New Video Camera help needed

[boombox]

As some of you may know, I hit the big 4-0 this year - a milestone birthday, so my wife and parents have come up with the idea of getting me a decent video camera. Problem is, I am bogged down in the minefield of DV vs DVD vs HDD vs DVD/HDD. DV is easily transferred, but DVD is already in an accessible format. IS HDD or Dv better if I buy a separate DVD recorder? :confused:

What cameras do you guys use? I am after all the advice I can as they are willing to spend the equivalent of $1000-1500, so I want the best I can get for their dough.

It will be used officially for following the progress of forthcoming mini-infoer, but will obviously be used for recording shows. I have been looking at Sonys and JVCs at the moment, but I know Hitachi also do some mixed format machines. (Will also need some advice on upgrading mics down the line.)

Any idea for makes/models/formats will be appreciated.

[FrankZappa]

above $1200 go canon in my opinion. I like the xl-1 and gl-1,

however they do not have an lcd screen so you\'ll be looking through a viewfinder. Other than that though, you can do pretty much anything you want up to and including changing lenses.

Sonys are better if your in the 500-900$ range, but drop off in quality once youtr above $1000.

Or, you could go HD, but your prices will shoot up drastically, as well as the cost of tape stock. You need to figure out what you want to do with it and what features are important to you. Do you want to be able to white balance and manually adjust your iris? change the lense? that will cost more. go do some research. Also, find out if it needs to be PAL (it should be as long as you buy it in france or england). In america we use NTSC which records at a different frame rate. This may cause the video to not play on your dvd player when you burn it down.

this is all based on american curency values.

[Klout]

I would go with a the sony mini dv. My friiend had one and they shoot amazing video. It\'s what all the pro skateboard videos are made with and lots of independent films and what not.

[ChrisF]

paul is out of control, dont listen to him. anything like that is too much for what you would need it for. :lol:

i would recommend one of the higher end sony mini dv handycams. they are small and lightweight, easy to use, and have a lot of nice features like infrared nightvision, steady shot, and a lot of visual effects you can record in.

then you should get some kind of stand alone dvd burner with a firewire input so you can transfer your tapes digitally (and quilckly+easily) unless you want to spend days or weeks editing video on the pc. however you would need to edit on the pc if you wanted to add a separate audio source.

it would probably be a good idea to get a camcorder with at least a line input so you could get  mics and a pre amp to hook up to the camera. then you wouldnt even need a separate audio source when you were recording shows, just as long as you are in a good spot in the room. thats what ken the breakfast video taper does. and his audio usually sounds pretty good if the sound in the room is good and he is in a good spot

if you dont want to go that crazy make sure you get a camera with a mic input. you could get a mic for about $100 that would do a much better job than the built in mic, but you may not be able to set your levels and the audio would be clipped and distorted, per usual. thats one of the reasons why you would want to go thru a pre amp.

[RadicalRich1138]

i have an XL-2 and make love to it nightly!

[FrankZappa]

I suggested a good $1200 camera. He said he wanted to spend $1000-$1500. I also said he needs to decide what he really wants to do and what features (like a mic input) are important. I don\'t see any that as out of control.

[boombox]

Thanks for the advice guys. Keep it coming. Am still not sure about mini DV - is DVD the way forward? Have priced up a Sony HDD cam at around £750, but then by the time I\'ve bought a decent mic, it starts to get crazy.

I plan on looking at af ew tomorrow evening while waiting for the Kula Shaker gig in Bristol to start. Will get back to you when I have some more ideas.

[ChrisF]

I suggested a good $1200 camera. He said he wanted to spend $1000-$1500. I also said he needs to decide what he really wants to do and what features (like a mic input) are important. I don\'t see any that as out of control.

yeah thats true, but i dont really think that would be the best camera to start a beginner out with. it would be great if you are into doing a lot of bigger productions, but for someone just getting into video i think a sony handycam would be easier to understand, easier to work with because it has an lcd screen, the price is better, plus its small enough to fit in a big pants pocket if you want it to.

i use my handycam all the time because i can bring it anywhere because of its size. i know if i only had an xl-1 or gl-1 i would only use it at shows because its size makes it inconvienient.

But maybe if you want to go all out and spend that kind of cash you would want to get both. here is a link for a sony dcr-hc32 for $318. its ntsc though and you would probably want the pal version.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007M3PKI/sr=8-1/qid=1146767201/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-3756494-5761451?%5Fencoding=UTF8

i have an XL-2 and make love to it nightly!

yeah, but how many shows have we seen you bring it to? none. i am sure if you had a handycam you would bring it with you when you came to a breakfast show or richters because its so much easier to carry around being so small and lightweight. whether you used it or not, you can slip it right into your pocket and then break it out if something was going on that you wanted to shoot. thats not really doable with something bigger like paul suggested. i just think boombox will get much more use out of a handycam and he would have more fun with it, and thats the important thing.

[FrankZappa]

I know it\'s a big camera for a beginer, but again his first post said:

...willing to spend the equivalent of $1000-1500, so I want the best I can get for their dough.

whatever. The most important thing is that you can understand how to use whatever you get, that you get something that can do what you want but isn\'t overkill, and that you like it. Take it all in, do some research and some thinking, and make your own choices.