HD Camera that won't freeze?

June 26, 2008 4:00 PM

Can you help me find an HD video camera?

I need an HD video camera for work. I work in the snow, so, it needs to be pretty rugged and not be shy with cold temperatures. I'd love to get away from tapes, but, I've heard that HD cameras don't play nice with freezing temperatures (but I've never actually seen this in print anywhere). I'm often out in the mountains before sun rise in below zero temps, so, I need a camera that can handle these conditions. It needs to be small enough to fit in my backpack with all the other equipment that is required for ski touring in the backcountry. I currently work on Windows XP, so it needs to play nice with that. I've been a still photographer for a long time, but, I really don't know anything about video and I'm trying to get up to speed with a good camera that I'm not going to destroy in one winter. Suggestions?

Also what are some good video forums/sites for N00bs?

Thanks in advance.

posted by trbrts to technology (5 comments total)

Oh, budget is under $1000.
posted by trbrts at 4:01 PM on June 26, 2008

I'll be getting my camera later this summer based on the recommendations from the Vimeo forums. You can also try plugging the model number in the Vimeo search (e.g. Search for HF10 to find sample clips taken with that camcorder).
posted by theiconoclast31 at 4:29 PM on June 26, 2008

I always recomend the canon HV20/30. I don't know how nice it'll play in really cold weather though.
It's a very good camera for the size, it's tape based and hd (HDV). Most editing software will play nice sith it and though hdv is ressource intensive it's still easier to edit than AVCHD or other mpeg4 based format.
Try to get the hv20 over the 30 which is a useless upgrade to make people shell more dough.
posted by SageLeVoid at 8:52 PM on June 26, 2008

I spent some time browsing the dvinfo.net forums before settling on the Canon HV20. It's is a great, fairly small camera, but I'm afraid I don't have any experience with it in the cold or on Windows XP. It did, however, survive a drop from a height of about four feet onto thin carpet while going through the security line at the airport. Suffered a crack in the plastic near the lens but that hasn't affected its operation or video quality.
posted by DakotaPaul at 11:11 PM on June 26, 2008

Canon VIXIA HF100. Rocks.
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 3:14 PM on June 27, 2008