How many Dvxusers have experience with...

Rick Meyer

Rick Meyer

Veteran
…consumer High Def cameras under $500 bucks? My sister-in-law is in the market for a good camera so she could film her daughter at gymnastics. But she only wants to spend $300-500 bucks. And, I’m trying to discern whether or not I should steer in into another direction.

My first suggestion was the Canon FS200. It’s Standard Def, so she wouldn’t have workflow issues, affordable, flash memory, decent form factor, broad range of features, excellent zoom (we all know how much parents LOVE to use the zoom at sporting events), etc. But she is now concerned that she will be missing High Def in a couple of years. I was thinking of saying, “well spend more.” But, before I do that are the lower price point High Def cameras even a viable option? Will they appreciate it? Or will they not miss it? Or would it be throwing money away? I know that in addition to sporting events this will become the family vacation camera as well.

I have camera knowledge. But, I don’t have hands-on experience with this price range of camera. So, I’m just trying to find out from DVXusers who have had experience with either the Flip (which I'm not crazy about because of all its limitations) or one of these new-to-me-brand-names and how your experience went and where the performance faltered, how the image stacks up, what to be leery of, etc.

Thanks!
Rick
 
That camera will depend upon her willingness to learn its features and the level of "geekness" that she possess. If she is a straight point-and-shoot type of person I would not get her to spend a lot of money on something that has a lot of features.

Also another thing to consider about women is the size of their bags, their purses because they will not buy a camera bag for videocamera so you want to keep it small.

I would suggest she look on eBay and find a good deal there.
 
I get this question all the time...

Because I'm a filmmaker I must know exactly what camera to buy in what price range.....
 
I also get asked all the times which cameras are best. I usualy suggest the HV20, but a lot of the time, people look at it and scoff, thinking that they need something better, but their budget obviously wont allow it. I usualy then go

Oo i know what you could get, its a great camera, not too expensive. Its called the Arriflex D21.


If they go hahaha thats 200 grand then fair enough, but usually they go oh ok, il go to Jessops tomorrow and ask about it.
 
Charli is right, it's about what she wants in the camera. That's why it's difficult for us to determine. We want all manual, HD, interchangeable lenses, ect... and we'll look for anything that has at least some of these features.

But for her, this may be too much. She may want something in the other direction, like all automatic. Also she may want ease, to not worry about tapes (do they still use tapes?), maybe she wants a night vision feature, etc...

As for SD vs HD, HD is the future, but I feel like she wouldn't really care if it's on either. It's like trying to kill a butterfly with a cannon. So if she can find an HD for 500 or less with all the features she wants, then go for it. If not, don't fret.

Plus there's something aesthetically pelasing about home movies shot on low grade cameras, shaky, with zooms and auto focus. Makes us experienced folk feel much better about ourselves. :)

Oh and if you must, I agree with the HV20. Very nice camera for it's price. Lots of great reviews and word of mouth.
 
Hey every body. Thanks a bunch for chiming in. Seriously, I read every comment and thoughtfully consider everything. Personally, I LOVE that Canon HV20 option. In my mind it was my first choice but I knew they were going to drop some serious $ on upgrading their computer situation (timely. this will help with the HD footage) so I wanted to suggest something that was easy to use, ultimately going to produce a very nice image, but be a couple hundred dollars less.

Charli, I love having a woman in this forum. It's good to get a perspective from which I would not otherwise think. She would whip it out WAY more than my brother would so form factor is pretty important. She is pretty "hip" so I immediately went to the FLIP and took a good look at that camera. Negative. She's good with cameras so she doesn't need it to be THAT automated. But the thing with the flip that gets me is that it is pretty limited. You are tethered to a laptop (on vacation that would blow), 2x zoom (for her kids sporting events that would blow) and it supposedly eats batteries.

Having said that, teddybear...NICE! NICE find! Seriously. I gotta be honest. I am no fan of Sony. But, you can't argue with results. That footage is gorgeous! And props to you for having the cajones to film during your honeymoon. If I got married to my girlfriend and proceeded to film everything, she'd get an annullment. :)

Seriously, the pricepoint of that camera, with the 10x zoom and obviously great image quality, that is right in the ballpark. I will pass your link onto her.

Question, your footage is very lush and saturated. Loved it. Did you do that in post or was that in camera?

Thanks again all!

Seriously. This is the best forum on the Internet.
 
teddybear said:
how bout sony hdr-cx100.

used it on my honeymoon, so small and inobtrusive. practically placed it on my shirt pocket.

http://exposureroom.com/batanes

check out its quality on the link above.


Ted
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In hindsight, I probably should not have forwarded this link to my sister-in-law. You obviously know what you are doing. She is going to see that footage and think she can make a film like that right out of the box. lol.
 
Last year's Canon HF100. It is HD, has easy 30p, not-so-easy 24p, tapeless... $500 for refurb. She will need a formiddable computer to edit it. Or the used/refurb Sony HC90/HC96. MiniDV, so easy to edit. No stupid aperture/shutter settings, just generic "Exposure". Can shoot in 30p, great for the Web. Or just get the Flip.

I can sell you a "like new" Panasonic HDC-SD100 for $500 :-) Shoots native 1080p24. Has a focus ring, whoa!

When a woman says she needs a camera, this usually means that she presses the button and then someone else is editing. In your case, Rick, I am afraid it will be you. Do you want to edit AVCHD? Get her a DV camera.
 
Rick Meyer said:
In hindsight, I probably should not have forwarded this link to my sister-in-law. You obviously know what you are doing. She is going to see that footage and think she can make a film like that right out of the box. lol.
Click to expand...

Hahaha! LOL

Rick, My wife was the one that bought the camera, and I'm sure the wife wont freak out when your shooting during the honeymoon as long as shes in the movie!

Cranky,

I DID TELL MY WIFE TO GET THE CANON!! LOL but you know women, when she went online every camera looks the same to them...:grin: I gave her the link to the canon hf100 and she said, ok ok, i'll do that when i'm off. few days later she called me "ok dear, I ordered the camera, its the sony right?"....-there was silence on the other line...followed by a long sigh..
 
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I'd second the HV20. I got my first one before the 30's came out and paid almost a grand, but picked up another a year or so used for like $400. Great camera for the price.
 
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