Camcorder

[junebug8]

This may be a silly question but here goes...if you have a camcorder (one of the new small ones), did you bring it with you to Hawaii? Just wondering if we should just bring the digital camera and a few underwater cameras. I was actually thinking of getting DH a camcorder for Father's Day (as that is the day we board) but not sure if we would really use it all that much while in HI (not wanting it to get wet, etc). Thanks.:)

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

I brought camcorder, digital camera, underwater camera and used all of them a lot. I used almost 3 tapes with my camcorder (about 90 minutes each). The only time I didn't use it was for the Molokini snorkeling adventure and parasailing. Had it with me everywhere else. I'd take it especially if it is a little one. Mine is the VH-C so it is medium sized. Would definately prefer the smaller DVD camcorder.

[beachchick]

Five words: Lava cruise-by with digital video.

 

beachchick

 

p.s., We don't have one, but my DH used the video feature on our digital camera and got several good multi-minute videos. With editing software, you can zoom and pluck frames for individual "photos."

[skbaw]

Bring your camcorder along with a digital camera and underwater camera. On our trip, I used the camera (almost 900 pics) and DH used the camcorder. Ours records to disks (about 20 minutes on highest quality) and we filled more than 20 disks. We took both cameras everywhere except on the snorkel excursion (used 2 underwater cameras). DH taped everything including driving Hana Highway and Halekalia and around the ship. It was especially good for recording action like the show at Polynesian Cultural Center or me trying to navigate the waves at the beach!

[FB]

We have a Sony DVD Camcorder. It has a 3MP camera w/flash built in. So this is what we will be using. 30 minute disc. The only questinos is how many discs should I bring?

[flobee]

We have a Sony DVD Camcorder. It has a 3MP camera w/flash built in. So this is what we will be using. 30 minute disc. The only questinos is how many discs should I bring?

 

Just a 'heads-up' FB. We are looking at a Sony for our hawaiian cruise in October but decided to go the mini-tape way versus DVD. The DVD's really only hold 18 minutes at quality image and we felt there would be too much changing of dvds and they were too costly.

[FB]

The camera is a year old. Had I known what I know now about the DVD format I probably would have gone with something different. But it is pretty handy just to throw the DVD onto a computer and its all there. I agree changing the discs can be a pain in the butt.

[maggiek]

We took our Canon SD 700 IS which is super small and but has a 16X digital zoom and also has the capability to shoot movies. It came in very handy for the lava drive-by and during our zip line excursion. I actually filmed my kids coming in for a landing and and action shot crossing the zip. The spouting horn movie I shot also turned out well. I know how hard it is to take all of the camera equipment you think you will need because I also took my Canon Digital Rebel but at least I had the smaller camera for going to the beaches and on some of the more active excurions.

[skbaw]

We also have the Sony camcorder with DVD. Even though the disk say 30 minutes you really only get about 18 on high quality. We filled about 20 disks and DH shot everything. We bought 10 disks that came on a spiral - it was small enough to fit in my small camera bag. The rest of our disks were in cases. We would take the used disks off the spiral every night and switch them into a case. That way we always had a bunch of blank disks with us. DH and I got a pretty good system going for changing them out. He would tell me when the disk was almost full and I would have another one ready to put in. I would then mark it (we numbered ours) to keep them in order (we always carried a sharpie with us too)

 

We bought our disks at Sams Club and Walmart before we left. I think the ones at Sams were $12 for $15 - they were not that expensive. If you plan to use it a lot, I would buy 20-25 disks - if you don't use them on the trip you will have them for another occasion.

[SHIPMEOUT]

We brought our Canon SD 700 IS for our digital still pictures (which we also took short videos with) and a couple of 2 GB memory cards.

 

We also took our Sony Camcorder which we bought on sale just before Christmas. We went with the "hard drive" model...no tapes, no DVD's to worry about, and a really small size too. It also has a built in digital camera for still pics. Best decision we ever made and we took it everywhere in Hawaii. My DH took videos easily with this small camcorder in one hand while at the same time paddling an oar in the other hand on our outrigger canoe in Kona.

 

Cindy

[JohnL1935]

Last year we did the Med on Carnival Liberty and I bought a JVC 30 gig hard drive camcorder. I recorded about 5 hours of our trip(and still had an hour remaining) and the shots are just beautiful. Don't know if I would want to fool around with the mini dvd's. My wife took shots with our digital camera. Now my problem is that this winter I converted over to a high def LCD TV and I'm sold on the clarity of high def. JVC has a 60 gig HD camcorder that I'm now itching for but it is in the $1,300 range. Don't buy something that is obsolete that you will regret later.

 

John L.

[Desert Cruizers]

I have the Sony Camcorder with the small tapes, now they come out with something better of course. Will take it and my Digital when we go to Hawaii Oct 2008.

[azansari]

Last year we did the Med on Carnival Liberty and I bought a JVC 30 gig hard drive camcorder. I recorded about 5 hours of our trip(and still had an hour remaining) and the shots are just beautiful. Don't know if I would want to fool around with the mini dvd's. My wife took shots with our digital camera. Now my problem is that this winter I converted over to a high def LCD TV and I'm sold on the clarity of high def. JVC has a 60 gig HD camcorder that I'm now itching for but it is in the $1,300 range. Don't buy something that is obsolete that you will regret later.

 

John L.

 

If you haven't bought the JVC yet, look into the Pansonic HDC-SD1 camera. It's gotten rave reviews (you can check amazon and digitaltrends.com for their reviews), and I just bought one for $795 from CircuitCity. They are advertising it for $829, but if you go to buydig.com and print their price out and take it to the store, CC should match it. I have been playing with it all weekend, and it's pretty great. Best of all, it's very compact, about the length and width of a dollar, and you can save a few too w/ a little research. ;)

[azansari]

Edit: double post, sorry

[JohnL1935]

Azansari: Is the Panasonic a hard drive and if so, what size? When I was in Circuit City the only other Hi Def Hard Drive was a Sony. Thanks for the heads up... I think there are cheaper Hi Def camcorders but they are DVD. The only thing for me is a hard drive but the prices I saw were too much right now.

 

John L.