Robust cheap work video camera?
June 7, 2012 3:10 PM Subscribe
My work want to buy a video camera to record forum sessions, maybe do some interviewing and just generally have. The films it takes will then be put on youtube, so ease of use in getting the data off is important. What are good models to look for/avoid, and key techspecs to consider?
The qualities it should have are:
- Robust (it'll be shipped between cities occasionally, so this is important)
- Easy to use (particularly getting the video onto a computer and then the internet)
- Decent zoom (enough to get a good close up of a conference speaker from 20-30 metres away)
- Decent attached microphone (for street interviews)
- Not too expensive ($NZD800-$1000)
Brilliant image quality is probably less of a biggie, since it will mainly be used for talking heads at (eventually) youtube bitrate.
The qualities it should have are:
- Robust (it'll be shipped between cities occasionally, so this is important)
- Easy to use (particularly getting the video onto a computer and then the internet)
- Decent zoom (enough to get a good close up of a conference speaker from 20-30 metres away)
- Decent attached microphone (for street interviews)
- Not too expensive ($NZD800-$1000)
Brilliant image quality is probably less of a biggie, since it will mainly be used for talking heads at (eventually) youtube bitrate.
Response by poster: Not sure about software yet. We'd only be doing basic editing - something free, ideally - we're on PC, so maybe Windows Movie Maker.
I presume the camera would come with something that would do basic editing?
posted by Sebmojo at 3:32 PM on June 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
I presume the camera would come with something that would do basic editing?
posted by Sebmojo at 3:32 PM on June 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
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That was the main thing for me - being able to just shoot using autosettings while getting good quality.
So I would recommend something from that family.
As for the microphone, you really need to use an external microphone. We used a bluetooth external microphone (a lapel mount) that took great stereo sound recordings.
Relying on the on-board mic just won't cut it, as sound quality really deteriorates.
No idea about digital zoom with that camera, but shooting from 30 meters away in your price range may not be possible.
As for outputs, the Sony produces AVCHD files, which I think many video editing programs can handle these days.
What video editing program are you going to use?
posted by KokuRyu at 3:17 PM on June 7, 2012