Well, it looks like my old camcorder has finally bit the dust, so I’m in the market for a new one. Since I’m planning on keeping it for a while, it seems pointless to get one that’s not HD. Can anyone give a pithy, succinct “state of the market” analysis and possibly some links and/or recommendations? Thanks for any help…
Low-end: A Flip or Kodak or Xacti flash-based shooter can be yours for well under $200. Small enough to keep in a pocket, relatively nice 720p video, probably no optical zoom or manual anything. (Unless you get a Xacti, which is why I love them.)
On the high-end, the flash-based 1080p camcorders from Canon and Panasonic are at a point where they can do a decent enough bit rate to keep up with tape, so units like the SF10 (when they’re out) do a great job. But they cost like $1200+.
Then there are countless ones in the middle ground. At this point my main advice is to skip tape entirely unless you really, really need archives but can’t afford a NAS.
I endorse this thread. I was actually about a day or so away from asking it myself; one of my clients is going to Mexico and then on safari in Africa in a few months, and wants to grab a good one before the trip.
$1000 to $1400 price range, and HD is a must.
The Canon HV20 and its relatives are a pretty darn good bargain. They can shoot 1920x1080 footage, using the HDV compression codec, and you can get an HV20 now for under $500. I bought one recently, did some test shoots with it, and was very impressed with the image quality. There is a bit of funky finagling you have to do to get it to come out at a 24p framerate, though, so if that matters and/or if you are uncomfortable with (or lack access to) programs like Compressor, it might be more trouble than it’s worth.
The HV20’s relative, the Vixia HF100, uses a memory card instead of MiniDV tape, and I believe its 24p mode is easier to capture. Here it is at Newegg for $565:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830120239&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle--Camcorders±+Analog/Digital--Canon+USA++Inc.-_-30120239
There are some sweet HD cameras out there now, and very affordable.
I actually have an HV20 that I’d be willing to sell to anyone interested in making a reasonable offer. It has been used about 10 hours of shooting maybe?
I have the HF100, and I reviewed the HV20 a while back. The image quality is virtually identical, but file transfer is a lot less hassle with the HF100. Place card in PC and import, vs. real-time transfer over Firewire.
Thanks for the comments; this confirms what I’d already heard that Canon is the place to be if you want something better than the Flip-style camcorders. Apparently they’ve just introduced updated models, which I’ll investigate…
Thread necro:
I’m in the market for an HD camcorder that’s not a Flip-type gadget. Best Buy has one of its Insignia-branded cameras for about $300 with pretty good specs - 1920x1080, 12x optical zoom, .avi or .mov.
Any thoughts on that brand in general?
Hmm I’ve never tried an Insignia. If you veer away from established brands like Canon, Sony, or Panasonic, you might want to be a bit more diligent in your research, but that’s all I have to offer.
Insignia is Best Buy’s house brand, so it could be made by a major manufacturer, or a generic Red Chinese lowest bidder. I’d pop over to Best Buy with my own SD card to try one before I’d even consider it.
For about $100 more you can get the Canon Vixia HF R100. I had one of the earlier models and really liked it. Only sold it because my digital SLR does amazing movies and it’s one less thing to carry…
This is only going to work if jerri sees this RIGHT NOW, but Woot has an HD camcorder on its Happy Hour for $139. http://www.woot.com/happyhour
The Sanyo CG102 I just bought has impressed me. The only real weakness I’ve found is it doesn’t seem to do great in low light but from my understanding very few camcorders do until you start spending lots of money. The battery life could also be better as it only records for an hour in full HD @ 60fps but given my usage that shouldn’t be an issue. Make sure you search Youtube for examples from whatever camcorder you are thinking of buying.
I just purchased the newly released Canon Vixia HF S20, which has gotten good word of mouth and seems to be great. My first use has been this week as I’m on vacation and just got it 10 days ago. I’ll post thoughts on it when I pull off what I got.
I was going to start a thread asking for recording tips and any advice, so instead I’ll add that here. Thoughts?
It obviously depends on what you want to shoot. If you want to film stuff documentary-style that will require a different approach than if you want to shoot something staged and fictional, versus just goofing on vacation or whatever.
Generally, I’d recommend buying a tripod, as handheld videography can get old after a while. And familiarize yourself with the camera’s manual and auto-focus settings. If you’re just shooting stuff out in the world, autofocus can be very helpful, but usually with staged stuff you want very precise control over your focus so you want to be able to control focus manually. Going off my own Canon, the default focus-pulling wheel is very small and not precise, but those are the kind of compromises you make when you purchase a lower-end camcorder. I think there’s some kind of attachment you can buy to make it easier to pull focus on the Vixias, but I haven’t researched that (I’m going off a vague comment my video teacher made a year or two back).
I don’t know what kind of lens attachments and add-ons are compatible with the Vixia series, but that’s always a fun thing to research, and if you want to shoot anything that looks nice or “slick” or professional you may want to invest in some lights. Good lighting makes a huge difference in the overall look of something you shoot. You can rent them or buy lighting kits for a wide range of prices depending on what you want to get. Be aware of color temperature; there will be pre-settings for outdoors vs. indoors vs. fluorescent, and they’ll impact the quality of your shot. If you shoot indoors with tungsten light on tungsten settings, and you don’t put a gel over your window, any sunlight coming from outside is going to look blue, etc. It’s good to be aware of these issues, although more and more it’s possible to correct a lot of color-temperature mismatches in post production.
If you want to shoot dialogue that doesn’t sound like it’s coming out of a wind tunnel or a telephone, you will want to invest in a good external mic and a boom pole – maybe a shotgun mic, but I’m not really an expert on that stuff so you want to do some research or befriend an audio nerd (or go to http://www.gearslutz.com/board/ and browse the production audio forums) and find something that’s good for production dialogue, directional but not TOO directional, etc. Check your levels before you start shooting so you don’t get a lot of distortion when someone raises their voice. If you’re shooting outside put on a “dead cat” (fluffy sound-padder thing) to reduce the sound of wind. If you’re shooting inside, turn off all electrical appliances, refrigerators, etc., and if possible put padding/deadening on surfaces that are likely to cause a lot of echo/reverb. Clean audio is one of the hardest things to achieve and its absence is one of the first signs of amateurish video/film work. But a few common sense precautions can make a huge difference.
Again, not sure what sort of stuff you are trying to shoot – just spitballing some general production advice off the top of my head.
I’m more of the “goofing on vacation” variety. The stuff going on in Nashville since last Saturday got me wishing I had a better camera to document what I was seeing. Plus, my niece always wants me to shoot a music video with her, so it would be nice if the quality were better.
That is what I am going to use mine for too. I just wanted to capture maybe 5-15mins a day of random things that catch my attention so I can remember my vacation. I got a little gorilla pod tripod which seems pretty useful and not very cumbersome to carry around. It twists and contorts so you can use it to attach to almost anything. I did a test video by attaching it to a headrest in my car, not sure how you’d do that with a regular tripod.
That’s what I’m shooting as well. My son in various stages of life. He’s two now, and does crazy stuff all the time. I want to build memories basically. Nothing artistic or fancy. Unless it’s easy and coincides with what I’m already filming.
Still have to look at the stuff I took on the trip. Probably won’t get to do anything until the weekend. Sad thing is, no matter how much I want to take pictures and film stuff, I never end up taking as much footage/shots as I’d like. I guess I like living through my eyes instead of the camera. Still, I got enough to capture some good moments.
I ended up getting the Insignia camera I mentioned above. It was about the right balance of price and features for me. I’m going to make an effort to use it a lot in the next 30 days to get a feel for whether I’m going to like it. If it sucks, it goes back.
Arise for 2011-2012!
Any recommendations for a high def camcorder? Primary purpose is filming rugby games. I know digital zoom is crap, but I don’t need insane amounts of optical zoom. There are going to be ‘coaches’ view (probably from an end zone covering width of field mostly) not highlight reel action.
Just went through the camcorder research cycle.
The answer is Canon Vixia HF M40, unless you want a viewfinder in addition the LCD, in which case the answer is m41.
Awesome optics, full feature set, small, and just superb video quality. Audio’s about as good as I’ve heard from a built-in mic, too. Super-happy with it.