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Well, you don't exactly have to be a "buff", but if you know practically anything about camcorders it would be helpful :)
Basically I need a bit of jargon help, if you could reply with explanations, or websites or something that'd be great.
The problem is I know practically nothing. Even though some of these seem pretty obvious like digital/analogue, my ideas of what this meant seem to be a little far from reality. I thought analogue = cassette like things, digital = memory stick. It would appear that may not be true:
digital camcorder
analogue camcorder
Hi8
digital zoom
optical zoom
Digital8
*may add more.
*quality of MPEG4
*why do basic £200 camcorders seem to have only 0.4 MP, does this mean on LCD screen or quality of video?
Many thanks.
Basically I need a bit of jargon help, if you could reply with explanations, or websites or something that'd be great.
The problem is I know practically nothing. Even though some of these seem pretty obvious like digital/analogue, my ideas of what this meant seem to be a little far from reality. I thought analogue = cassette like things, digital = memory stick. It would appear that may not be true:
digital camcorder
analogue camcorder
Hi8
digital zoom
optical zoom
Digital8
*may add more.
*quality of MPEG4
*why do basic £200 camcorders seem to have only 0.4 MP, does this mean on LCD screen or quality of video?
Many thanks.
CDouch wrote:
> Hi8 - Best quality for analogue cameras. The next thing down from
> digital and good enough for home movies or screwing around with the
> mates.
Ye, i got a Sony one of these back from the mid late ninties. Got it out of storage today to try and film the local cats having a territory battle on on top of my shed! They just love it up there...
> Hi8 - Best quality for analogue cameras. The next thing down from
> digital and good enough for home movies or screwing around with the
> mates.
Ye, i got a Sony one of these back from the mid late ninties. Got it out of storage today to try and film the local cats having a territory battle on on top of my shed! They just love it up there...
Thanks alot adrian. That's quite a help really.
I think I'll wait a while to do a bit more research though.
I think I'll wait a while to do a bit more research though.
Depends on what you really want to do. A digital camera isnt going to be able to take brilliant footage and theres the space issue as well. In the easter I went to New York and took my miniDV camera with me and took 11 hours of footage. Now using a Digital camera to take the footage would have been impossible because of the memory card space.
Now I spent £320 on a camcorder, nearly £500 including a extra big battery 15 tapes and a carry case. Luckly my dad went halves with me :D. Also have a £180 Sony P72(3.2MP) camera which is good for taking photos, perfect for me who just wants a decent photo. I used the P72 in New York at 2MP as I only had a few cards and wanted to get loads of pictures, and even at 2MP the pictures are brilliant quality on print outs.
A miniDV camera with a digital memory stick can not take good photos. I was reading a review of a 3MP Sony miniDV camcorder and the pictures that took werent as good as something like a bog standard 2MP or 3MP digital camera.
Depending on your budget I would go for a cheap miniDV camera £300 or so and then a seperate digital camera again £200 or so depending on your budget. Again if video is more what you want then go for a miniDV camera that has a memory stick slot to allow pictures to be taken. And if pictures are more what you want, get a high quality camera and maybe get the bottom line miniDV, depending on how much video you want to take etc.
I went for a lower model miniDV camera as the only benefit of spending a £150 were a colour viewfinder(not important to me as I was using LCD screen), DV-IN(again not important as I was putting tapes to DVD) and a memory stick slot to allow pictures to be store(again not important as I had a seperate camera).
Now I spent £320 on a camcorder, nearly £500 including a extra big battery 15 tapes and a carry case. Luckly my dad went halves with me :D. Also have a £180 Sony P72(3.2MP) camera which is good for taking photos, perfect for me who just wants a decent photo. I used the P72 in New York at 2MP as I only had a few cards and wanted to get loads of pictures, and even at 2MP the pictures are brilliant quality on print outs.
A miniDV camera with a digital memory stick can not take good photos. I was reading a review of a 3MP Sony miniDV camcorder and the pictures that took werent as good as something like a bog standard 2MP or 3MP digital camera.
Depending on your budget I would go for a cheap miniDV camera £300 or so and then a seperate digital camera again £200 or so depending on your budget. Again if video is more what you want then go for a miniDV camera that has a memory stick slot to allow pictures to be taken. And if pictures are more what you want, get a high quality camera and maybe get the bottom line miniDV, depending on how much video you want to take etc.
I went for a lower model miniDV camera as the only benefit of spending a £150 were a colour viewfinder(not important to me as I was using LCD screen), DV-IN(again not important as I was putting tapes to DVD) and a memory stick slot to allow pictures to be store(again not important as I had a seperate camera).
Hi have camcorder and girlfriend handles the photos. I only have an analogue at the moment but am borrowing a MiniDV. I plan to buy a top of the range MiniDV when I have a bit more money.
Thanks to you guys and Dixons (but not Jessops), it's cleared a few things up. However, what they said opened a can of worms. Basically it looks as if the comparison is against:
me getting a 5ishMP digi camera which can do video pretty well.
or
me getting a 1MP mini DV or stick drive digi camcorder.
What have you lot got? Camcorder that does pictures, or camera that does film.
me getting a 5ishMP digi camera which can do video pretty well.
or
me getting a 1MP mini DV or stick drive digi camcorder.
What have you lot got? Camcorder that does pictures, or camera that does film.
miniDV is still a tape but it is a very small tape and uses very high quality. Its digital because camcorders can transfer the tape footage on to a PC via Firewire. 1 hour of footage on miniDV is about 12/13Gb of hard disk space so at very high quality.
Digital8 is a digital version of Hi8, which uses bigger tapes. Basically miniDV can take more lines for each frame, more lines equals better picture quality than Digital8.
MPEG4 is a digital media format and is recorded onto something like a memory stick or some type of digital media. Again MPEG4 is a compression video codec so compared to miniDV your not going to get as good a picture.
When they say mega pixels on a camera like 0.4MP then that can mean 1 of 2 things. Either thats the video quality or the picture quality if that camcorder can do stills. Now I have a Sony TRV-14 which is only something like 0.68 or even less, and thats brilliant quality. Camcorders do not have the same sort of MP as you would find on a digital camera. MP in digital cameras increases the picture size, so a low MP could be 640x480 while a higher MP would be 4096x3072. A miniDV camera is only going to be able to go up to a certain resolution such as 720x576 as thats the resolution used by a PAL DVD.
If you looking for a camcorder than the best sort to get would be miniDV. The tapes are tiny, pretty cheap and you can transfer the footage to a PC to edit and put onto DVD.
Digital8 is a digital version of Hi8, which uses bigger tapes. Basically miniDV can take more lines for each frame, more lines equals better picture quality than Digital8.
MPEG4 is a digital media format and is recorded onto something like a memory stick or some type of digital media. Again MPEG4 is a compression video codec so compared to miniDV your not going to get as good a picture.
When they say mega pixels on a camera like 0.4MP then that can mean 1 of 2 things. Either thats the video quality or the picture quality if that camcorder can do stills. Now I have a Sony TRV-14 which is only something like 0.68 or even less, and thats brilliant quality. Camcorders do not have the same sort of MP as you would find on a digital camera. MP in digital cameras increases the picture size, so a low MP could be 640x480 while a higher MP would be 4096x3072. A miniDV camera is only going to be able to go up to a certain resolution such as 720x576 as thats the resolution used by a PAL DVD.
If you looking for a camcorder than the best sort to get would be miniDV. The tapes are tiny, pretty cheap and you can transfer the footage to a PC to edit and put onto DVD.
Nope Mini DV are still tapes (unless that's just the way they look on the outside). I'm not sure how to explain it. While working on a shoot the other day we were using Digital Beta and that's tape too.
Anyway, they're the best quality for a personal camera and perfect if your wanting to transfer to computer.
Anyway, they're the best quality for a personal camera and perfect if your wanting to transfer to computer.
CDouch wrote:
> I'll help where I can:
> digital camcorder - Uses digital software. Generally Mini DV tapes.
> Do the same as an analogue camera but with better quality, a few more
> effects and a higher price. There also able to plug straight into
> your computer using a firewire cable if you want to edit your footage
> in any programme (including Windows Movie Maker). The best way to go
> as analogues slowly vanishing.
what are mini DV tapes? They sound like cassettes to me, which would make it non digital?
I thought all digital photgraphy was put on memory cards or sticks?
> *quality of MPEG4 - Not too sure but I'm assuming it's to do with
> using footage as internet files or something along those lines. Can't
> really help here.
nah its just another format you can store film in, ie. not particular to internet.
> Hope I've been able to help a bit. I may be back to add more if
> anything comes to mind.
You have :)
> I'll help where I can:
> digital camcorder - Uses digital software. Generally Mini DV tapes.
> Do the same as an analogue camera but with better quality, a few more
> effects and a higher price. There also able to plug straight into
> your computer using a firewire cable if you want to edit your footage
> in any programme (including Windows Movie Maker). The best way to go
> as analogues slowly vanishing.
what are mini DV tapes? They sound like cassettes to me, which would make it non digital?
I thought all digital photgraphy was put on memory cards or sticks?
> *quality of MPEG4 - Not too sure but I'm assuming it's to do with
> using footage as internet files or something along those lines. Can't
> really help here.
nah its just another format you can store film in, ie. not particular to internet.
> Hope I've been able to help a bit. I may be back to add more if
> anything comes to mind.
You have :)
I'll help where I can:
>
> digital camcorder - Uses digital software. Generally Mini DV tapes. Do the same as an analogue camera but with better quality, a few more effects and a higher price. There also able to plug straight into your computer using a firewire cable if you want to edit your footage in any programme (including Windows Movie Maker). The best way to go as analogues slowly vanishing.
>
> analogue camcorder - Not quite as good quality. You need an adapter or video card to transfer footage to a computer although they'll plug straight into a VCR/TV via the scart socket (the camera comes packed with all basic required wires etc (so do digital cameras)). Various formats of tape to use depending on the camera (it'll say on the cam/box/details online. The best of which is...
>
> Hi8 - Best quality for analogue cameras. The next thing down from digital and good enough for home movies or screwing around with the mates.
>
> digital zoom - I believethis is where you've zoomed in as far as the camera lense will go and you are now zooming digitally. It's very shaking when you cross into this mode as it's made out of pictures and therefore very sensitive to movement.
>
> optical zoom - The basic zoom of the camera. Again I believe.
>
> Digital8 - Not too sure but I assume it's the digital version of Hi8. It's just a format of tape certain cameras use.
> *quality of MPEG4 - Not too sure but I'm assuming it's to do with using footage as internet files or something along those lines. Can't really help here.
>
> *why do basic £200 camcorders seem to have only 0.4 MP, does
> this mean on LCD screen or quality of video? - Again, sorry I'm not sure.
>
Hope I've been able to help a bit. I may be back to add more if anything comes to mind.
>
>
> Many thanks.
>
> digital camcorder - Uses digital software. Generally Mini DV tapes. Do the same as an analogue camera but with better quality, a few more effects and a higher price. There also able to plug straight into your computer using a firewire cable if you want to edit your footage in any programme (including Windows Movie Maker). The best way to go as analogues slowly vanishing.
>
> analogue camcorder - Not quite as good quality. You need an adapter or video card to transfer footage to a computer although they'll plug straight into a VCR/TV via the scart socket (the camera comes packed with all basic required wires etc (so do digital cameras)). Various formats of tape to use depending on the camera (it'll say on the cam/box/details online. The best of which is...
>
> Hi8 - Best quality for analogue cameras. The next thing down from digital and good enough for home movies or screwing around with the mates.
>
> digital zoom - I believethis is where you've zoomed in as far as the camera lense will go and you are now zooming digitally. It's very shaking when you cross into this mode as it's made out of pictures and therefore very sensitive to movement.
>
> optical zoom - The basic zoom of the camera. Again I believe.
>
> Digital8 - Not too sure but I assume it's the digital version of Hi8. It's just a format of tape certain cameras use.
> *quality of MPEG4 - Not too sure but I'm assuming it's to do with using footage as internet files or something along those lines. Can't really help here.
>
> *why do basic £200 camcorders seem to have only 0.4 MP, does
> this mean on LCD screen or quality of video? - Again, sorry I'm not sure.
>
Hope I've been able to help a bit. I may be back to add more if anything comes to mind.
>
>
> Many thanks.
Well, you don't exactly have to be a "buff", but if you know practically anything about camcorders it would be helpful :)
Basically I need a bit of jargon help, if you could reply with explanations, or websites or something that'd be great.
The problem is I know practically nothing. Even though some of these seem pretty obvious like digital/analogue, my ideas of what this meant seem to be a little far from reality. I thought analogue = cassette like things, digital = memory stick. It would appear that may not be true:
digital camcorder
analogue camcorder
Hi8
digital zoom
optical zoom
Digital8
*may add more.
*quality of MPEG4
*why do basic £200 camcorders seem to have only 0.4 MP, does this mean on LCD screen or quality of video?
Many thanks.
Basically I need a bit of jargon help, if you could reply with explanations, or websites or something that'd be great.
The problem is I know practically nothing. Even though some of these seem pretty obvious like digital/analogue, my ideas of what this meant seem to be a little far from reality. I thought analogue = cassette like things, digital = memory stick. It would appear that may not be true:
digital camcorder
analogue camcorder
Hi8
digital zoom
optical zoom
Digital8
*may add more.
*quality of MPEG4
*why do basic £200 camcorders seem to have only 0.4 MP, does this mean on LCD screen or quality of video?
Many thanks.