Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with video and camcorder

Compact, HD camcorder with manual control options?

bondcliff — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:11:16 -0800

I’m looking to buy a compact, flash-based, HD-capable camcorder with the ability to shut off automatic controls such as white balance and auto-focus. In addition to the usual stuff one does with a camcorder I’d also like to use it for stop-motion, time-lapse, and some other projects where I’ll need to shut off white balance and possibly auto-focus.

Something like the Flip or the Kodak Zi8 would be ideal but I don’t see that they have the ability to shut off these automatic features. If I have to go for a more traditional shaped camera, that’s fine. I’d like it to be somewhat small and inexpensive. Preferably under $500.00.

It needs to be able to do at least 720p HD widescreen. Good quality, good frame-rate, etc.

I’d prefer flash based but if a hard-drive based camera is my only option I’ll go with it. Tape is right out.

In a pinch, a regular point-and-shoot camera will do as long as the video quality is decent and I can shut the automatic stuff off.

If what I want does not exist, please let me know that too.

Looking for a camcorder with composite input

jstech — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:18:19 -0800

Do you know of any camcorders or portable video recorders with composite (analog) input? I recently received an old helmet camera from a family member, and it needs a separate recording device. So I'm looking for something portable to record from composite input. These inputs are usually TRRS connectors (like a headphone jack, but with four conductors: Wikipedia: TRRS), or the classic yellow-red-white RCA connectors. I'm looking in the $400 range, but I'm flexible.

How to transfer video from camera to computer

Alexdan4 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:56:06 -0800

I have a Sony DCR-DVD92 video camcorder that records video on DVD-Rs. I have finalized the disc on the camera and I'm trying to capture the video onto my PC for storage/editing, but the camera doesn't seem to connect to my PC, and my PC DVD player doesn't seem to recognize the mini DVD-Rs that the camera uses. Any suggestions?

Help with Sony's Vegas Pro 9

tenaciousd — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:10:22 -0800

How do I use Vegas Pro 9? I can't find a lot of useful or free info on the web or on Sony's website. I'm in charge of shooting and editing video during my company's conference and meetings, which begin tomorrow. I don't have much experience with either, and I think I kind of jumped in the deep end with Vegas by downloading the 30-day free trial.

I'm not doing anything too fancy...a basic intro, cutting, overlaying the name of the speaker. But I really haven't found any helpful, basic, beginner-level manuals or information. My camcorder is a canon vixia hf200.

Any tips, sites or other resources would be appreciated. Thanks all!

Which mini camcorder should I choose?

hot soup girl — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:55:44 -0800

Which mini camcorder should I get - the Kodak Zi8 or the Flip Ultra HD? I'm trying to choose between these two camcorders, both priced just under £150.

I thought I'd settled on the Flip, but then heard about the Kodak Zi8 and am now flummoxed! The Zi8 becomes available in the UK next Thursday, but has been on sale in the US for about a month; I've been reading the reviews.

At this stage, the Kodak Zi8 seems the better choice as its image is a bit crisper; it also has image stabilisation, an external microphone jack, and most importantly, an SD card slot. However, reviews suggest that its battery life isn't great (40 minutes to an hour?) and some users have complained of a whine when using the internal mike.

If you've used either of these models, I'd be grateful for your opinion!

(Incidentally, I have seen this question, and it was somewhat helpful, but both models mentioned are a little older.)

Picking a new compact video camera

remi — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:43:07 -0800

I have a Canon PowerShot G10 taking great pictures and VGA-resolution videos. I'm now looking for a video camera that will allow me to capture videos in HD. Any ideas? There are a few video projects I have. One of them is to document my one-year stay in Japan starting this October. And maybe, if everything goes well, I'll turn all of what I've recorded into a documentary, but I don't want to plan too big.

I know someone else asked for advice here for choosing a camera for filming documentaries, but the answers were a bit general. Last year, the community here recommended me the PowerShot G10 when I was asking for recommendations for a good compact photo camera. Today, I am hoping for someone to point me in the right direction with their recommendations in brands or models of video cameras. So far, I've enjoyed my G10, and I'm sure I'll get great advice here for a video camera.

A few years ago, I was the proud owner of a JVC GR-DVL725U camera. By today's standards, of course, it was a bit bulky, and transferring video from its MiniDV tapes via RCA cables or Firewire to my computer was a time-consuming process. However, its picture and sound quality was satisfactory.

Now, I'm also sure I can buy something that is smaller, works better, and is more efficient. A few months ago, a saw a Panasonic 3CCD camera, which looked interesting. I like Canon digital cameras, but I don't know what to think about their video cameras. I shy away from the Sony brand because of its proprietary technologies -- including their Memory Sticks, since I'm a heavy user of SDHC cards.

As for specific features, I'm not too certain what I should look for. I'll probably need a camera that stores videos on SDHC cards with HD video, manual zoom and focus, remote control, RCA/S-Video/Firewire output, light, internal stereo microphone, external microphone port, etc., but I think these features are usually the standard. I saw some cameras which have some interesting special effects, like time lapse, but I want to focus on quality video and audio, while having a camera that is easy to bring with me anywhere (i.e. not a large and heavy camera like those used by news reporters). The cost is not a problem.

Finally, unlike before, I have some video editing software on my Mac, including Final Cut Express. (I was previously using Linux for editing video. It was really painful at times.)

Any suggestions on what camera I should buy?

Why must my MiniDV videos look like home movies?

iamisaid — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:57:46 -0800

Why exactly do videos shot on consumer grade MiniDV camcorders generally look like bad home movies as compared to that of high-end professional MiniDV cameras? What are the relevant differences between them? I've dabbled in MiniDV recording for a while now, always with lower-end Canon camcorders. And regardless of the lighting or anything else, the videos they produce always have a certain "home movie" quality, in that they're somewhat fuzzy and grainy, and just lacking that film-like quality. However, I know this is not a limitation of the format, since plenty of decent looking indie movies are shot on MiniDV. Of course, they're using much more expensive professional grade cameras.

So, in layman's terms, what exactly is it about the more expensive cameras that makes the footage look so much better? The lens? The resolution? Something else?

Lastly, the two cameras I often see recommended as the cheapest entry into professional grade MiniDV are the Panasonic DVX100A and the Canon XL2, which I realize are both SD and rather old models at this point. Is that still the best recommendation for a semi-affordable camcorder that will let me escape the home movie look? Or is there a newer and cheaper alternative?

I'm on a shoestring budget, and although I mostly make videos for the web at the moment, I'd like to have the option of submitting to short film festivals and the like down the road.

Video as photography

lattiboy — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:52:18 -0800

Help me choose a good camera (dSLR or camcorder) for "fine art" cinematography. Sorry for the pretentiousness of the question, but what I was trying to get across is that I'm not looking to shoot a soccer game or a wedding. I'm really intrigued with 24p, shallow DoF type footage I've seen on vimeo and youtube.

I'm pretty deep into the Sony Alpha system (I own an A900 and some higher-end glass), but I don't think Sony is going to be releasing any new video-capable bodies soon, and if they do, there's no way they'll let it effect their huge video market.

Having said all that:

Nikon D90 video looks great (and seems like a great camera), but you don't get manual control over alot and you get the jello effect from an array of subjects.

The Nikon D500 is just coming out, but it looks like a d40x with video at a D90 price. No go for me.

The Canon 5dMkII is about 2.5x as much as I'm willing to spend at the moment and seems to have QC issues of it's own.

The Canon T1 seems to be similar to the D90, but with NO manual control.

The Panasonic HDC-TM300 seems like an amazing camcorder, but it would seem impossible to get shallow DoF on a sensor that small.

I like the idea of a Canon HV20 or HF100 with an adapter, but it seems like it would be a pretty huge pain to do (upside down lcd, bad weight distribution).

So, does anybody here have any ideas for me?

Digital videocam capable of slow-motion video?

rubadub — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:54:55 -0800

Can you suggest a video camera for recording slow-motion video? I'd like to find a digital camera that can record at an increased frame rate (300fps? 600fps? more?) and output at 30fps.

The only one I've found on my own is the Casio Exilim EX-F1, which seems to record 1200fps at 336x96 or 60fps at 1920x1080.

Are there any other possibilities? Used gear is OK, I'd like to get something for as cheap as possible since this is for entertainment purposes only and not something academic.

Next, I want someone to figure out how to build me a diamond ring out of some coal, a letterpress, and a gold earring I found on the ground.

history is a weapon — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:22:34 -0800

[video camera hardware hacking filter] Is there a way to hack/homebuild a p2 card for the Panasonic p2 system? How would I enlist help in this endeavor? Panasonic has a proprietary P2 system, a solid state cartridge that you record video on as opposed to tape. The size is apparently identical to the pcmcia slot found on some laptops (wikipedia defines it as thus "a RAID of SD memory cards with an LSI controller tightly packaged in a die-cast PC card (formerly PCMCIA) enclosure"). It is also priced way out of line with the market.
Sony's recent EX1 camera had a similar solid state card and its user community started hacking together a line of home brewed cards (e.g., kxs; a sample history can be found here: http://www.glasseye.com.au/articles/sdassxs/). They may not be able to do everything the sony cards do, like record at the fastest speeds, but they can do enough to make the savings worth it.
Okay, there are a bunch of products that are in a pcmcia enclosure, SD cards are much cheaper than the p2 cards, but I would have no idea about how to pursue this. Is there a community of people who could help out? Are there people who could hack out the controller and figure out the feasability? The panasonic community seems to have given up, but the few conversations on internet boards seem to have been years before the sony community hacked the SxS cards.
Where should I look? I'm near NYC if this matters.

Borrowed camcorder uses obnoxious format. How to fix?

®@ — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:55:11 -0800

Converting ".mts" to ".avi?" I've been recording stuff for work on our office camcorder. The software that came with it is useless, it's basically Canon's "picture browsing" software that they just threw in the box (if there's a "video edit" software, it's not included or mentioned in the manual). I can pull the files off the camera via USB, but they're in MTS format. I need to edit these down into discrete clips, preferably as AVI's (Adobe Premiere). Tips? Advice? I've seen a handful of programs online that claim to be able to shift MTS to AVI, but they're in that "sketchy freeware might be adware" territory. Thoughts?

Which camcorders let you turn off all the clever stuff and access the raw video?

handee — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:30:24 -0800

I'm thinking of buying a camcorder. My requirements are slightly unusual: I would like one that does all the "bells and whistles" stuff (image stabilisation, auto light balance, H.264 compression etc). But I also want to be able to turn off all the clever stuff and access the "raw" video. Any recommendations? Hard disk/SD recording is a must, high definition would be good.

Any camcorders with mic input and easy digital recording format?

wuntu — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:12:22 -0800

What currently available video cameras will record to a commonly viewable digital format (ie. something Quicktime supports with no additional add-ons) AND has a microphone input jack? I'm in search of a video camera that will allow professors to record their lectures. I'm looking for a camera that will:
- store video in a format that can be copied to a computer quickly (so Flash Card or Hard Drive based)
- produce video in a format that can be played on most people's computers with software they already have installed (ie. Quicktime)
- in a format that isn't huge (likely some form of MPEG4)
- has a microphone input jack for attaching an external microphone (this is a must as the speaker will potentially be a significant from the camera.)
- easy to use. ideally there would be an automatic mode so that the person setting it up can just turn it on and press record, then drag a file to a file server for distribution.

It looks like the Sanyo Xacti HD2 fits the bill, but I believe it has been discontinued. Sanyo's newer models appear to record in AVCHD. I tried a Canon HF10, which also records in AVCHD format. The raw files will not play in Quicktime, and importing them through iMovie takes longer than real time (on a MacBook Pro).

VLC seems to be working on support for AVCHD, but unfortunately, I don't think it is ready for general use, and most student computers still don't have VLC installed.

The Focus Enhancements Fire Store products look promising as well. However, it would significantly increase the price of the system and I believe one of our professors previously used one and still needed assistance getting it set up.

Anything else is out there that might work?

Help me find a good camcorder.

zardoz — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:28:25 -0800

I'm in the market for an inexpensive (under $1000) camcorder but every spec on any camera brings up a thousand questions. 3CCD? CMOS? HD? HDV? MiniDV? BluRay? File formats? Still shots? Help! So I have some criteria for a video camera, and I hope you all can at least direct me to some good sites explaining the differences, if not give some specific camera examples.

1) I want manual control. Especially manual focus, which to me is a physical ring, though I understand some cameras have manual focus with a small joystick or jog dial.

2) A decent zoom, 10x optical or more.

3) High quality. I want video that looks good on an HDTV. This is where it gets a bit confusing to me. As I understand it, 3CCD will give the best color quality, but high megapixel (?) CMOS chip cameras are just as good if not better. Is there a big difference in quality between 720p and 1080i? And is a non-3CCD 1080i "good enough"?

4) Still image ability. I have a so-so Canon digital SLR, but it's starting to show its age and limitations, so I'd like to be able to take good quality stills with the camcorder. I've seen the new Canon 5D Mark II, which would be almost perfect because it takes HD video as well, but alas, it's out of my price range. The Nikon D90 is nice, and the price is much better, but only mono sound is a dealbreaker for me.

My dream camera would be a professional one like the Canon XL2 or the GL2, the JVC GY-HD200CL17, etc. But these are in the thousands of dollars and my budget is stretching it even at $1000. And they are a bit bulky, and perhaps more than I really need. I'll be using this for basic home moves mainly, but would like to do some projects in which I can use the HD ability for high quality.

What format is best? Is there a big difference between DV tapes, mini BluRay disks, hard drive cameras, flash drives, etc. I'll be using my Intel iMac to edit, and I have Final Cut Pro (or iMovie), but I can fire up Windows as well and edit in Premiere. Is there anything I should know about proprietary file formats and transfering to my iMac?

So what prosumer camera out there does the best job? I know this is all kind of a tall order, but if you can point me in the right direction I'd be grateful.

Tripod for consumer camcorder?

jacobian — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:00:44 -0800

I'm looking for a fairly-inexpensive ($100 - $200, ideally) tripod for shooting video. Any recommendations? I'm a distinct amateur, and this'll be used with a consumer-level JVC Everio, so anything professional is overkill. Still, I want something sturdy and reliable.

I'll be shooting indoor video -- people speaking at conferences, mostly. So I think I need something that'll get fairly tall so I can shoot over the backs of a seated audience. My camera -- and any I'm likely to use -- has image stabilization, so I don't need some crazy super study carbon fiber or anything.

Lightweight would be a bonus since I'll be traveling with this a bit, but I'd take cheap and heavy over expensive and light.

Semi-pro camcorder recommendations?

quidividi — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:45:51 -0800

I'm looking for a new camcorder to record role-playing sessions in corporate training programs. It must:
- be reasonably compact
- be hard-disc or flash memory based
- have a mic input
- have a headphone output

IEEE1394 connectivity, an auxiliary audio input and adjustable white-balance would be a bonus

Low-light, high-definition, anti-shake and special effects capabilities aren't important.

The Canon HF-10 looks, promising, but I'd appreciate any suggestions before I open my wallet.

TIA!

The Best Video Quality From A Tiny Camera

yankeefog — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:04:29 -0800

I'm looking for a very small camcorder with decent image quality. I got the Panasonic SDR-S7, which is a great size, but the video quality is just a step above YouTube, and I'm thinking of returning it. Is it possible to get better image quality out of an equally tiny (or nearly as tiny) camera? Any recommendations? I should note that I'm more size-sensitive than price-sensitive; I'd happily pay more for better video quality, but I'd rather not get too much bigger. I figure that a so-so camera that's small enough to take everywhere is more useful than a great quality camera we leave at home.

Why does TV video appear so different than that which is produced with normal video camcorder?

torpark — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:14:32 -0800

Why does TV video appear so different than that which is produced with normal video camcorder? I am wondering why videos produced for TV appear not only smoother, but have a very "distant" or unreal sense to them, whereas videos recorded by camcorder appear very raw and real like the way they happen in reality. I am not referring to the jitter caused by holding a camera, of course, but the different "quality" and properties that tv produced videos have. This is especially visible when you see low-budget commercials for cars/furniture, then back to regular TV quality. Is it the framerate, is it "hd" resolution, is it the photosensors, is it the lighting, is it interlace, is it tweening?

A Flip that doesn't shimmy?

the_W — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:46:15 -0800

I'm looking for an alternative to the Flip Video that doesn't shimmy the video when I move it side to side. I just got a Flip Video and it's awesome... I love the low light and convenience factor. But when I move it side to side, or up and down, the video gets shimmy -- a straight up and down line will tilt sideways. Now, I seem to recall some article online about how with some cellphone cameras you could tilt buildings and telephone poles sideways by moving the camera sideways. Something about reading the lines one at a time from the CCD. So I know why it does it.

Problem is, I hate it. Makes me seasick. Is there any little camcorder about the same price that doesn't use that technology, but does 640x480 30fps video that does well in low light like the flip? Ideally it could record to SD or something. I don't mind if it's a little bigger as long as it fits in one hand. If there is a digital still camera in the right price range that has the right video specs I'd be interested too.

Alternatively, do you know what the technical name of the shimmy is, so I can tailor my google searches more accurately?

On preview: I read through the suggested links, and looked at some camcorder sites, and I'll give the following qualifications to my camcorder search: I'd rather not go mini-DV with tapes but will if I must, I don't give a fig about high def, or zooms, and I'm really serious about the low light quality. I mean, I took out my Canon 20D and shot a picture of my kitchen lit by a single 25 watt bulb at f2.0, ISO 1600, 1/40th of a second. I shot a video with the flip in the same lighting conditions and the video and the still picture had the same image quality! That's some serious mojo and it's the only reason I hesitate to return it. But editing action videos makes me want to barf, I get so motion sick.

Looking for a camcorder to help record university help sessions

Proginoskes — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:25:50 -0800

I run help sessions for math students at my local university. I'd like to start videotaping them and allowing my students to view the recordings on the web. However, I know next to nothing about what sort of camcorder would be appropriate for this. The two most important criteria are that it clearly shows what I'm writing on the blackboard and that I'm able to use it with a wireless microphone (any suggestions about wireless microphones would be helpful, too!). Thanks.

Recommendation for a wireless lapel microphone that works with a camcorder?

donovan — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:15:48 -0800

Recommendation for a wireless lapel microphone that works with a camcorder? I'd like get a surprise tenure gift for my brother the professor, who's crazy into making videos for his students.

He said that the one thing he lacks is a good quality microphone and he'd like one that (a) plugs into his camcorder [no idea the model], (b) is wireless, and (c) is a lapel/lav mic. He rents one like this from a video gear store he frequent.

Does anybody have any advice or recommendations? Are mic interfaces with camcorders standard? Any help's appreciated and I'd love to buy him something without asking him any more questions cause, as I said, I want ti tot be a surprise.

Thanks MeFites!

Help me help my videos!

damiano99 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:03:05 -0800

VideoFilter: I have a ton of .mpg video files out of my camcorder. I would like to join them together as one file. It doesn't work using the copy command, I'm assuming because of embedded file data that messes up the indexes within the video footage. Is there a program that will take them and join them together quickly? I don't want to edit them, just join them. So far the only options I've found is to import them all to Avid or Vegas and let it re-render it as a whole which takes forever. The second option was some cheesy software I found that did it but it also took 30 minutes for 10 minutes of footage to join, which seems ridiculous. Does anyone in out there have a blackbelt in video-fu and can help me?

Buying a flash-based camcorder

monkeymadness — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:49:51 -0800

Looking for an affordable (<$400) tapeless camcorder Our Panasonic PV-GS9 is on its last legs. It records to Mini-DV tapes, and while the quality is good we've found we don't like dealing with tapes. The heads are vulnerable to failing, not to mention getting gunked up, but the biggest issue is storing and transferring clips to the computer. It seems it would be much more convenient to deal with SD cards (but I'm open to HDD if it's reliable). Cards are getting cheaper by the day, as well. Since we're also close to needing a new digital camera I'm hoping I can justify the price of a flash-based camcorder by using it in camera mode, too. I'd also like to shoot HD video, if possible. This is just for home video usage, by the way.
Am I asking for too much? Are there technical issues I'm not aware of?

My AskMeFi search didn't turn up anything directly relevant, but I apologize if I've missed a recent thread on this. I've also looked into Cnet and other online review sites, but since it's been 4 years since I shopped for a camcorder I'm a little overwhelmed. Also, the experiences of other MeFites is worth a lot to me, rather than spec sheets or websites with sponsors.

How to download video from MiniDV tapes without a camcorder?

icheyne — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:22:57 -0800

I have several old MiniDV tapes, but no camcorder. Is there any hardware I can buy that I can plug into my PC and let me download the video? Is there anything compatible with Linux?

I'm looking for the least-expensive camcorder I can get my hands on.

Quidam — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:07:38 -0800

I'm looking for the least expensive camcorder I can get my hands on. As previously stated, in a few months I'm going on a road trip with a friend. I'm thinking it would be cool to have some sort of camcorder to record the highlights of the trip. What we're going for here is "cheap", and maybe "durable" - doesn't need to be high-quality or have a lot of features.

I'm intrigued by the Flip Video - simple, looks like it would get the job done, only records half an hour of video at a time, but if I dumped it onto my laptop every night, that space would get freed up again, right?

Does anyone have experience/feedback on the Flip Video? Am I going to find anything cheaper than $120? Any other suggestions?