Best video camera for £350. (for video recording)

[sports_brah]

My budget has been revised thanks to someone else chipping in on a present.

Currently looking for the best camera that will do video. I can spend £350, though in cases of cashback I can spend a bit more til it is refunded.

At the moment, the best deal I can seem to find is the:

Nikon D5100 which comes with 18 55 VR lens, and a 2 year warranty for £359


Can I get better for the money, or pay less for the same?


Criteria:

Main use is video recording, though a few pictures will be taken (not important)

I can buy it by Tuesday morning.



Thank you for all suggestions!

 

[sports_brah]

bump

 

[sports_brah]

Well, I thought about camcorder, but it seems like the D5100 has better quality video?

I've got to make a decision tonight, so any other suggestions would be more than welcome.

 

[sports_brah]

Okay in the end I managed to bag a new D5100 with the VR 18 55 lens, with a 2 year guarantee, an ultra fast 8gb memory card (30mb a second) and a lovely camera bag. All in all cost me £320 (once cashback comes through).

Should do nicely hopefully.

 

[sports_brah]

You will want an external mic as the onboard will pick up the focus from the camera very badly.

Any recommendations that you'd say are worth it in your professional opinion?

Plus depending on what you are shooting and how you shoot, a traditional video camera may be better for its auto-focus.

Any suggestions? Can cancel order now if needs be.

Budget is £350 and has to be better than a D5100.

 

[sports_brah]

You do realise there is a 10 minute time limit on recordings with that DSLR?

There is a firmware hack to remove, apparently there's issues with overheating sensor. Not worth the risk IMO.

Why not just get a decent panasonic or Sony camcorder? They're very good and user friendly.

You've still not mentioned what you will be shooting and what it'll be used for primarily.

Okay in the end I managed to bag a new D5100 with the VR 18 55 lens, with a 2 year guarantee, an ultra fast 8gb memory card (30mb a second) and a lovely camera bag. All in all cost me £320 (once cashback comes through).

Should do nicely hopefully.

It was a present for someone, hence the last minute rush! They are getting into a lot more creative stuff, and we wanted to faciliate that. Hopefully they'll use the camera option a lot as well!

The problem was at my budget it seemed like they were kinda "meh", whereas the D5100 had good all round capabilities. Also, I'm happy with the price paid. The 8gb card would have been around £8-10 on its own, the camera bag (Hama Rexton 170) another £40 so realistically the camera was exceptionally cheap, along with the 2 year warranty.

(I realise that sounds like me justifying the purchase , haha. Ah well, if they don't like it, I hope they sell it on and get something better).

P.s Are there any good guides for someone looking to get into video/photo? Good tricks of the trade, good techniques etc.


P.P.S the 20 min record limit shouldn't be a problem, certainly won't advise them to mess around with firmware! I'm guessing you can stop, then start again?

 

[sports_brah]

I think it's 10 mins not 20. Seems strange wanting a DSLR for it's video qualities when it only records 10 min clips. However the video quality is excellent from them.

You can indeed start and stop again. However it's not recommended as this obviously doesn't allow time for it to cool.

Reviews say 20 mins. Either way, it'll be suffient I reckon!

Either way it was very well recieved so thats my end done.

Duties of being an older brother!

Im not sure for £350 but i have had 3 different SLR's in the last yr, but the Sony A65 stands out for me in every way, the onboard image stabilization was amazing, here is a small clip from my hands the other month, you would think its on a tipod.

http://youtu.be/9GRDM-sqoUs

Lovely video quality. Thought to myself, damn I maybe should have gotten that.

Price: £600

me: how 'bout no.