Right camcorder for a mac guy?

March 23, 2006 2:43 PM

I'm a mac guy. Is this camcorder a good fit?

I'm looking for a budget (400 or less) camcorder. I'm leaning towards, and was actually going to buy, the Canon Elura 100. However, it seems the Digital video input format is AVI, which is a windows format.

Using a mac, iMovie/iDVD, would that make this a bad choice?

Also, I read, but don't quite believe, that video is transferred through Firewire only, no usb. If my next mac comes without Firewire, am I screwed?

posted by Dennis Murphy to computers & internet (10 comments total)

However, it seems the Digital video input format is AVI, which is a windows format.

The only thing you can store on MiniDV tapes is DV. Either the CNET page is wrong or AVI refers to the format used for storing video clips on the SD card, if it can do that.

Also, I read, but don't quite believe, that video is transferred through Firewire only, no usb. If my next mac comes without Firewire, am I screwed?

Yes. But I don't think Apple can get away with dropping FireWire any time soon, for exactly this reason.
posted by cillit bang at 2:49 PM on March 23, 2006

It's highly unlikely that Apple is going to drop Firewire. The Elura is a good camera.

Canon straight up says it'll work fine:
"Q)What is required to download video from my MiniDV Camcorder to my computer running OS X?
A)To download video from your Mini DV Camcorder to your computer, you will need the following:

A computer with a working IEEE-1394 (Firewire) port
Digital Video capture and editing software. Examples of this would include iMovie or Final Cut Pro."
posted by drstein at 3:59 PM on March 23, 2006

Yes, it's a good fit. FireWire ain't going nowhere, and Canon products work easily with Mac OS X. Go forth and purchase.
posted by cribcage at 4:11 PM on March 23, 2006

Thanks to all three of you. Consider me schooled. Going to pick it up right now.
posted by Dennis Murphy at 4:21 PM on March 23, 2006

crib: Firewire is already gone on the MacBook Pro, and I imagine this trend will most certainly continue with Macs from here on out. I personally wouldn't consider Firewire stuff to be particular future-proof in terms of Macs.
posted by wackybrit at 2:04 AM on March 24, 2006

Expansion: One FireWire 400 port at up to 400 Mbps

They dropped the FireWire 800 port that no one used, mainly because there wasn't a compatible FW800 chipset available. The normal FireWire port is still there.
posted by cillit bang at 3:00 AM on March 24, 2006

Yes, cillit bang. I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro, and it's most definitely got a FireWire port. Just not FW800. Not that I use either anymore.
posted by tommorris at 4:59 AM on March 24, 2006

Firewire is already gone on the MacBook Pro...

No, it's not. Read the specifications (under "Expansion").

That sort of comment absolutely ruins AskMe and really pisses me off. The purpose of this website is so that people with questions can get answers from people with knowledge. If you don't know what you're talking about, stay out of the thread.
posted by cribcage at 9:24 AM on March 24, 2006

Hey, I apologize! I've provided 903 answers on AskMeFi and your snark is ridiculous. We can't be right all the time, and the risk of one bad answer in hundreds of good ones is not worth avoiding to me. I sincerely thought I was correct, and appreciate the people who bothered to correct my answer without taking pot shots (as I do if I see incorrect answers myself).
posted by wackybrit at 7:22 AM on March 26, 2006

We can't be right all the time...

People say this, and it's bullshit. Of course you can. Just follow one simple rule: If you don't know what you're talking about, keep your mouth shut.

Congratulations on your 903 answers. Color me impressed. Back to the subject at hand, however, I'll repeat: Stick to threads where you know what you're talking about, and you won't have to resort to childish cop-outs like, "We can't be right all the time."
posted by cribcage at 9:36 PM on March 31, 2006