camcorders / digital video recorders / digital cameras?

[rumballs]

Anyone looked into this stuff recently?

Basically I need to be able to take kind of short videos, let's say 5 minutes or so. I'm not necessarily looking for really high-quality video - it's not like I'll be using this to video kids or whatever. I just need decent quality, preferably in low light as well.

Seems like my options are:
Get a regular camcorder for $300 or so
Get a digital video camera for $150 (after buying bigger memory) - e.g. the Aiptek DV4500
Get a new digital camera, one that I actually want(Sony DSC-W100 or something like that), and use the video feature.

The easy advantage I see in both digital options is I can just download clips and not try to worry about what's on a tape where, etc. On the other hand, the standard camcorder is supposed to be better in low light.
As far as the digital video camera vs digital camera, any thought on whether the video camera will be better quality since it is designed for that? Seems like it shouldn't be much different since the regular camera would be more expensive and have the same type of feature....

Anyhow, any random thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

[galaga]

Got a nice JVC dig. video camera for Christmas that uses both tape and memory. Pretty nice little set up and with the firewire connection, putting it onto the computer and editing short videos is a snap. The kids have already made shorts for school projects. It will also take still shots onto tape or memory.

[Suburbahick]

if you could let us know what specifically you would be using the camera for, and somone could probably point you in the right direction and price range for what you need.

[rumballs]

just filming while I take the dog out in case we have an encounter with our neighbor.
i'm leaning towards the cheapest possible digital video camera, or a pretty nice digital camera...

[Ironfreak]

Originally Posted by mmblz

just filming while I take the dog out in case we have an encounter with our neighbor.
i'm leaning towards the cheapest possible digital video camera, or a pretty nice digital camera...

If this is simply for very short films, I would probably just opt for a decent digital camera instead of the camcorder for the following reasons:

*Digital camera is small and easy to tote/conceal.
*Price for a decent 5MP+ Digital Camera is like $300-350.
*The camera serves multiple purposes.. One, you catch your neighbor doing whatever he does, and two you can take some killer shots of all your high end cigars for us to drool over?

How could you go wrong?

This is the camera I have that I absolutely love. Easy to operate and takes some fantastic pics.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1117178280894

[ToddziLLa]

I'm a big Canon fan...always have been always will be. Seems like you need a nice little point-n-shoot camera. May I suggest the following:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16830120174
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16830120044 *
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16830120173

* There is a combo deal on this now which comes with a free 1GB memory card.

Also, depending on what kind of memory your camera takes, may I also suggest the following cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820180615
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820171046

Good luck!

p.s. For reviews on cameras, the best site IMO is http://www.StevesDigicams.com

[rumballs]

Yeah my current camera is a Canon, one of the early PowerShots that has I think 2 MP.

I was sort of looking at these two:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16830150067
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=502394 (not quite out yet and I really should get it right away)

The 8 MP Canon looks ok but I wish it were cheaper & lighter:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16830120172

Thanks for the links!

[White97Jimmy]

I have the same camera as Ironfreak. I bought it to take to Vegas. I wanted something that was going to fit in my pocket and not worry about crushing the lens if it turned on in my pocket.

I have other Sony camera's, but I like that the T5 now records in .mpg format instead of .mp4. I was getting tired of converting all of my video into .mpg. I can record over 20 minutes on a 512mb card which are super cheap on ebay. You can get a 1gig card for about $20.

[rumballs]

I just ordered a Casio EX-Z850:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/casioz850/


If anyone else is looking for reviews, this page is great:
http://www.photoxels.com/reviews-matrix.html

It links to Steves as well as a number of other sites with very detailed reviews.