CK has asked me to sort out her first video camera.

I have no idea at all about video.


She had no idea what she wants and I can't really advise her.

I would say that this would be a short list of her needs though.

1. Easy to use.
2. Mac friendly
3. Easy to use.
4. No tapes.
5. Cheap
6. Record for up to two hours without being touched.
7. Easy to use.
8. Compact and lightweight
9. A 4x optical zoom (minimum)
10. Pretty good in low light without using external lighting.


The last time I looked at video you had to carry the camera in a suitcase.

How about the Flip?

Mark

that thing looks awful on zoom

Id look at the sony handycam ones, they all got the most haunted green nightvision in them, I got one of them and theyre fun to use cheap too and its a harddrive camcorder, its touch screen too so you dont have to learn where all the buttons are kinda

The Flip looks rather too much like a toy. I will look at the Sony handicams though as the idea off a touch screen interface does appeal.

Thanks both.

Nothing quite like judging a book by its cover, but it's your choice.
Have fun looking. (8+)

Mark

Strangely I have always found that when choosing a book that the cover is a pretty good indicator of the contents. Pirates on the cover pirates inside.

I have a Sony Handycam DCR SX30 - and it’s pretty good. Standard definition, and will shoot 1 hour on high quality. Shove in a memory stick, and you’ll get more time (note, internal memory and memory stick capacities are not combined). Not sure about low light levels, but it’s got a fantastic zoom. It’s very small and light, and will fit nicely into a reasonably sized pocket.

Some videos shot with it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgsPIk_D-Mk (mucked about with in Final Cut Express)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkSKpmlwSqU - some rabbits - shot through a window in a hotel I was stating at a few weeks back - this is where the zoom really helped. There are reflections in the glass which affect the picture at times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRoc1xMnLtQ - flypast over Chelmsford the other week. I don’t know why YouTube hasn’t made a HQ version of this one.

It is, naturally for me, Mac Friendly. Connect with a USB cable, and the movies are pulled off by iMovie pretty quickly. It also has various editing options on board.

Oh, you get a choice of colours (mine is blue), and a good price on Amazon at the moment - £189

We have Flip cameras here, and my other half likes it, but I found it a bit too limiting for my tastes. The zoom is pretty crap.

I would say go out and get a feel for which is easiest to use.

Slightly OT, I tried out a mate's Touch HD (which I was leaning towards) and another mate's iphone. I'm now convinced of the latter in ease of use, though both mates said it took time to get the most out of their phones.

Go into a shop and get CK to try them out. Look at things like weight, size, portability, as well as ease of use, features and accessories that might come in useful at a later time.

Mark++;

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Mark might just have a new signature.

Mark

I have one of those lovely little Panasonic SD-Card camcorders (think it's the SDR-10), got it from Argos in their end-of-catalogue sale last year for £145 (down from £279!). It's actually been discontinued now, but the replacement models are almost identical, but in funky colours. Very compact, 10x optical zoom, battery life of about an hour, image stabilisation etc, etc.

Mine came with a 2Gb SD card which only gives you about 25 minutes at highest quality. Bought a 4Gb card which give you about 55 minutes at best quality, but I believe the new models take at least 16Gb SDHC cards, maybe 32Gb ones (though not sure, so check the specs carefully). I imagine an 8Gb SDHC card will give you the two hours that you want.

Quality is very good in daylight conditions, a little bit grainy in very low light but nothing very noticeable. They work fine with Macs, as long as you've got iMovie 08 or iMovie 09 - you might need to buy Apple's add-on "MPEG2 Component for QuickTime" but can't confirm if this is really necessary as my Mac had it installed beforehand. It might work OK without that, but it's only about a tenner extra if not - buy it from the Apple Store.

Anyway, enough waffling, I really recommend the Panasonic range. You don't say what your budget is, but some of the High Definition (HD) Panasonic models sound even better, with 3CCDs.