Cheap Deck: Cheap Cam?

evolvnyc

evolvnyc

Well-known member
Can anyone recommend the cheapes mini dv cam I can get to use as a deck to edit as I can't afford a real deck bu don't want to compromise quality in the transfer? Is there any reason not to do this? Thanks.
 
If you want a cheap deck Sony has a couple that are really reasonably priced. I personally use a Panasonic GS9 (cheapest camera available) to do all my importing and exporting so as not to wear down the heads on my DVX100A. The GS9 sucks for performance (I use it to just scope out locations and get information to our storyboarders or costume designers) but it also does not have time code. I normally capture the tape, so it hasn't been much of an issue for me. Just FYI. They are new about $150. Really cheap and hold up to a beating. I bought my Sony deck through Ebay used... got it for a couple of hundred bucks but I'm not a huge fan of it.
 
Hm... well if i'm importing into fcp 5 and capturing the "good stuff" to hard drive, does it matter whether or not the cam has timecode? This wouldn't affect the quality of the footage would it? (importing on a crappy cam)?
 
Image is the same but without timecode you can't log shots and then batch capture.
This also means you can't take your project offlien and then recapture becuase without timecode there's no frame of reference. Some edting software may have issues with no timecode as well. Most MiniDV sony's handle time code.
 
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