcorders

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

So i’m heading on two big trips this year (florida and europe) and i want to document my trips

I also want to mess around with some filmmaking (automotive stuff).

Requirements:

Small, handheld (obviously)
Cheap (under 450 or so)
Dont really care if it has HD or not but sure would be nice to have. Problem with this is that it drives up the price.
HAS to have external microphone jack.
Doesnt matter if it has a hard drive or not, it seems like the ones that require SD cards are cheaper (and i’m okay with that since i have a few SD cards laying around)

Thoughts?

2

I don’t know why you’d prioritize an external mic over HD? :gotme:

3

Yeah, i know. Im trying to stay on a budget so i guess im making silly compromises.

4

HD doesnt necessarily mean shit. I got one of those ‘handheld HD’ cameras for christmas and its video looks like a VHS camcorder from the 90s.

5

We’re buying the Flip UltraHD for work. The quality seems to be pretty good 720p.

6

i was reading earlier today, came across this…


“The bottom line: Its small size and attractive price might draw you to the Sony Handycam HDR-CX150 and CX110, but these bare-bones camcorders just barely delivers on the promise of HD quality.”

7

Flip cams are great little things. I’ve got an old one that does VGA at 30 FPS and it looks pretty good. The new ones can do 720p at 60 FPS so I’m probably going to upgrade shortly. Not sure how much more you get for your money if you spend more though. They do max out at 8gb, which is 2 hours of video.

8

GoPro videos always look pretty good !

9

Also, to add on that, you can customize them with graphics and such for no extra charge and free shipping.

10

The Kodak Zi8 takes better 720P video than the Flip HD’s… And while the average video quality IS good, and it does have a external mic in, it has no optical zoom, and no auto focus. These things make a quality camcorder drastically better for the average user. Yes, they do record in 1080P as well, but its not really any better quality than the 720P.

It really depends on what you want to do, but I wouldn’t use a ‘Flip’ for a camcorder replacement. A $500 HD camcorder will destroy it in video quality, and overall usability. But the Zi8/Flip HD are about $100 and do work great for some applications.

I have a Kodak Zi8 in great condition that I never use, if you’re interested.

11

i ended up getting this. leaving for Florida on the 11th so I needed to get something. should be here early next week.

12

Nice choice, I just bought the Canon Vixia HF R10 Full HD…almost the identical camcorder. The picture and sound quality are awesome compared to other ones I tested in the same price range.

13

cool man. i’m glad you like yours. looking forward to giving mine a whirl.

are youtube and vimeo the best video hosting websites? i have a flickr account (Pro) but you’re really limited to the length of the videos you can upload.

14

Vimeo and YouTube are fine, so long as you upload at least 720P content. They’re easy to use, and free…