Digital Camcorders.........

[timmy33]

Just wondering have any of you lot got them? I saw one on the weekend in the supermarket for £99. Which seemed cheap. It said the resolution was something like 680 by 480?

Is that any good? For TV / internet viewing? Are there higher resolution cameras available? And can you burn the films onto DVD easily?

[Calorus]

timmy33 said:

Just wondering have any of you lot got them? I saw one on the weekend in the supermarket for £99. Which seemed cheap. It said the resolution was something like 680 by 480?

Is that any good? For TV / internet viewing? Are there higher resolution cameras available? And can you burn the films onto DVD easily?

That's basic UK TV pixel dim's, from memory. Would look a little grainy on a compute, perhaps. But as with any camera you can have whatever resolution you want, but if you have a shit lens, you'll simply a much clearer shitty picture.

[timmy33]

Calorus said:

That's basic UK TV pixel dim's, from memory. Would look a little grainy on a compute, perhaps. But as with any camera you can have whatever resolution you want, but if you have a shit lens, you'll simply a much clearer shitty picture.

Ah, good point. About the lens, hard to tell though these days with the Chinese making so many things. It's hard to tell if cheap means 'crap' or 'bargain' with the price of everything electical falling.

I'm going on a road trip over summer, taking my Alfa all over Italy, and I want to make a movie of the trip, and maybe post some links to some of the drives ( St Bernard Pass ), Stilveto, etc on PH.

[Calorus]

timmy33 said:

Calorus said:

That's basic UK TV pixel dim's, from memory. Would look a little grainy on a compute, perhaps. But as with any camera you can have whatever resolution you want, but if you have a shit lens, you'll simply a much clearer shitty picture.

Ah, good point. About the lens, hard to tell though these days with the Chinese making so many things. It's hard to tell if cheap means 'crap' or 'bargain' with the price of everything electical falling.

I'm going on a road trip over summer, taking my Alfa all over Italy, and I want to make a movie of the trip, and maybe post some links to some of the drives ( St Bernard Pass ), Stilveto, etc on PH.

For that, I think cheap is cheerful. The majority of the enjoyment comes from the tale rather than the artistic merit I'd get the cheapest one for which you can find reassuring prose of its quality, and go and have a ball. Nothing ruins a trip more than having to choose between recording something fun, or protecting your recording device - it's better to have something whose loss would be a temporary inconvenience rather than a financial kick in boocks, because whilst you might not get the quality, you won't fuss about hiding it to much, and so are more likely to get more interesting footage.

[cw42]

Stilveto pass! Freudian slip?


I filmed this film: http://www.scoobysmacs.co.uk/Videos/stelvio%20day%... with an old sony dv tape camcorder, which was suction mounted to my windscreen with a B-Hauge mount. I then transferred the footage to my pc with firewire and use pinnacles dv editing software to add transitions and titles. All works, no problems, no fuss. There are a number of cheap solutions out there, but the low res 640x480 camera you mention would not do the views you're seeing any justice on a dvd. Go for a dv tape based system, and do the above, you wont be dissapointed with the quality and it's all very easy to use.