Spec me a......Camcorder

Swampyseifer

Swampyseifer

Swampyseifer

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Joined
9 Jan 2008
Posts
511
Location
UK
Hey all

I would be grateful if people could either suggest some models or maybe at least give me food for thought for a camcorder...

The main uses will be

taking films on holidays/family gatherings etc (so some zoom and battery life)
taking shots of my miniatures I paint (doesn't have to be amazing but decent quality)
Recording videos of me playing my bass guitar (so would be handy if it had editing software?)

It can't break the bank....maybe £250-£300

Thanks and let me know if you need to know any more?

EDIT:
Just to say that if I could get one that does the job for less money then boom! Just cuz I could pay that money doesn't mean I want to!
 
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An SLR or Mirrorless is going to give you way better video quality than a camcorder, in fact most compacts will. The sensors on camcorders are so small they tend to produce noisy images with indoor lighting.
 
Oh ok? Shows I'm a bit out of date on these things...I just assumed that camcorders would be better for video!

So if we're talking cameras instead of camcorders then does it have to be slr? I mean from what little I've worked out so far the main thing an slr has over a standard digital camera is the manual zoomy lens thing and very high quality results. The other thing (as I mentioned) is the price a quick look online shows that most slr cameras seem to start at the top bracket if my budget!
 
Camcorders have a lot of features designed for easily shooting video, like a big zoom lens, flip out screen, large hard drive, adjustable viewfinder etc, that's where the money goes in the design, rather than the things that give high image quality video like a large sensor and high quality lens. A number of TV series have been shot on SLR cameras for this reason.

No it doesn't need to be an SLR, any high quality compact camera will give better quality video than a similarly priced camcorder. Others will be able to give you better advice regarding compacts that I can.

If you go for an SLR or mirrorless camera though I would recommend the Nikon D3200 or the Olympus EPL-5 which come with a 3x zoom lens for £320. The Olympus is smaller but the Nikon can shoot video at 60fps, which can be used to create good slow motion effects.
 
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Whatever you buy make sure it has a mic input as I expect you'll want a better mic for your guitar work. You'll want to go mirrorless as most DSLRs can't autofocus during recording save for the Canon 70D which is well out of budget.
 
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Janesy B said:
Whatever you buy make sure it has a mic input as I expect you'll want a better mic for your guitar work. You'll want to go mirrorless as most DSLRs can't autofocus during recording save for the Canon 70D which is well out of budget.
Click to expand...

SLR's focus just fine during video recording, using contrast detection.
 
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