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Camcorder. help me out plz

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philcote4
Posts: 225 - Karma: 10

k so i need some help. i searchbarred, and i couldn't find the answer to all my questions, so some help would be greatly appreciated.

Alright, my buddy and I wanna buy a camcorder. We're looking for a nice camcorder that would give us some nice, quality footage. We're gonna use this camcorder to make some skiing/snowboarding edits and to film normal everyday shit. And we're probably gonna film at night too (night skiing/ everynight shit) so i was wondering if that would affect anything? I did some research and i realized that i barely know anything about this type of shit, so thats why i need some help. For the type of filming that we'd be doing, what type/model camcorder would be best? What type of editing program do i use in order to keep the quality captured by the camcorder? What features/specs should i look for? What accesories should i look into? Actually, ANY information relating to this topic would be helpful. Our price range is somewhere between 0$ and 1500$

Thanks

Dec 9 2009 2:47AM
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T.L.
Posts: 4729 - Karma: 3,008
Spending $1500 on a cam between 2 people must mean you dont have a lot of loot to go around so try to buy something that's going to be relatively future proof.   Look into some of the cams that record hi-def on sdhc cards  Canon makes the Vixia  S## models.  Not too familiar with comparable Sony's but right now I'm looking into the Panasonic AG-HMC40.  It's considered more of a pro-sumer cam so it's got some features that the cheaper ones don't but I'm really diggin the footage quality and with the sdhc cams, NO TAPES! and no moving parts!  That means it should be pretty durable and you don't have to continueously dump money into recording media.

The only thing you gotta worry about jumping into the higher quality footage right away is you have to make sure you have a computer that's capable of editing the footage.  Most if not all the hi-def sdhc cams are recording to AVCHD and that format is notorious for being resource intensive meaning the more RAM/best processor you can get your hands on, the better.
Dec 9 2009 9:08AM
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A.Eberhard
Posts: 4426 - Karma: 415
^^^^
Make sure your computer can handle the footage before you buy that camera. People make this mistake and get a sick camera and can't make video's because their computer can not handle the HD footage.
An HMC40 would be nice ,but I'm pretty sure it's in the 1800-2100 range. Mebay a canon hf200 or hfs100.The hf200 would only be 600 and the hfs100 is 900 about. I think these two camera's are your best bet.

Dec 9 2009 9:53AM
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eheath
Posts: 61603 - Karma: 123,085
If you're willing to go up to almost 2000, check out the panasonic hmc40 like said.

Otherwise, check out the Canon hfs10 (full hd, 1 1/2.7" single CMOS chip) for about 900 or the Panasonic HDC-TM300 (full hd 3 x 1/4.1" CMOS chips) for about 1200.
Dec 9 2009 11:26AM
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krystoff
Posts: 228 - Karma: 19
eheath, droppin some knowledge.
Dec 9 2009 12:08PM
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aoe
Posts: 2947 - Karma: 51
The HFS10 is solid and you can probably get it pretty cheap since the HFS11 is out. Your other option is the HFS100 which is identical except for the lack in flash memory. Flash memory is dropping in price pretty quick so you may be better off getting that and just buying sd cards on ebay.

I found the HFS100 for $779 somewhere on the net, definitely a good deal. I bought one locally because I wanted to test it out. Ended up returning it (not cause it wasn't sick). Low light isn't great except for in 24p mode. Which is probably fine for filming some stuff but it isn't great for action sports.

As always check reviews camcorderinfo.com and cnet and check all the test videos on vimeo.
Dec 9 2009 1:24PM
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philcote4
Posts: 225 - Karma: 10

alright well i dont know too much about computers lol. i'm using an HP G60-418CA. Would that computer be able to take it or no? Here's a link for the specs http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/ho/WF06b/321957-321957-3329743-3848802-3848802-3914836-3983140.html (the insert link button wasn't working)

thanks alot for the help guys, i appreciate it.

Dec 9 2009 2:48PM
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eheath
Posts: 61603 - Karma: 123,085
Hmmm, maybe.
Dec 9 2009 2:53PM
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A.Eberhard
Posts: 4426 - Karma: 415
Don't think you can edit with that computer you at least need a dual core for hdv footage and for avchd you will need at least a dual-core at 2ghz. Someone will probably know more about this then me.
For an example:
I edit my hv30 footage (which is hdv) with a dual core processor at 1.66ghz and only 1gb of ram and it's pretty slow in sony vegas ,but it gets by.
Dec 9 2009 3:16PM
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aoe
Posts: 2947 - Karma: 51
That is a dual core processor.

The answer is yes, you will be able to edit with it. Just expect it to be slow. And you wouldn't be able to touch any MPEG4 (avchd,h264) footage natively. You will have to use an intermediate codec such as prores (not sure what a good windows equivalent intermediate codec would be). Also, if you are just editing for the web, downconvert to 720p before editing. It'll be easier to work with. Anyway, I'm getting too much into work flow here now...
Dec 9 2009 4:05PM
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philcote4
Posts: 225 - Karma: 10
wow, lots of terms here that i dont even understand ahaha. dont worry bro, you do your work. i appreciate the help
Dec 9 2009 4:10PM
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grown-ninja
Posts: 3031 - Karma: 175

https://newschoolers.com/web/forums/readthread/thread_id/497862/

besides taking it out of the box and shooting at most 2 hours with it its brand new still have all the  manuals ...etc a bunch of things are still in the original plastic. on b& h and amazon its going for around 1000 new, since its open and i need money how bout 700 plus shipping

just a heads up if you didnt know it records in avchd

Dec 9 2009 5:08PM
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philcote4
Posts: 225 - Karma: 10
your 645$ shipping included offer on that thread got me interested. I'm seriously considering it. like i said, i'm splitting it with a buddy so i'll have to talk to him about it first but we might actually take you up on this. thanks for the post.
Dec 9 2009 5:28PM
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philcote4
Posts: 225 - Karma: 10
k nvm, shippping isnt included in your offer but i'm still down. ill get back to you on that one.
Dec 9 2009 5:30PM
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grown-ninja
Posts: 3031 - Karma: 175
yea man theres a little interest in it so just get back to me whenever you have a chance
Dec 9 2009 5:35PM
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