Handheld video camera

OGroteKoning

OGroteKoning

Honorary Master
Joined
Apr 8, 2011
Messages
10,741
Reaction score
4
Location
Pretoria
A mate of mine is looking for a "handycam". I know little about this and he even less. What would you suggest for max R6k with great zoom and video quality.

Features I can gather from websites:
- 1920x1080/60p
- 5.1 Surround sound recording
- 10MP still
- Internal HDD 60GB or higher
- Optical IS
- 20x Zoom or better (USELESS - see here)
- 35mm equivalent - 1000mm - 1200mm

Now I know this might not be all available in a package within the budget, but I would like to know what you guys have come across that is close/better.

I personally have the Sony HDR-SR12, but I think it would fail in the optical zoom department (if it is still available in shops). This Sony HDR-XR200 looks the part, but the optical zoom lacks a bit.
 
Last edited:
Been editing some footage from a Sony Handycam and it's pretty damn good. I'll have to see if I can figure out what model it is.
 
I was looking for a replacement camera for my Panasonic TMS300A that was stolen, unfortunately I couldn't afford one of those again as it was 12k in 2009 and I only had R6k max to spend on a replacement. Strangely enough I found the Canon Legria HFR series isn't too bad for R6k or less, you can actually get the 506 for R2499 from Takealot now, that was closer to R4k at the beginning of the year. You aren't going to get great optical zoom for R6k, also you will need to buy an external memory card for the Legria which is why the price is lower.
 
OGroteKoning said:
I guess no one is interested in taking videos... :cry:
Click to expand...

Well ... my videocam is more than 4 years old (Sanyo HD2000), which kind of answers your question :)

It also means that I have not been keeping up with what is good in that department.

I actually like the HD2000, but it only has digital image stabilization, which not nearly equivalent to OIS.
 
I just phoned my regular tech advisory service and he told me they don't stock video cams anymore - he said the quality from the likes of the Canon SX50 is so good that it is senseless to go for a video camera.
 
It is probable, but that's not a very nice form factor to shoot video with, shooting pictures to video is different :-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X