best small camcorder to match with the 500

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walnutcrunch

Well-known member
I've been asked a question that I have no idea how to respond to.
We regularly send our camera out on research trips, but sometimes the boats are too small or our transportation is too expensive.

The researchers have about 2k to purchase an HD camera that they will always take with them. There are a whole bunch of reasons that I don't like this idea. But, having any footage is often better than no footage.

So considering their footage would probably be mixed in with our footage from our 500, does anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to steer them away from HDV, but they are not going to have a lot of resources on their boats to offload cards.

Any advice? Slightly off-topic but it is important that we get as close as possible to mixing and matching footage.
 
If they could bump $$$ up just a tad, I imagine you could find a pretty stripped down HVX200 package for a good price - that would be ideal.
 
That's good, but the research team has 2000 possibly 2800 and that appears to be it. So far it seems like you either need to be sub 1000 or over 3000.

I'd love them to have an hvx, but 3000 for a cheapy, plus cards gets much more expensive than their top end 2800.

What about the panasonic avc cams?
 
Doesn't the HVX200 have tape? you could just use tapes instead of buying cards. I'm willing to bet that you could find an HVX for 2800 with no cards and maybe just a battery. I dunno.
 
Would the team's inclination to film be proportional to the compactness of the alternate camera? Being on a boat, would a water-resistant housing be an advantage? I have no specific solution in mind, but these might be additional criteria for selection.
 
You're correct in saying that camera size would have a lot to do with whether or not the camera made it on the boat. A pelican case that could fit a HVX200, or a z1u and charger would be perfect size for them. They say they'd easily take something that size.
 
Used or new Canon A1. Set it to match Pana look using scene file found in A1 forum. Best quality you can get for that price.
 
I don't know what your exact needs are (audio, etc.) but the Panasonic HDC-SD9 (sub $1000) makes very nice picture and records to SD cards. Shoots 1080 24P. I have one for some vehicle mounts, crash cam, etc. I have been pretty happy with it for my needs, your mileage may vary.
 
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