Video cameras for students.

April 16, 2012 8:22 AM

Best ultra-cheap video cameras for middle school students?

I'm starting a project soon that involves working with middle school students, and we'd like to get a few video cameras for them to use. They don't need to be particularly fancy, but it would be awesome if they had some kind of external audio jack.

The project isn't specifically about making videos, but it is about performance, so we'd like the videos to look/sound decent.

I've tried searching online for current info about this kind of thing, but can't find anything up to date.

Thanks everybody!

posted by hapticactionnetwork to Technology (6 answers total)

C-Net did a budget camcorder roundup last fall.

It might make sense for you to purchase a couple for your program if this is a recurring activity, but if it's a one-off thing you might want to see if any parent volunteers have camera phones that can handle your (I assume not too complex) needs. I've been surprised recently by how widely smart phones have penetrated to students.
posted by Wretch729 at 8:42 AM on April 16, 2012

I would go for the Kodak Pocket Zi8. I don't think they are being produced anymore, so to get a good price you might have to get them second-hand. Just checked ebay, there are about 20 on there under 100 dollars. They are very similar to the "flip" model of pocket HD camcorders, but they have an external audio jack, headphones jack, and audio monitoring. I can't think of anything new today that has all that in the ultra-cheap range.
posted by 2ghouls at 8:42 AM on April 16, 2012

Cisco discontinued the Flip a year ago, but you can still pick them up on eBay for around $100:

http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Flip-Video-UltraHD-1hr-2nd-Generation-4-GB-Camcorder-White-/99973679?_refkw=flip+camera&_pcatid=804&_pcategid=625&_from=R40&_dmpt=Camcorders_Professional_Video_Cameras

Your basic compact point-and-shoot camera will have video capability nowadays, for that matter.
posted by chengjih at 8:43 AM on April 16, 2012

If your values for "ultra-cheap" and "decent" are sufficiently low, you might want to try something like this sub-$50 model. We got one for my daughter a little while back, and it is perfectly usable, but I don't think it has an external audio jack.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:02 AM on April 16, 2012

I don't think I've ever before heard of a sub-100-dollar camera with an external mic jack, so if you really can find the Zi8 in that price range, it does sound like your best bet. In my experience, the mic jack is considered a higher end sort of feature and manufacturers generally just don't include it on their lower priced models.

For all things cheap and video related, check out The Frugal Filmmaker. In addition to offering his own tips for shooting video on a shoe-string budget, he links to a ton of other resources on the same topic.

For a cheapy camera, The FF recommends the Sanyo XACTI VPC-CG20 HD, but it doesn't have a mic jack. He recommends pairing it with a field audio recorder. A popular one is the Zoom H1, which sells for around a 100 bucks . The thing is, you'll need to merge the audio and video files using a computer and editing software. It's not complicated, but it's an extra step that may not fit into your curriculum.

Whichever audio recording solution you choose, you'll need microphones to plug into your jacks. The FF recommends low-priced lavalier mics.

My own experience is primarily with shopping for mid-range (300 to 700 bucks) cameras with mic jacks. In this neck of the woods, I found myself looking almost exclusively at Canon's Vixia line and some of Sony's offerings; the JVCs and other brands didn't usually offer this feature. Right now, the cheapest Vixia I can find from a retailer is this one for 300.

Whichever models you target, though, I recommend checking out dealnews.com's camcorder category for the lowest prices. I've been seeing a lot of ultra-cheap pocket-type models there lately, but the listings change all the time.

One other caution. If you shoot in 1080 and you plan to do any sort of editing (even if it's just putting some titles at the beginning of the video), you may need a computer with a quad-core processor. I've been trying to work with AVCHD, which is the most resource intensive version of 1080 and doing it on a dual-core is pretty iffy. You might have an easier time with a more compressed format like MP4 or the like, but my advice is to read up on system requirements before you jump in.

I think you should be able to find something workable. But if you're really desperate to do this and the budget just won't permit it, you might try going with standard definition cameras (perhaps mini-DV or compact DVD). The audio would probably be about the same but the picture wouldn't be as good.

Best of luck. I hope this all pans out.
posted by Clay201 at 11:17 AM on April 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everybody, this has all been really helpful! In case anyone is wondering, I think we're going to go with the Kodak Pocket Zi8.
posted by hapticactionnetwork at 7:52 AM on April 27, 2012