Best Pocket Camcorders advice

I bought a Zi8 a while back and it's a great little camera, as devices that fit in your pocket go. Shoots 1080, 720, progressive, interlaced, as well as SD. Shoots 5 megapixel stills, but they are only slightly better than your average cell phone camera. The video on the other hand looks superb. Has a nice macro focus switch that allows you to get within inches of your subject. Has an input for a mic which works well, and even records usable audio without it. I work in news and I know a photog who hooked up a Lectrosonics wireless mic and shot reporter standups on the road in a pinch and FTPed them back to the station. Not to say the quality is up to broadcast standards, but as I say in a pinch, it does the job.

I looked at other offerings like the Flip, but none seemed to have the versatility of the Kodak. And the price is right as well. The only real gripe I have is that it gets a little more warbly than I'd like with a lot of motion, but what do you want from a sub $200 pocket cam?
 
The best sound on any of these little "Flip" style camcorders is on the Zoom Q3HD. However, the video's kind of crappy. Sure, most of these produce fairly crappy video, but I think the Kodak ZI8 is substantially better. The Q3HD has the same mic capsules found in my new Zoom H4n field recorder.. a replacment for my aging and slighly annoying Tascam DR-1. This is better sound than you'll find in any other consumer camcorder.

Of course, most people serious about audio don't use built-in mics at all, going to external mics or alternate recorders. But these pocket things... generally horrible mics. And the lens... when you look at where you think the lens ought to be, you should see glass. Lots of it. If, instead, you see lots of plasic, with a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of lens covering a few millimeters in the center, you don't have a good lens.

I keep a cheaper camcorder around for dangerous use, backpacking, canoes, that kind of thing. My current model is a Sanyo FH1, which can produce video at least comparable to my old Sony HVR-A1. The lens isn't as good, but it's still a 10:1 zoom and does produce what will usually pass for real HD video. Yeah. the mics totally suck, but they're probably better than most "Flip" camcorders. Sanyo's new models in this line keep the high resolution sensor (1/2.5"), drop the zoom to 5:1, and the price down into the Flip-cam range. If I needed a cheap-ass camcorder for good video, I might consider these: Sanyo GH2/GH4, as low as $130. Yeah, the sound will suck, but unless you opt for the Zoom (Zoom is a brand of Samson, a company that makes mid-range quality pro audio gear at a great price... I have one Samson power amp and two mixers, along with the Zoom recorder), the sound in a tiny pocket camera IS going to suck.
 
Foster Kane said:
I am looking into buying a pocket camcorder. Any recommendations?

Here is a list I found.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/collection/1600/top_hd_pocket_camcorders.html

I have three requirements

1. Excellent sound or at least the ability to enhance with a mic.

2. Tripod friendly.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind...
1. Horrible hand held - you have to have them on something to get usable footage.
2. The overexpose horribly and most of your shooting will be in bright light.
3. Sound is awful, maybe a mic would help.

They are toys basically. I have the Vado HD 2nd gen I found it to have the overall best picture.
 
What's the third requirement?


As has been mentioned, the Zoom Q3 has great sound, not so great video; also, the Zoom has no zoom, so sound vs. framing is often a compromise. I haven't tried the Q3HD, but imagine the sound is just as good, and hopefully the video is a lot better, and high-enough resolution that you can do some reframing in post.

There are external mics becoming available for other small recorders (like the Blue Mikey for the Flip)... but as far as I can see, the Zoom is the ONLY thing that doesn't have AGC pumping the audio volume all the time. The Zoom has 2 manual settings, and an "Auto" setting which is great, and which I wish other recorders had... it will LOWER the gain if necessary, but not raise it again.... kind of what a human recordist would do at a live event.
 
Actually i think these little cameras are really useful. I shoot multicam for bands, lots of people drinking and having a great time, it's handy to have such an inexpensive camera to shoot in places where it could get kicked, knocked around or worse. The sanyo gh4 in particular has been great, it's been fairly easy to match footage shot on higher (and lower!) quality cameras from other angles. You can see footage from it in the link below, the video was shot on ten cameras, the gh4 is sitting on the floor (as a static), below the bass guitarist.

Swamp Surfer - Out Here - ten cameras, Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bII_uxWgOjg

Rob Trujillo
RockPDX
 
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The Zi8 has a pretty bad rolling shutter as I understand too. I am falling in love with GoPro, especially now that they actually have screens. The UWA is there biggest flaw.
 
Foster Kane said:
I am looking into buying a pocket camcorder. Any recommendations?

Here is a list I found.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/collection/1600/top_hd_pocket_camcorders.html

I have three requirements

1. Excellent sound or at least the ability to enhance with a mic.

2. Tripod friendly.
Click to expand...

I'm looking at the Kodak Playtouch ($99 at Amazon).

External mic and headphone jacks; tripod mount; 1080p30, 720p60; SDHC card compatible; in-camera editing; direct upload to the web -- newer version of the Kodak Zi8, which was #3 on the PC World list.
 
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