free my filmmaking

July 27, 2006 6:32 AM

What are the best digital (still) cameras for video?

I hate tape. I hate bulk. I don't mind built in compression. So which digital still cameras have the best video capabilities? Im looking for something that is at least 30fps but having the capability to do 60fps would be a major bonus. Must be at least 640x480 with no time limit. Im looking for personal opinions/samples as well as the internet consensus on niche cameras that rock for video.

bonus question: what are the problems with this type of video compared to hard drive based 3ccd video cameras that can also take high resolution still shots?

p.s. I'm thinking of getting the panasonic lumix LX2 for this purpose.

posted by Infernarl to technology (15 comments total)

I have a panasonic lumix fz10 (from 2003) and the video is surprisingly good at 320x640 at 30 fps (by "60 fps" do you mean 60 interlaced fields? Do any digital still cams do that?) with good sound, length only limited by your memory card. What this means is that while you are shooting pictures of your adorable baby you can quickly switch the mode dial to capture him peeing all over your spouse. For this it is great, and I have tons of clips like this on my hard drive (and backed up to DVDs!). I would not recommend it if you are intentionally going out to shoot to make videos for viewing on TV.

Panasonic is good, newer ones must be better. But if I'm going anywhere with trains, I still gotta haul out the MiniDV (and yes, make sure I have those infernal tapes). The result is that my "terrible two" son freaking loves his 30 minute train DVD.
posted by planetkyoto at 7:01 AM on July 27, 2006

I will say, that almost all the "mpeg4" compressions are crappy to do any sort of editing with.

What do you need 60fps for?
posted by filmgeek at 7:52 AM on July 27, 2006

I don't know a lot about the specifics, but I have a Panasonic Lumix FX-20 and it takes very good movies. The options are 10FPS or 30FPS. It takes them in .mov (Quicktime) format only. I think I'm stuck with a 320x640 size. And the size is limited to your memory card. I think with my 1GB card, I can get up to 95 minutes at their top resolution.
posted by willmize at 7:59 AM on July 27, 2006

IME, digital still cameras are suboptimal for shooting video, because most of them *will not zoom* while you're shooting -- they override it because they haven't made zooming quiet enough not to show up in the soundtrack, so far as I can tell.

I, personally, would get a DV cam that shoots stills, or one of the new direct to card camcorders... but one that's optimized for video, not stills.

But that's just me.

So many things are just me...
posted by baylink at 8:02 AM on July 27, 2006

I also use an ultracompact Panasonic (a Lumix FX9) to shoot video clips. It shoots VGA (640 x 480 pixel) 30fps movies and they are surprisingly good, though less so in low light. The nice thing about the Pannys is that they have image stabilization.

These cameras are great because it's possible to have them around everywhere you go -- mine literally fits in a shirt pocket -- but they are never going to approach a real 3ccd video camera. I haven't tried the hard drive based 3ccd cams (though I very much want to) but the difference between my 3ccd mini-DV video cam and the little Panny is enormous. You wouldn't want to burn the little VGA movies to DVD for example and watch them on a a big screen; you also can't really do any substantial editing with compressed video. It's more than possible to do those things with DV. Of course, 6 minutes of DV at full resolution takes up about a gig IIRC (someone will correct me if I'm wrong), whereas that same gig will get you over an hour of compressed video from the Panny, so there are always trade-offs.

Anyway, for clips you can shoot anywhere and watch on your computer, the little Panasonics can't be beat.

On preview, yeah the zoom doesn't work when you are shooting video. I've noticed that and wondered why. You can zoom in before you shoot, but you can't change the zoom level while shooting. Interesting.
posted by The Bellman at 8:08 AM on July 27, 2006

I have been using a Canon S2 IS for about a year and I was very pleased with the quality of the video clips. They use the AVI format (Motion JPEG instead of MPEG4), wich results in better quality and larger files. The latest incarnation of that camera is Canon S3 IS, which has largely the same capabilities, but more megapixels. The only caveat is each clip is limited to 1GB, which at 30fps 640x480 means about 8min. You can read more and compare with other cameras here
posted by rootcause at 8:19 AM on July 27, 2006

Check out the Canon Powershot S3 IS - I have its predecessor, the S2 and like it very much. Even used it successfully to shoot video overdubs for my band.

You can zoom while shooting (though you will hear the motor). Does 640 x 480 @ 30 fps. David Pogue @ NYTimes likes it too. Killer feature for me -- it also will record uncompressed audio; thus I can use it to record practices.

Plan on getting a couple of fast 2 gig SD cards though.
posted by omnidrew at 8:20 AM on July 27, 2006

I looked into this before. The site to use is DCResource.

Briefly, the Panasonic you probably want is this one

In the alternative, I like the Kodak and the Canon:

A kodak p850 or p880 shoots 640x480 30fps uncompressed and can zoom while filming.

Here's a video of a train (for you planetkyoto ;)) The only time limit is the size of the SD card.

Also check the Canon powershot s2 or s3, which also shoot 640x480, 30fps uncompressed.

I believe, but cannot verify that the canon will also record to a computer hard drive if it is plugged in to one.

The great thing about the Kodak p850 is that you can probably get it for about $220 if you hunt around.
posted by Pastabagel at 8:23 AM on July 27, 2006

My Olympus S320 will do 640x480@30FPS and has a nifty 7.1 megapixel still camera too. The only limit is the xD card size.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:30 AM on July 27, 2006

Oh, and it has some sort of anti-shake feature as well.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:31 AM on July 27, 2006

by "60 fps" do you mean 60 interlaced fields? Do any digital still cams do that?

What do you need 60fps for?

flexibility. 60fps can be used in slow motion and it also carries twice as much information as 30fps. As far as I know the only cameras that can do 60fps are in the Canon PowerShot family (at 320x240)

I know that the quality from camera to camera can vary greatly, has anyone done side by side comparisons? The same thing filmed with many cameras would be really awesome (a shootout).
posted by Infernarl at 9:12 AM on July 27, 2006

the canon sd600 can shoot 30 or 60fps. 30fps is 640x480 but 60fps is smaller.

it shoots MJPEG in an .avi wrapper. 2GB SD card gets you about 15 minutes of video. there's no time limit that i've found. not sure if it will accept a 4GB card.

it will zoom while shooting.

we've started using this instead of our miniDV camera...
posted by joeblough at 12:03 PM on July 27, 2006

I have a Fujifilm F810 (also F710) and I think it does ok snippet movies at 640x480 30fps. Only limited by your media size, and at 1G that is about 14 mins.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf810/

Also, it isn't that slow on shooting with flash, I have no idea what they did wrong.

I have example movies if you want
posted by lundman at 7:40 PM on July 27, 2006

.. oh and as others point out for their examples, Fujifilm will not Zoom while filming.
posted by lundman at 7:41 PM on July 27, 2006

The Panasonic DMC-FZ30 or a (second-hand) Konika-Minolta A2/A200 allow you to make stabilized movies and (mechanically linked, silent) zooming. Focus can suffer if you zoom too fast in dark conditions. The Minoltas (and the not-stabilized Sony DSC-F828) have the added advantage of 28mm "wide"-angle. The Minolta A2 allows you to make time-lapse movies. Any camera with a lower resolution, (ultra) high speed modus can create 7-10fps movies using freeware jpg2avi software.
posted by Akeem at 3:32 AM on July 31, 2006