Digital Camcorder recommendations?

[Mischief]

Ok, last year I made the mistake of investing my tax refund in the stock market right before NASDAQ turned south and gotten taken to the cleaners. Having learned from that mistake, I've decided to go out and make entirely new ones! 🙂

I'm kicking around the idea of purchasing a digital video camera with my tax refund (along with some other nice toys, such as a bondage bed, USB or Firewire CD-RW drive, video editing software)-- and making some amateur tickling vids. The problem is I'm not sure what to look for. I know the "prosumer" models are beyond my budget (roughly $1000), but can't decide on which brands/models to look into in the "consumer" market.

I know I will need Firewire in order to connect to my computer, but beyond that . . . what features or models can you recommend? I know some people here have digital cameras, so I'm looking forward to hearing your personal experiences and recommendations.

Thanks,

 

[redway10]

Recommendation

I would strongly recommend a DV or Digital8 camera.

There are now plenty of cameras in the sub $500 range.

If you want quality and reasonable cost, I would suggest a Sony Digital8 camera. In my mind it is by far the best bang for the buck.

 

[UnclStevel]

I just went through the process of buying a camcorder. I'd highly suggest going the miniDV route rather than Digital 8. You can get a nice dv camcorder for $500-600 that will have firewire capability. Most of the brands have comparable features at that price point.

I wouldn't suggest going the ebay route UNLESS you make sure you're buying from a DEALER here in the US. Many of those other camcorders are grey market without US warranty.

Good luck!
Steve

 

[Mischief]

This is why I "hate" sales people

Just discovered a setback in my camcorder purchasing plans. Chalk it up to bad information and procrastination in following up on my own hunches.

An Apple sales rep once told me that all iMacs with slot-loading CD-ROM drives have Firewire ports. Well, I just got around to looking for the Firewire port on my lime iMac (with slot-loading CD-ROM drive, I might add) and discovered it does *not* have any Firewire ports. Went to Apple's Online Spec site, and sure enough, there are iMacs with slot-loading cd-rom drives that do not have these high speed ports. You had to get the DV edition of this release to get Firewire. Grrr!

So, I'm putting the camcorder purchase on hold for a little while . . . until I either purchase another computer with Firewire (too $$$) or consider purchasing a camcorder that uses USB instead (too slow???). I also need to figure out if iMovie 2.0 will support connections other than Firewire.

(sighs) You know, I have begrudgingly grown to love my Mac (even though I cringe when I think of why I originally purchased it!), but the sales reps I have dealt with over the years seem really ill-informed about their features and/or limitations.

Thanks for your responses-- I'll let you know what else I discover on this strange journey! LOL!

 

[UnclStevel]

That sucks! I'm not sure how those iMacs are put together, but you may be able to install a IEEE-1394 Firewire card, which would do the trick for about $30. USB ports arent' capable of handling data fast enough for video.

Good luck!
Steve

 

[Mischief]

I just met with a video producer acquaintance of mine to discuss my little quandry. He said what you just did-- you can use USB, but it will be painfully slow to transfer data across to the computer. As in, leave it plugged in and on over night kind of slow. You are correct about the speed difference. USB ops at 12Mbps I am told, while Firewire zooms along at 400Mbps-- something on the lines of a 35 times speed difference.

Basically, it is not possible to add a firewire card to an iMac because of the chassis design. There just simply aren't any expansion slots. You can upgrade the RAM, but that's about it. The design thought at the time was that all periphs would go through the USB connectors. The G3 and G4 models are designed to be upgraded and have the expansion slots.

There is, it turns out, a USB/Firewire adapter available for $80. There are also several Sony camcorder models with both USB and Firewire interfaces.