Digital movie cameras for Alaska?

[RCCLismyfav1]

I have read so many responses from experts in the camera field and have decided on a DMC FZ18 for my camera, now I need help deciding which movie camera to purchase. WE have one but is probably 10 years old. I want one that gives me good zoom distance and quality movies. I would also like to know if I should buy one that has a tape, CD or what in it? Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.

[plenox]

I have similar question. I have already owned a dSLR. I am wondering whether a digital camera with movie function is better or a digital camcorder is better.

[qiangf2]

I have read so many responses from experts in the camera field and have decided on a DMC FZ18 for my camera, now I need help deciding which movie camera to purchase. WE have one but is probably 10 years old. I want one that gives me good zoom distance and quality movies. I would also like to know if I should buy one that has a tape, CD or what in it? Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.

 

I haven't upgraded my 4-year mini-DV camcorder. So I am not too up to speed in this. But, when I shopped for my Pani camcorder, I used the information from this website. http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ I still believe it is one the best review sites. Again, you may want to tap in pricegrabber.com to see some users reviews on any particular model.

[JohnQ]

Okay, I will jump in here and give my opinion. It depends on your circumstances and what you will do with the video. I have an older, larger, expensive Sony Tr 30 digital camcorder that takes excellent movies. It is a little bigger than todays. Last year, I was having trouble with loose lens on Sony and a couple of error msgs that kept coming on. Sony wanted $300 just to look at it. So I purchased a smaller digital 3-chip Panasonic camcorder that my son has also had for a year. It seems to take good video.

 

Well, I ended up taking the Sony into local repair facility and fixed it for only $60. It works great, feels good in the hands and is heavy with bigger batteries, which last most of day. The Panasonic is awkward to hold, doesn't sit well in our hands.

 

For our 10 day cruise to Mexico in Feb and back to back cruises to Alaska in July, we took the Panasonic and it worked well.

 

Important things in my view: optical image stablizer, larger optical zoom, wind sound reduce setting,larger screen for viewing back shots. Comfortable to hold and batteries that will last. Buy extra batteries, take charger with you, have plenty of digital tapes. Oh yeah, I prefer digital tape over mini discs and harddrive, due to ease of editing and storage. I am not a big edit fan, just want a few titles and to take out the oops shots. Harddrive models are getting cheaper but you still have to move them to permanant storage somewhere. Small discs cannot be easily edited. That was our reason for doing this.

 

Get a name brand and read whatever reviews from the photo sites.

[qiangf2]

If you want to try digitcal video editting, Microsoft moviemaker is excellent freeware. It comes with Windows XP SP2. I am pretty sure it is available with Vista as well.

[dbh62ark]

Oh yeah, I prefer digital tape over mini discs and harddrive, due to ease of editing and storage.

We do too, so that's our personal preference. We wanted a new one that records in HD, so we purchased a Sony Handycam HDR-HC5 in May. We've been thrilled with the video quality, but it may not have the zoom capability desired by the original poster. We bought some extra lenses that were more than sufficient for our needs. We do not use this camera for photos (we shoot photos with a digital SLR), so I can't comment on the photo quality. Note that you need HD tapes to record in the quality that will play in HD on your TV, and the tapes run approx $8 per tape on Amazon (free shipping).

 

Donna