Palm sized camcorders?

[roxics]

The other day I was in Best Buy just looking around and stubbled upon their camcorder section. I noticed that most dedicated camcorders these days are tiny little palm sized units with flip out screens and SD slots on them. Cheap as well at $200-300.

Something like his would be great for me for video blogging and going out to events where I want higher quality video than my iphone but don't want to lug around my GH2, even if it smaller than a DSLR. I noticed though that they all seem to shoot 60p. Are there any that are switchable from 24p/30p to 60p? Honestly 60p is fine and maybe even preferred for this type of video, but saving more filespace with less frames would be nice too.

Do you have any recommendations for one of these camcorders? $200 ideally.

 

[Nate Haustein]

Do you mean 60i?

Many cameras do 24 or 30p, though the more inexpensive cams may do so within a 60i wrapper. Not sure why a person would need 60p on a palmcorder unless doing slow motion or high-speed sports shooting.

I might have just the thing for you: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?310184-Canon-Vixia-HF-M40-amp-Raynox-66x-Wide-Adapter

 

[roxics]

No 60p is what I mean. This Canon for example does 60p and so does a $200 Sony I was checking out. 60P is good if you want smooth motion without interlacing. It doesn't necessarily have to be for only slow motion. Though it could be used that way.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-VIXIA-S...e=UTF8&qid=1373062640&sr=8-1&keywords=hf+r400

From the reviews I've read/watched. It seems like this Canon might be the best deal.

 

[Nate Haustein]

My apologies, I meant my initial reply as a question for clarification. Didn't mean to imply that you didn't know what you were talking about. Sorry about that.

Anyways, the big differences between the canon and sony handycams are the sensors. The higher priced ones have bigger 1/3" CMOS sensors with better low-light, dynamic range, etc. The more budget friendly models have smaller ≈1/5" sensors.

I personally liked the Vixia line over the Sonys for both picture aesthetics and in method of operation. In good light, the HF G20 cut with C100 reasonably well. If the $300 model performs to your expectations, that's great. If not, well...

 

[roxics]

Yeah I already shoot with a GH2 and may be picking up a D7100 in a bit. Still thinking about that. So this is really just a cheap camera for video blogging. Something tiny I can put on a little flexi tripod, flip the screen around and do my thing. Thats why cheaper is better, even $300 is pushing it a bit but I don't want a total piece of junk.

I do it with my GH2 right now, the problem is it's always a task to focus when you're trying to shoot yourself. You can see from my latest video blog that I'm a little soft http://www.roxics.com/video-musing-about-cameras/ even though I'm at f6.3. Probably should have just stopped it down more. Plus my GH2 is hacked for a higher bitrate for client work. So having something lower bitrate with easier to manage files for video blogs would be nice. I'd rather a small camcorder than a webcam so I can go to different locations like I did here.

 

[Jordan_S]

The Panasonix LX7 is not a camcorder but it does give:

60p (1920x1080)
30p (1920x1080)
120fps (1280x720)
auto focus during video
full manual control (except for 120 fps)
24-90mm f/1.4-2.3 lens
1/1.7" sensor

The only drawback is the 30 minute limit. Hackers are working on that.

They go on sale for $298.

 

[roxics]

Thanks for the suggestion Jordan. It looks like a nice camera, but the lack of a flip out LCD screen would make it hard for doing video blogs. So I have to cancel it out right there.

I think I'm just going to keep my GH2 around for doing this type of stuff. I bought a second tripod on Saturday, a little Manfrotto with a ball head. Works perfectly. Also unhacked my GH2 and I'm getting a lot more record time now on the same 16GB card. One hour and thirty minutes versus twenty one minutes I was getting hacked. So ultimately I think this setup will work as good as buying a small camcorder. Certainly a lot cheaper.

 

[Alex H.]

If you really want/need a palmcorder for easy travel and vlogging, and 24p/30p capability, you might look at the Canon HF R400 ($299) which shoots 1080p at both 60 and 30fps, or the HF R40 ($349) which adds 24p (over 60i, so you'll have to remove 3:2 pulldown in post). Both have external mic inputs as well.

 

[Jordan_S]

If you really want/need a palmcorder for easy travel and vlogging, and 24p/30p capability, you might look at the Canon HF R400 ($299) which shoots 1080p at both 60 and 30fps, or the HF R40 ($349) which adds 24p (over 60i, so you'll have to remove 3:2 pulldown in post). Both have external mic inputs as well.

I've never found a way to remove Canon's 3:2 pulldown. Others have reported likewise. If you've seen otherwise, please post it because it's really infuriating.

 

[Nate Haustein]

I've never found a way to remove Canon's 3:2 pulldown. Others have reported likewise. If you've seen otherwise, please post it because it's really infuriating.

I have a Compressor preset that does this. I use it to remove the pulldown when recording 24p from a C100 to my Hyperdeck Shuttle as the Canon only outputs 60i through the HDMI. It transcodes to ProRes or whatever else you want to edit with. Screen shots attached of the settings. I tried it on an old 24p Vixia clip I had and it seemed to do the trick.

EDIT: Sorry the screen shots are so blurry. You can make out the settings for the most part. Why do my images on DVX user always get down-rezzed?

 

[Jordan_S]

Thanks for posting that, Nate. I do recall now coming across a way for Mac users to overcome the obstacles. Windows users like me remain at an impasse.

 

[Alex H.]

Thanks for posting that, Nate. I do recall now coming across a way for Mac users to overcome the obstacles. Windows users like me remain at an impasse.

How about THIS?