Camcorders

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zamrg

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I was wondering if anyone with experience in using camcorders could recommend one to me. I'm looking to purchase one to take video footage when I go away on holiday and have no idea what to look for. I have a limited budget of +- R4000 and would need one which can record to SD cards or DVDs.

I would appreciate any assistance with regard to brands, model numbers and places to buy from. :)
 
I have Sony Handycam/DVD recorder with 20X Carl Zeis lens that does well for me. The latter model will be within your buget. Compare prices for same models at Makro, Game, Dions, ant Catz. Someone will have a nice deal for R4000.00.
 
I recently bought a Sony camcorder from Game. Sony for R1299 and the quailty is not to bad but uses dv tapes.Which works for me.

So for R4000 you should get something very nice!
 
thanks for the info so far..

I should rather mention that the most I'm willing to spend is R4000 but I would prefer to cut this price by quite a bit if I can get a cheaper camera which will take decent footage. I'm just not sure of what the going rate is for a camcorder but have contacted sacamera.co.za asking for advice.

I just want to be able to take good, clear, quality footage of my trip and have it recorded to a SD card/DVD from which we can later make a short video of.
 
zamrg said:
I was wondering if anyone with experience in using camcorders could recommend one to me. I'm looking to purchase one to take video footage when I go away on holiday and have no idea what to look for. I have a limited budget of +- R4000 and would need one which can record to SD cards or DVDs.

I would appreciate any assistance with regard to brands, model numbers and places to buy from. :)
Click to expand...

Funny you should ask. I just had to do some research for a friend who wants to buy one with exactly the same budget. I decided on this one:

http://www.sacamera.co.za/proddetail.php?prod=SON610

Currently on special.

The DVDs are expensive though. Makro wants R89 for a DVD-R one and R129 for a DVD-RW. You can get them cheaper here however:

http://www.almostfree.co.za/ProductDescription.aspx?id=496489

Also, just keep in mind that the discs have to be finalized in the camera which can take up to 5 minutes, before you can take them out and view them on a regular dvd-player.
 
Check out www.orms.co.za. I have a very basic Panasonic model. It records to a hard drive. Best quality ones are mini-dv. Don't take a DVD model. Opt for a hard drive/SD/mini-dv version.
 
mercurial said:
Check out www.orms.co.za. I have a very basic Panasonic model. It records to a hard drive. Best quality ones are mini-dv. Don't take a DVD model. Opt for a hard drive/SD/mini-dv version.
Click to expand...

It depends on your needs.

If you are just an ordinary guy who do not want to edit and fiddle with the video before burning it to a DVD, and just want an easy to use camcorder to record video when needed, then the DVD-based ones have a little bit of an edge.

There are basically no quality difference between the DVD variants and HDD ones unless you go HighDef of course. The electronics and optics are in most cases the same, just the way the video files are stored differs.

What makes the DVD ones a little bit more convenient, is that you don't have to connect any cables between the TV and cradle in which the camera sits on, before you can view the video. The Hard Drive-based models can of course also break or corrupt your files and then you will loose it if it hasn't been backed up yet.

I do agree with the quality difference between HDD/DVD vs. Mini-DV. This is easy to understand because the video gets compressed much more in the HDD/DVD-based ones than the Mini-DV ones. This means you will have to choose between convenience or quality. It is a little bit more of an exercise to get the video from Mini-DV tapes onto a Hard Drive or DVD.
 
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The DVD versions are basically optical drives, which I would avoid at all cost for obvious reasons. If I wanted something to quickly transfer to my pc, I would get a HDD version. Mini-DV are the best but they take time to transfer data from the camcorder to the pc. The chances of a HDD corrupting is probably far less than most others. Again, it is just my opinion, but I would opt for a SD/HDD purely for convenience.
 
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mercurial said:
The DVD versions are basically optical drives, which I would avoid at all cost for obvious reasons. If I wanted something to quickly transfer to my pc, I would get a HDD version. Mini-DV are the best but they take time to transfer data from the camcorder to the pc. The chances of a HDD corrupting is probably far less than most others. Again, it is just my opinion, but I would opt for a SD/HDD purely for convenience.
Click to expand...

It seems like we're getting into a pissing contest here. I'm getting out of this one, because we are both right and both wrong on some issues. :p

Also, I don't understand what you mean with "obvious reasons" where optical drives are concerned. In my experience I have never had any issues with it as long as I kept the camcorder out of the pool! :D
 
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All I'm saying is that I prefer HDD/SD to DVD models. That is purely my choice/feeling towards this issue. If you like the DVD models, then that's ok, as long as you're happy with it :)
 
zamrg said:
I was wondering if anyone with experience in using camcorders could recommend one to me. I'm looking to purchase one to take video footage when I go away on holiday and have no idea what to look for. I have a limited budget of +- R4000 and would need one which can record to SD cards or DVDs.

I would appreciate any assistance with regard to brands, model numbers and places to buy from. :)
Click to expand...

I bought a Sony Handycam 30 GIG HDD model for around R4k and I love it and would highly recommend it to anyone.
 
mercurial said:
All I'm saying is that I prefer HDD/SD to DVD models. That is purely my choice/feeling towards this issue. If you like the DVD models, then that's ok, as long as you're happy with it :)
Click to expand...

I must agree with Merc here, when i bought my cam i researched a lot, and 99.9% of people said "stay away from DVD camcorders."
 
I think if I get another camcorder (other than a Flip :D) it will be mini-DV for the simple reason that you can get tapes almost anywhere.
 
GreenPunkt said:
The newer models record both on HDD and flash disk media. You don't need to worry about rewinding and buying tapes.
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Yip, tape to me is pointless unless you are a die hard camera man and you looking for the best quality that most people wouldnt even notice.
 
Grimspoon said:
Yip, tape to me is pointless unless you are a die hard camera man and you looking for the best quality that most people wouldnt even notice.
Click to expand...
Isnt tape relatively cheap and for that reason also good for archival purposes?
 
Tape is the best quality but I don't think most people have the time and patience to sit through waiting for the media to transfer to pc.
 
mercurial said:
Tape is the best quality but I don't think most people have the time and patience to sit through waiting for the media to transfer to pc.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's why for me HDD is the best solution all round, no long transfer times, no replacing tapes etc
 
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