Author Topic: Mini DV cam recommendations? (Read 7263 times)

columbus decanter · « **on:** July 04, 2005, 05:13:08 PM »

Im suppose to get a Sony HC21 real soon.. but is there any that mind top that? What detailed specifics make it such a great model/brand... meaning this ones better with daylight.. or this one has more vibrant colors, ect.

bossie · « **Reply #1 on:** July 05, 2005, 05:21:59 PM »

I've seen recordings done with those panasonic 3ccds and WOW were they good quality. I have a Canon ZR200 and the quality isn't good. But it is very watchable and acceptable.

I think my next cam will be a Digital 8 because of the media. Twice as long as MiniDV and about half the price.

silverbullet · « **Reply #2 on:** July 06, 2005, 07:41:46 AM »

I have the Sony HC-20, two in fact. Not thrilled but I like that it's really small and versitle. I also have a 3 CCD Panasonic PV-GS120. I heard that this Panasonic was good under low lights but again I'm not to thrilled. I just picked up a Sony HC-90 and recently did a nightime outdoor taping and was pretty happy with the results. $720ish on eBay. The HC-90 is also rated quite good under low lights www.camcorderinfo.com A great site to research camcorders. luv it. I like the HC-90 so much that I'd like to buy a couple more but they are pricey.

columbus decanter · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2005, 04:24:35 PM »

just wondering.. because a friend has some masters they want transfered to DVD.. but the Sony Hi-8(i know.. not a dig cam) .. these recordings come out decent or no? They watched part of the tape on their cam and said there was a light glare over the singer. Strange.

silverbullet · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2005, 04:38:13 PM »

Hi-8's can give good results. Probably camera or setting specific. Maybe the glare can be partially fixed in the post edit process.

columbus decanter · « **Reply #5 on:** July 08, 2005, 09:49:02 PM »

Quote from: silverbullet on July 07, 2005, 04:38:13 PM

Hi-8's can give good results. Probably camera or setting specific. Maybe the glare can be partially fixed in the post edit process.

+T for the insight... what tye of program can 'clean up' the light glare?

silverbullet · « **Reply #6 on:** July 09, 2005, 08:53:13 AM »

Most video edit programs have a brightness and contrast control. You can try that or better yet find a program that you can specify exactly what area needs the adjustment. Good if this was just a stationary tripod shot where the glare is in the same location throughout the tape.

sabre · « **Reply #7 on:** July 10, 2005, 10:03:44 AM »

Here are some shots I got with a Sony HC-30 - As with most newer Sony models, you are forced to use the LCD screen to make manual exposure and focus changes. It has a 10X optical zoom which is suffient for club/theatre settings. In my opinion most digital cameras do a good enough job nowadays, you just need to find one that you can sneak in (if your stealthing) and learn how to use the basic functions.

tito_gh · « **Reply #8 on:** July 11, 2005, 12:04:09 AM »

the sony pd-150 is a nice cam that you can pick up on ebay around 1500 it is basically the vx-2100 with a lot better audio realy nice

WolfmanDMB · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2005, 10:51:24 PM »

i purchased a canon zr70mc off of ebay through the willoughbys online store with the full package for about 320 shipped. i just LOVE it because of its small size, versatility, zoom, digital camera option, and quality lens. if you want superb quality, ive heard the zr300(? - all i know is its the 300 series) is just awesome.

scideadwspph · « **Reply #10 on:** September 17, 2005, 11:18:04 AM »

impressed with pluto's sony hc-30. that looks to be the same quality as the sony pc-100, 109, 1000, all excellent cams.

a strong light glare on a performer, filmed on 8mm (or even mini-dv), can not be cleaned up, and the 8mm quality looks like vhs compared to mini-dv. no offense, but either a triple chip mini-dv or one of those carl zeiss lens sony's are as close as you can get to pro quality, at a consumer price.

t34mbtp · « **Reply #11 on:** September 17, 2005, 11:34:01 AM »

i would agree with sciwsp's assement of the situation, and back his stand 100%. for stealth a pc 100 works just fine if you know how to use it correctly...

columbus decanter · « **Reply #12 on:** September 17, 2005, 06:38:25 PM »

well i sent that Hi-8 master to an authorer. He said that he could possibly 'stabilize the color' or some crap like that. He received it today.. so he may send a clip or two to me this weekend.. so ill see how bad it is. I think the glare is over-exposure lighting.

wilsondmb · « **Reply #13 on:** September 19, 2005, 12:39:13 AM »

Quote from: t34mbtp on September 17, 2005, 11:34:01 AM

i would agree with sciwsp's assement of the situation, and back his stand 100%. for stealth a pc 100 works just fine if you know how to use it correctly...

this would be good advice to take....pc100 is perfect....plus with some cams you can't shoot in widescreen..not sure about the hc series....

colors are amazing....they show up great..

Tyler McGhee · « **Reply #14 on:** October 04, 2005, 04:56:01 PM »

fwiw, there's another mini dv thread going on...great info there to check as well.

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=51435.0

silverbullet · « **Reply #15 on:** October 05, 2005, 03:01:55 PM »

Quote from: wilsondmb on September 19, 2005, 12:39:13 AM

....plus with some cams you can't shoot in widescreen..not sure about the hc series....

Yes, the Sony HC series can shoot widescreen. I think the earlier HC models wasn't a "true" widescreen though but I couldn't tell a difference. The HC90 does shoot "true" widescreen...so I've been told. I like shooting widescreen to help crop out the crowd when taping near the back with only one camera. You can also always crop out that later in the editing process and make it look widescreen which may even be a better option. I don't shoot raw widescreen much anymore unless its just family vacation/birthday stuff.

BayTaynt3d · « **Reply #16 on:** October 05, 2005, 03:53:47 PM »

I own a Panny GS400, and it totally rocks. It's a little expensive for a "consumer" cam (lists for $1500 or so, but you can find cheaper), but it comes with a TON of pro features like: 3 CCDS each with a decent size chip (bigger than typical consumer cams, 3 bigger CCDs make a HUGE difference IMO), manual override for everything if you want it (manual focus, manual zoom, manual white balance, manual aperture/exposure, manual speed, etc. all through a neat "multi-purpose" jog-ring around the lens), a seperate mini mic-in for audio (for this board, that might sound cheesy on the audio front, but you'll be hard-pressed to even get audio in at all on most consumer cams, and it had three modes: AGC, Manual with limiting, and Manual), AE Lock (which freakin' rules, just stay in automode, frame your shot, then switch to AE Lock to ensure everything stays put the way you want it to), TRUE widescreen NTSC that uses a larger area on the CCD chips (not scaled or zoomed, watch out for that because a lot, and I mean MOST, consumer "widescreen" cams just crop and zoom or mask to letterbox, this cam doesn't do any of that crap), and finally, it has OPTICAL image stabalization (which also freagin' totally rules compared to most consumer cams that use electronic stabalization, I can't even tell you how much true perfect optical stabalization rules). Anyway, thought I'd make a plug for that cam because I personally own one, and on many levels it almost is on par with much higher-end prosumer cams like the GL/XL series (not quite I know, but in some areas it's actually better) for less than half the price and more than half the physical size. There are other GS-series Panny cams that are cheaper with less features but still are pretty nice too, but the GS400 is a masterpiece as far as consumer cams go (although as with any gadget, it does have some minor annoyances here and there, but overall, that was $1500 very well spent as far as I am concerned. You can find a ton of info from actual hands-on users about these Panny cams here:

http://www.pana3ccduser.com

And if you want to see some examples of footage caught with the GS400 (remember these are highly compressed for the Web, so they don't even come close to showing you the true quality of the DV this thing caps), check out some of my blog posts here:

-- DEAD LINK, SORRY --

-- Taint

sabre · « **Reply #17 on:** October 06, 2005, 03:18:07 AM »

Quote

And if you want to see some examples of footage caught with the GS400 (remember these are highly compressed for the Web, so they don't even come close to showing you the true quality of the DV this thing caps), check out some of my blog posts here:
http://www.sfblogger.org

Great post! Do you happen to have any concert footage taken with your GS400?

BayTaynt3d · « **Reply #18 on:** October 06, 2005, 11:18:12 AM »

Sorry, nope. But that is one of the reasons I'm gearing up an audio rig -- I'll be taping the audio seperatly from the video. I will say this though, one more point that might be worth mentioning is that if you plan on doing a lot of LOW LIGHT video taping, you should really do your homehome because consumer cams in general SUCK in the low light category, but some are a lot better/worse than others (this is one of the weaker points of my cam, the GS400, but like I said, low light is rough on most consumer cams).

BuddyGoodness · « **Reply #19 on:** January 29, 2006, 07:03:35 PM »

I was considering buying either a Canon Optura 600, a sony HDR-HC1, or a Panasonic PV-GS400. I like that the Sony has a good low light rating (a majority of my recording will be of shows) but I don't own anything HD and I wonder if it is kinda pointless to get it when the quality of the image would be downgraded upon being burned to dvd. Which one should I get?

Mungo · « **Reply #20 on:** May 28, 2006, 12:17:56 PM »

can't say much about HDV, but about DV:

If you need low light performance, you can't avoid buying a sony product though the picture's a bit artificial and "DV-like" under normal light conditions. Don't like that, it's my personal opinion.
Panasonic's 3-Chip-models offer best picture quality I think.
I for myself have a 3-year old canon XM2. The American model name is GM2 (?). Nice picture for a good price. When you switch on the mic attenuator und plug in a wireless device (Sennheiser Evolution Wireless Portable) with a high mic output level the result is a very nice low noise sound. I'm happy with my XM2.