Topic: Video Blog - Camera/Mic Suggestions, Please!

[gearscout]

Greetings,

I heard from an friend that he's looking to buy a video camera to set up a food/wine blog.  I would appreciate the advice of the knowledgeable people on this forum to help him out.

What's out there on a modest budget of around $750-$1,000?

I use an old PV-DV953...that at least has 3 chips.  But the market has SO moved on since then!  ;-)

Thanks!

[rastasean]

quite honestly panasonic lx3:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/573592-REG/Panasonic_DMC_LX3K_Lumix_DMC_LX3_Digital_Camera.html#specifications

has my interest. if he gets this and has some nice mics and a recorder, I honestly think he would be set for blog style work. Check out the post about the lx3. The camera is $500 new and something like a minidisc recorder and a sony ms-907 would work perfectly. Why spend a grand for just starting if you don't need to?

If you have more requirements, update us and my opinion may change.

[stantheman1976]

What about a Canon HV40?  Selling for about $700-$750 new, shoots HD on tape so you have a hard copy, and has lots of manual settings.

Depending on what type of audio you want to do you can get a decent external mic.  If you're doing mostly voice like interviews and speech reviews get a Rode VideoMic for $150 new and you're set.

[gearscout]

Thanks for the recommendations!

quite honestly panasonic lx3:

I like it.  But EASY is what I'm thinking will work best for him.  I don't think the LX3 takes an external mic.  I could have fun with it, but I don't see him trying to sync audio tracks with video.

The FLIP cam is one option...cheap and easy, too. 

More thoughts?

[gearscout]

What about a Canon HV40?  Selling for about $700-$750 new, shoots HD on tape so you have a hard copy, and has lots of manual settings.

This is a possibility.  Panasonic has the HDC-TM300K for around $1100, 3 sensors, I think.  But I don't see any audio plugs on it, either.   And that's moving right out of his range.  The Rode Mic is a great suggestion, thanks!

Maybe I'm wrong, but if you're doing a blog, you want your audio to be excellent quality. 

[markr041]

"The FLIP cam is one option...cheap and easy, too.  "

If that is an option, then the the Kodak zi8 is a much better choice -HD vidoe, up through 1080p, and, these are the clinchers:

1. External mic jack.

2. Manual audio control with meters. Yes, that's right, better audio hardware than most $1000+ camcorders.

$149 at Amazon. Also has (digital) inage stabilization and a macro mode.

[gearscout]

"The FLIP cam is one option...cheap and easy, too.  "

If that is an option, then the the Kodak zi8 is a much better choice -HD vidoe, up through 1080p, and, these are the clinchers:

1. External mic jack.

2. Manual audio control with meters. Yes, that's right, better audio hardware than most $1000+ camcorders.

$149 at Amazon. Also has (digital) inage stabilization and a macro mode.

Very interesting!  I had not heard of this device, but I'm definitely going to check it out for him.  Having read a few of the reviews, I'm still wondering how the audio performs with various microphones.  The unit can be equipped with 32GB of SD memory for $80-100 or much less in smaller card sizes.

Thanks for your input on this one!

[markr041]

"I'm still wondering how the audio performs with various microphones."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX-raL4iQoY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDVMTfPye68

[gearscout]

"I'm still wondering how the audio performs with various microphones."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX-raL4iQoY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDVMTfPye68

Mark,

Thank you for the links.  That makes it clear enough that a decent quality microphone will produce better sound...but also a bit obvious that the pre-amps in there are somewhat limited.  That first Cardiod (? they didn't say) mic was actually worse than the in-camera one as far as quality, IMHO.  But the inexpensive shotgun had pretty good results.  I would have to experiment but I suspect a $35 Audio Technica tie clip mic would probably give good results.  (Might have to get a more expensive model that had its own battery power.)

Thanks, again to everyone who replied!

[Red Boink]

Check out a used Sony pdx10.  It has 16x9 chips and can stream through usb port. Great deals on ebay as it is sd... but a great web cam imho.... and it is a pro cam..  I've intercut with my Ikegami dv7 with good results.