[vivahate]

Hey,

Im looking to get a digital camcorder to film some climbing. Based on your experience, what should I go for, 3CCD or miniDV. Obviously 3CCD is much better quality, but costs loads. What cameras do beardown e.t.c. use?? Any tips would be great.
thanks

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

What do you want to do with it?
If you main output is movies for the web, theres not point in getting a pricey one, your throwing all your quality away when you compress it to web format.

Only get a good one if your seriously thinking about trying to make money from it, if this is the case, I doubt your instantly going to become a pro-videographer, so get a cheap one practice for a couple of years and get a HD one when the prices have dropped a bit. these are the first on the market and even these are only semi-pro cos they don't have XLR mic inputs.

What is your budget? You can spend £300 to £3000+
if you've money to burn these are nice Canon XM2 (we've got the old version XM1 at work)

However, if your starting out, one of theseCanon MV800 and spending about the same on extra batteries, a decent tripod, monopod and couple of decent mics (tie clip radio maybe? and/or boom with wind cover) is probably a better investment to start out with.

Basically you won't go far wrong with any MiniDV camera from Canon, Sony or Panasonic, get what you can afford, but don't bother remortgaging the house cos they depreciate the same speed as laptops.

[dave]

panasonic now do a 3CCD camera for like about £400, gotta be better that a normal miniDV.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

panasonic now do a 3CCD camera for like about £400, gotta be better that a normal miniDV.

Agreed, do you mean this one? Looks good, only got 'DV out' though, and 'DV in' can be useful for putting stuff back onto tape during editing if you haven't got a huge hard drive or DVD writer.

[dave]

i may have been thinking of this one. think they've got a few like that now, all pretty cheap i recon. agree you want DV in though.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Sweet! You've gotta love those Leica lenses that Panasonic are using on their still digital and camcorders.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

ebuyer comes up trumps again this is a bargain. I'm seriously tempted myself.

[vivahate]

cheers for the advice!!! Ill probally take a further look into that panasonic 3CCD, thanks for your help, the Sony HD would be nice though!

[vivahate]

look a little shady, but quite cheap!

http://www.digital-point.co.uk/model.php?ID=1811&source=kelkoo

[Jim]

Any one got any up-to-date recomendations? have managed to blag the missus we need one for the honeymoon and that I also need it for going to magic wood  :twisted: .
Looking to spend between £200 to £300
Cheers Yo

[vivahate]

second hand 3chips seem to be the way to go. If you know anyone who skates try asking them, they are all in know about media and cameras.

[Rice Boy]

Got a Canon XM1 gathering dust. It's 4/5 years old. Shot a load of haute quality stuff when I first got it but have been looking to sell it for a year since.

Big off battery worth £100+,
Editing hardware/software worth £60
Filming trains with a XMI 3CCD camcorder, priceless.

Selling the lot for £800. Ca va?

Would be grateful if knowledge was passed on elsewhere.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Rice Boy, although XM1's are still good cameras, (I use one at work a lot) 800 notes is optimistic considering you can get a state of the art 3CCD camera such as this for £650. And for just over £800 you can get this beauty  :roll:

[Jim]

way above my budget as well.
Obi-Wan, what do you recon to this one?
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/85480/art/canon/minidv-mv850i-camcorder.html

[Rice Boy]

Je vous ecoute!

750 English dollars. This is with a battery, editing software and not mentioned last time a lens adapter for tinting etc.

Everything you need to get started.  

The specs on the camcorder speak for themselves.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

what do you recon to this one?
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/85480/art/canon/minidv-mv850i-camcorder.html

Looks pretty good Jim, we've had several of the old versions of these (MV600i/MV700i) for about a year and have had some good results from them. This one looks like it has a few more features but basically is the same camera. The only thing we did was invest in some bigger batteries cos the 800mah ones that they were supplied with were rubbish and lasted about 20mins. We bought some Jessop 2400mah (about £50) which seem to last forever, even leaving the screen on constantly. (From the spec of the MV850i looks like they have skimped even more and only supply a 540mah batt...tight-wads  :roll: )