Should I get a camcorder?

April 15, 2009 3:08 PM

If you bought a camcorder in anticipation of the birth of a child, did you end up using it?

Baby #1 is due in June. I'm debating about getting a camcorder (not for the birth part, but for the baby growing up part). As they can be expensive, if you got a camcorder for this type of situation, did you actually end up using it like you thought you would? My concern is that I'll get one and not use it, or get one and feel like I have to use it but not really enjoy it. On the plus side, maybe I'll get one and absolutely love that I have one, especially later in life. What has been your experience? Thanks in advance!

posted by Elaisa to technology (45 comments total)

Yes, I used mine a lot with the first two babies (after I was out-numbered and run off my feet, not so much). Especially when the baby is new and can't cause too much trouble it is easy to film. Be sure to get video of your eldest relatives holding the baby.
posted by saucysault at 3:15 PM on April 15

Yes, and we used it, but we never watched the videos much. Also, we got a tape-based MiniDV one and it ate/corrupted a few tapes including the birth of child #2 (for better or worse - what was I thinking taping that?). I would advise against a tape-based solution as tapes are a huge hassle and get destroyed very, very easily. Get something that records to a harddrive or dvd-r.

The one great thing is that looking at the footage 10 years later does indeed bring back memories! You feel like a fool for having it while recording but it can be a great thing to have.
posted by GuyZero at 3:21 PM on April 15

Congratulations! We just had our first in January.

My wife talked me down from buying an expensive camcorder, and I picked up a Flip instead when our daughter was born. The flip has turned out to be great. The quality is fine, and has all sorts of on board editing and uploading software. This makes the post-production painless, since the last thing I have right now is free time. I can plug the camera in, edit the video, convert and upload it to my website or youtube in about 5-10 minutes.

Good luck!
posted by mattybonez at 3:21 PM on April 15

My dad used the VHS camcorder he bought when I was little a lot. Not constantly, but enough to make videos of family outings and the like, and edit together a video compilation for my grandmother a few times a year. It's pretty amazing looking at them 18 years later (though my parents don't like watching them much themselves!) Video projects a sense of who I was when I was a kid that still photos just don't.

But my dad likes to document things - whether you'll use your camera or not depends on whether you've got that kind of documentary impulse or not.
posted by bubukaba at 3:23 PM on April 15

My sister and brother-in-law bought a new digital camera and camcorder before the birth of their son. They've used both very extensively. They sometimes post videos on Youtube for the extended family to enjoy and everyone loves it.

Pro tip: Check out Snapfish if you want to order real prints from your digital pictures. The site gets two very big thumbs up from my sis.
posted by Diskeater at 3:24 PM on April 15

Sort of unrelated, but just thought about it... before the baby came, I also picked up a standalone photo printer. The kind that you plug the memory card into, and it has a wee screen.

Anyhow, this has been great for us. We've had a steady stream of family members down to visit, and on the last night of the visit, we cull through the pictures and print out the best for them. The printer only prints 4x6 and 5x7, but it does a really good job, and I never have to promise to mail anyone pictures.
posted by mattybonez at 3:28 PM on April 15

Yes - ours was under $300 and we use it for special occasions. It's captured Christmases, Easters, Birthdays, etc.

For general day-to-day stuff, I do short videos using my Canon Powershot.
posted by Ostara at 3:31 PM on April 15

Yes, we bought one (tape-based MiniDV) when our first child was born 8 years ago.

No, we don't use it much. This is despite owning something like 2+ computers per capita in our house and being eager to embrace almost any bright and shiny computer-related distraction. The camcorder is too big and requires just enough extra effort that it typically gets ignored completely or just left behind.

Instead, I find myself taking short video clips with our point-and-shoot digital camera. The quality is only so-so, but it's small and fits in the pocket well. In our case, "handy" trumps "full featured/higher quality".

If you want to take a lot of videos, a Flip may be the best solution. If you plan to take videos infrequently but want to have the option, get a good point-and-shoot camera that has good video support.
posted by mosk at 3:32 PM on April 15 [1 favorite]

I used one extensively for the first two years of my first child's life. Now, with two kids, I never use it at all. I don't have a spare hand to hold a camcorder, and I definitely don't have time to edit together all the footage into a viewable product. Also, most of my videos that date from after my children are old enough to walk and realize what I'm doing consists of them stopping whatever activity caused me to get the camera in the first place and demanding to see the footage or to use the camcorder themselves. What they really want to do is direct, apparently.

However, I love the footage I have of my son, and I'm glad I have it. I stumbled across an old DVD a few days ago and watched it, rapt and weeping ("sunrise, sunset"), for an hour. Now, however, we use the little Flip camera and just shoot short clips that we share with the relatives over Flickr. It's convenient to carry, takes very little effort, and can be used without drawing attention to itself.
posted by bibliowench at 3:34 PM on April 15

My dad used his camcorder throughout my entire childhood. Frankly, it made me miserable because it seemed like he couldn't enjoy our family vacations and special occasions without a box over his eye. But yeah. He used it. I don't think my parents watch the videos, though.
posted by katillathehun at 3:38 PM on April 15

We got a Flip as a gift from friends when our daughter was about 4 months- we've used it a lot. Not a ton, but it's definitely been nice to post short videos to our Flickr account to show faraway relatives what she's up to. The Flip is pretty cheap, easy to use, and has really good quality for the price.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 3:40 PM on April 15

Our experience has been that the fancy camcorder sits unused, too expensive to take out in case we break it. The tiny Flip camcorder wee bought has seen a ton of use, both to record our child in action and as a baby distraction device.

As for the actual event - you will probably be too busy.
posted by Artw at 3:41 PM on April 15

Also, I don't think we missed out on having it in the first few months. She just wasn't all that active (New babies don't do much) but now that she's crawling and super mobile and interactive, having a video camera is a nice luxury.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 3:43 PM on April 15

cheers for the video flip!

easy to use (even your most technically challenged relative can use it), easy to carry around & easy to upload or replay video on the television for instant replays.
posted by ms.jones at 3:58 PM on April 15

You will use it, but you may not necessarily view the footage immediately.

But I will tell you that years from now, when your child is an adult and gets engaged, your child's fiance will greatly enjoy watching those videos, no matter how mundane the subject.

Have fun with it!
posted by jabberjaw at 4:03 PM on April 15

I didn't want video of the birth, but a friend was there and took stills. Since a had a surgical delivery, the pictures are very nice to have, since I was exhausted and drugged. My son loved looking at them.
posted by theora55 at 4:15 PM on April 15

Before our daughter was born, I picked up an 8 megapixel digital camera w/ video capture capabilities and a miniDV video camera. Four years later, I've captured ~12 hours of footage using the miniDV and thousands of hours (something like 1.5 terabytes) of video (+another 500GB of pics) using the digital camera. I tend to carry my camera everywhere I go, so pocketing it has become second nature; the miniDV, on the other hand, is gathering dust on a shelf.

Some of your favorite vids/pics will be captured in the seemingly uneventful moments (a spectacular projectile spit-up, for example), so having a compact dual-use device can be invaluable. And given the bulk of baby gear you'll be hauling over your shoulder, its great to be able to reach into your pocket and snap a quick shot or vid without fumbling for the other device.

Naturally, the video quality suffers when capturing on the digital camera, but newer cameras can offer up to HD quality resolution. Another bonus of an all-in-one solution is that transferring, archiving and managing your media is much easier--just connect and transfer all your pics and vids with a few clicks.

Whatever solution you go with, be sure to capture at least a few minutes every day for at least the first six months. It's astounding to look back and perceptibly witness your child's day-to-day development. Even more fun to spend a rainy day browsing the archive with your child--it's one of my four-year old's favorite pastimes.
posted by prinado at 4:15 PM on April 15

Yeah, like prinado said, invest in a compact digital camera that takes good videos and you should be fine. Make sure the camera doesn't limit the length of the video you can take, and get the biggest memory card you can find/afford. The portability definitely makes it more likely that you're going to use it often, and you can take pictures too.

I know this is unrelated, but don't forget to have a good redundant back up of your pictures and videos. I shudder to think about the possibility of losing all those keepsakes.
posted by Simon Barclay at 4:29 PM on April 15

Another Flip fan here.

We were given a camcorder (that writes to mini-DVD things) and my point-and-shoot digital camera also takes QT video. Guess which we use more? With the camcorder, its always ... haul it out ... is there a disc? Is the battery charged? By the time we set it up we've missed the moment.

The camera (and now the Flip) on the other hand is always handy, fits right in my pocket, and we can instantly upload the video to Flickr and the like.

Get a Flip. Amazon has the 30 minute one for about $70.
posted by anastasiav at 4:31 PM on April 15

Get something to record video for sure. My brother and I are in our mid-twenties and we LOVE watching the (extensive) videos our parents took of us as babies & little kids. As jabberjaw said, it's especially fun to show to significant others.
posted by insectosaurus at 4:41 PM on April 15

We bought an HD, MiniDV-based camcorder just after our son was born, and we're glad we have it. We don't often watch the videos, but we do a "best of" video every six months for the grandparents.

Before getting it, I thought of a camcorder as a way to see the things my son did, but I think of the the best parts is being able to hear his voice. He's almost 18 months now, and listening to his little voice at 3 months chokes me up every time.
posted by DakotaPaul at 4:55 PM on April 15

Seconding what insectosaurus said. Think way into the future; your kids will love to watch themselves when they're a little older and once your kids have moved out of the house you'll be glad to have videos to remind you what it was like to have a 2- or 10-year old running around doing the crazy things they do. Even though it might not seem interesting now, take videos of everything you can -- bath time, squirming on the bed, running around when they're a little older -- you'll be glad to have them to look back to.
posted by ellenaim at 4:58 PM on April 15

nth the flip. It's great for 1-2 minute vids of the baby. Everyone, including me, her devoted mother, gets bored at anything longer.
posted by gaspode at 4:59 PM on April 15

When our first child was almost a year we got (two!) camcorders as gifts (we returned one). We get it out for special occasions - holidays, school plays, birthdays, etc. My husband is more apt to use it than I am for the simple reason - I really don't like fiddling with the thing - no matter how easy - and I often feel like when I am using the camcorder, I'm not really experiencing the moment - it's all just being seen through the lens of a camcorder. I feel detached from the moment.

We rarely ever watch the videos back. But I'd hate to lose those videos. I'm glad we have the camcorder and that we have caught some precious moments on it.

We also use our canon powershot camera quite frequently as our means of recording something. Often, the things kids do are amusing for the first few minutes, but 10 hours of it just isn't necessary. Recently, we attended my 5 year old's kindergarten play. We didn't record the entire play, just some key parts that showcased him. So, a camera can work just as well as a camcorder for recording some neat things.

We've had our camcorder for 8 years. When we attend school functions and bring it we feel really old school with it. It's about 3x the size of everyone else's. But it does it's job and that's what counts.

If you're not sure - don't go overboard with spending on one. Regardless, I would recommend having one.
posted by Sassyfras at 5:13 PM on April 15

I've debated this as well throughout my wife's pregnancy. She gave birth 3 weeks ago to our beautiful baby boy. But I haven't bought a video camera-yet-for a rather simple reason: babies don't do much. My son, at three weeks, is awesome beyond words, but as a documentary subject I can't follow him around and shoot all the funny stuff he does. He doesn't really do anything funny-yet. I think a more useful purchase is a good still camera, which is exactly what I bought. I went out and got a pretty top end Nikon and have taken a bazillion good quality stills of the kid. Babies that just lie there are great still photo subjects.

I'll be getting a video camera sometime soon, probably this year. Certainly by the time he starts walking. But if I were you I wouldn't sweat it.
posted by zardoz at 5:21 PM on April 15

We considered getting the Flip, but wanted a few more features than they offer. We ended up getting a Sanyo Xacti, and have been pretty happy with it so far.

Baby's six weeks old now and we haven't used the camera much yet. To be honest...she doesn't really do anything noteworthy yet. We could record videos of her lying fairly still, flailing an arm occasionally, and staring slightly cross-eyed at nothing in particular, but even we, her devoted and adoring parents, find that a little boring.

In a few weeks, when she's smiling and babbling and grabbing at stuff, I'm sure we'll flood YouTube with footage of the kid, though.
posted by tomatofruit at 5:32 PM on April 15

Speaking from the other side (the non parent one), I would say get one. My parents had one when I was a kid and used it a fair bit, and even though viewing old family videos has never been a friday night family activity, it's great to have them. They also contain footage of my parents and grandparents, so it's not even just about documenting the child, but a period in your collective lives.

I would agree with katillathehun about over use, but this really only comes into play in the teenage years, which is a world away from you at this stage.
posted by atmosphere at 5:43 PM on April 15

I read my great-great-grandfather's journal, and even though he was distilling out the important bits (a big component is copies of letters he wrote home), the flavor of everyday life still comes through, and I enjoy that. But then, he can write, "Pitched hay for five hours," and it doesn't take me five hours to read it. And in my imagination the color balance is correct and the audio is high fidelity, and the cameraman abstains from nausea-inducing shakes, zooms, or whip pans. Just sayin'. I don't think you'll ever regret shooting a little footage here and there, but it can be, and probably has often been, overdone.
posted by eritain at 5:44 PM on April 15

We have two Mini-DVs. The first one, an expensive Sharp, has always been wonky, so we got a cheap Samsung one. I took a lot of MiniDV back when our first son was born, but then stopped. I would kill for a Flip (they don't sell them in Canada).
posted by KokuRyu at 6:26 PM on April 15

My parents embarrassed me to Ms. Vegetable with baby videos shot on an old-ass huge late-70s/early-80s camera, so yeah.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 6:36 PM on April 15

Although I have no children yet, the one thing I have observed from my own family, is that almost nobody ends up watching videos once they are shot. Furthermore, the moment you whip out a camera, everyone runs and hides most of the time. I generally find still photography to be the best way to document life in general. You are more likely to sit down and flip through a photo album, than watch a 2 hour video.
posted by scarello at 6:47 PM on April 15

Something to record your child's voice. Maybe not immediately, but when they're talking. We have old cassette tapes my dad made when we were little, and they're great. A camcorder or pocket digital camera with voice will do that, plus video. You will appreciate it when the kid is 25!
posted by defcom1 at 7:55 PM on April 15

Bought a Canon miniDV camera just after our twin boys were born. We decided to upgrade from an old 6MP Canon PowerShot that was good enough for taking videos of our cats. Very glad we did. The video quality is somewhat better (moreso when zoomed) and the sound quality is much better. I basically just download the files to my computer and upload them straight to youtube so that family and friends can see the videos.

So far we've shot about an hour's worth of footage over 5.5 months. Obviously, our situation is a little different: we've shot less than we might because we've been extra exhausted due to twins; on the other hand, we've probably shot more than we might because we have twice as many babies doing cute stuff.

My concern is that I'll get one ... but not really enjoy it.

I'm kinda with you on this one. I'm really big on taking still pictures (I've taken about 1700 since the boys were born). That being said, I don't really enjoy using the video camera because I don't like experiencing a moment through the viewfinder. With a still camera, while something's happening, you take a bunch of shots in a few seconds, and then you go back to being in the moment (or you just take pictures when nothing exciting is going on, just to get some portraits). With the video camera, you watch something that's happening right in front of you through a small screen. (Of course, you could just not use the viewfinder, but I've found that when I don't mind the screen, my hand veers off within a few seconds and the subject is falling out of the frame.) I just feel too disconnected from what's happening when I'm taping it, so I sometimes resist the urge to break it out. However, we have some ridiculously cute videos that are well worth the money we spent on the camera.
posted by puritycontrol at 8:00 PM on April 15

We use our digital camera (Canon powershot) all the time to capture our now 3 month old twins. I am surprised at those above who say that because babies don't do much when they are brand new it's not worth taking video. Babies change so fast it's fun to watch what they were like when they were brand new. (Of course, now I want the Flip!)
posted by ms.v. at 8:50 PM on April 15

viewing old family videos has never been a friday night family activity

In my family, it is. My sisters and I watch old videos kind of excessively when we're together. We were really strange kids - to the point where my sisters' friends will come over and watch family videos with us because they're so funny. One thing that's really cool for us is that you can see older relatives...my grandfather injured himself when I was small and none of us girls can remember him walking without a cane, but sure enough, in the videos he's walking on his own and picking me up and running around with the dog. We have video of my great-grandmother, who died in 1992, at Thanksgiving dinner. These may be really meaningful to your child, or not. But I know it means a lot to my sisters and me.

I'd say get a Flip because it's so easy and quick. But definitely take some video because kids are craaazy and it's so fun to watch when you know that crazy kid making up goofy stories turned out to be you.
posted by crinklebat at 9:07 PM on April 15

A camcorder, IMHO, is way way way more than you'll need for baby stuff. We have 2 Canon Powershots and take videos of little cute things with those. The quality is great and we always have them around. We have a Flip too, but the quality is not even close to that of the Canons.

Also, a vote for Flickr for photo management.
posted by k8t at 9:33 PM on April 15

our hospital has a no-video policy at birthings, so i set my Canon S1IS intervalometer to shoot at 1 min intervals during the delivery... but it got knocked over in all the excitement (no tripod; set it on a roll-away table; poor planning, alas), so i got about 3 good images in all.

but, for us, the one-camera-that-shoots-good-video deal has been a great thing. we've since graduated to a Canon S5IS in the last year or so, but still use just one camera to document all the best moments of our lives. our daughter is 4 now and, since shortly before she was born until now, i've got some 200GB of video and more than 20,000 images saved on our HDs... everything's backed up twice... and the best-of stills go on flickr, along with the occasional video.

they are our favorite things to watch. at dinner we often put on music and let a slideshow roll in the background. after dinner, we let our daughter pick a year, or a month, or a memory, and watch a few old videos before bed. i cannot express enough how special even the most mundane situations become when viewed in this manner.

the other real advantage to the Canon point-and-shoot cameras is their total hackability and aftermarket lens & accessory selection.
posted by RockyChrysler at 10:13 PM on April 15

Seconding / thirding / nthing various points above: we got a basic miniDV camcorder prior to our son's birth (18 months ago) but have been using it less and less, whereas the video-recording capability on our normal digital camera has been getting more and more use.

Two main reasons for this that I don't think anybody's enunciated. First, the camcorder is a fair amount bigger, and once the little guy notices something with a dangling lens cap and buttons to press in a parent's hand, it's all over -- the rest of the video is The Attack of the Baby Who Keeps Saying "button button button". (Even the digicam runs into this problem much of the time... but the Flip would probably pass this test.) Second, with the digicam I can switch between stills and video instantaneously, and that's incredibly useful.

Plus, iPhoto handles the digicam video clips perfectly and treats them as a seamless part of our library (read: Baby Image Archive), which is just what I instinctively want. I don't want to muck about with iMovie, easy though it may be -- I just want to replay, email, and otherwise share these short clips as they are.

And a warning for those of you with really young'uns who say "the baby doesn't do anything noteworthy yet": TAKE VIDEO ANYWAY, even if it's just of baby sleeping or bouncing in the bouncy seat. Less then a year from now you'll find it hard to remember what baby was like before he/she was walking, talking, actively interacting with the world. Sleep deprivation in the first months make all memories hazy and fragmented, and you'll want to remember the baby "just being" in ways that no still photo can capture. Trust me on this one.
posted by sesquipedalia at 10:33 PM on April 15

I've found that I use the video feature on my still camera (Canon PowerShot G9) much more than my camcorder (Sony DCR-HC38). If you go with a camcorder, I'd say avoid miniDV and go with a hard-drive based one, as dumping from tape eats up a lot of time.
posted by wheat at 11:20 PM on April 15

You should decide if it will be feasible to make long movies (requires time, software and lots of hard drive space), or just document the child's growing up. For my niece I use a compact camera, the Panasonic LX3, with a great movie mode. I take "shorts", usually video of 30sec-2min, which the family has great fun watching, and record her milestones, such as crawling and eating, in ways that photos can not. The advantage for me is that people hardly know I am recording because it is a camera and everyone acts natural, and these are not so long they get boring. Also I only have to carry one device.

My bias is towards photos that I can print and stick in albums, because I KNOW those will still be around in 10 or 20 years. The videos are very nice to watch but less important to me in the long run.
posted by bchaplin at 3:53 AM on April 16

My mom bought us a small camcorder this past Christmas to take video of our then 3.5 month old daughter. We had wondered about getting a camcorder but never seriously looked into it. My mom saw a good deal, and once she asked someone else if that good deal was on a good product, she picked it up. We've been pretty happy with it. We've been using it mostly to film short (45sec-2min) videos of our daughter doing new things or just being cute. Generally, we set up the moment and film, rather than run for the camera when the baby is being particularly precious, because those moments are particularly fleeting.

Once I got the hang of some light editing software (I didn't like the software that came with the camera), I started uploading stuff to Vimeo. Since most of her family lives a couple of hours away, it's a great way for them to see what she is doing fairly soon after she's done it. Much nicer than waiting until the next visit.

I use my digital camera more (we've taken a lot of still pictures), and sometimes we use the video function on that instead if the picture moment turns into a video moment. I don't know if I would have bought a camcorder myself since we have the video function on our digital camera, but I'm glad we have it now.

Oh, and I've been looking at profiles and seeing people's babies - so cute! :)
posted by melissa at 6:04 AM on April 16

To the people saying that little babies (ie: less than 3 months old) don't do much and therefore don't need to be recorded on video: One of the most amazing things I notice when comparing recent videos of my son (now almost one year old) to videos taken when he was one or two months old is how he moves. You will be amazed at how much a baby's coordination changes in a few months, and there is no way to capture that with pictures. I encourage you to take videos on a weekly basis -- you will definitely get a kick out of them in a year from now. I wish I had taken more videos earlier.
posted by Simon Barclay at 8:58 AM on April 16

Todays camcorders are yesterdays 8mm and Super 8 movie cameras. My Dad bought an 8mm and then later stepped up to the "Super 8" cameras ( with a zoom that worked as you filmed no less!). I vividly remember him taking it everywhere. At times it was so embarrassing. Our pond hockey games, hockey at the arena, Christmas gatherings, us at the zoo, tobogganing ( with the pet dog), picnics with Aunts and Uncles. That was over 40 years ago. But we still have those movies and I wouldn't trade them for anything. There were eight children in our family. Dad would teach me to use his camera and later got me my own. The whole family is in them. The only time my Dad was on ice skates. My Mom and Dad have passed away now, but I still have those movies. So many memories. They've been transferred now.

I bought a VHS camera for videos of my children.

Get the camcorder, you won't regret buying it, but you will regret it if you don't ! And record whoever and whatever you want, whenever you want! Those priceless moments are just that, moments. You don't get a second chance at them. Years from now you'll look back at them with tears in your eyes.
posted by Taurid at 9:42 PM on April 16

We bought a Flip too in advance of the arrival of our daughter, now 6 weeks old, and we've used it quite a bit to record some of those moments you just don't get back -- the milk stupor, the fart heard across the house, the adorable little sneezes, and now the smiling. It has been great and I would highly recommend. Our Flip does seem to have something wrong with it in that it freezes up about half the time you turn it on, so you have to turn it off and on again, but I don't think this problem affects most of the Flips.

Get a Flip!
posted by onlyconnect at 3:36 AM on April 17

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! They are greatly appreciated!
posted by Elaisa at 8:56 AM on April 17