Video taping stuff

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I may step up to a video camera this year.  I have less than NO experience with them.

What size, shape,  recording media , audio, battery, image transfer , freeze framne, editing   stuff do I need to look at & think about ??

[alchevy]

I can tell you a little about them. It all depends on how much money you want to invest in the equipment. I like the Sony brand for a camcorder. I have the low-end models. When I'm shopping for one, I tend to look for the older models where I can get a good price (under $400), but one that will work for me. For editing, do you want to do it on the computer or just with VCRs? I have stayed with the non-computer way so far, but I did try my hand at making a DVD the other day. It was a little choppy. A few years ago, I bought a Videonics MX1 video editing device (I don't think it's on the market anymore) that will take up to 4 camcorders and you can switch between the 4 cameras. You can either do live switching or manually sync your cameras together. I like to use the 8mm tapes. The quality is much improved over the old VHS ones. I have not gotten into the digital tapes yet. With what I use my camcorders for, staying away from the computer editing is easier to afford. To get to where you can edit up to 4 cameras, your card in your computer would have to accept such. With computer editing, you have to get the footage into the computer and then you have to get it out some way. This would call for a DVD burner or a card that would go back into a VCR.

[Carps]

Video cameras are like any other, the cheaper ones have cheaper lenses and since the lens is a big part of the quality image story, then the first thing is to make sure you get one with a good lense.

The old analougue cameras produce a decent image but digital video is the way to go.  And it's much easier to download and edit using a computer.  However, you should also remember that an hour of video is going to take up around 4-5 gigabytes of disc space on your computer.  To burn the video to DVD you'll need special compression software etc.  Of course you can edit on computer and then playe the edited images back into yoru camera then record from the camera onto normal VHS tape using a regular table top VCR unit.

The other important element of the digital video camera is the CCD unit which actually records the picture.  Most video cameras use a single CCD.  Telvevison uses three lamps (Red Gren and Blue) to project the colours int the CRT screen.  For the absiolute best colour image a 3CCD video camera is going to deliver the best image as it has the the ability to separate the three colours as you record and is what the professionals use for TV.  Movies are still recoreded on celuloid as there's no substitute for the picture quality.

As you'd expect a 3CCD Digital video camera will be much more expensive compared to a normal 1CCD unit, but the difference in quality is more then worth the price of admission.  The good news on this front is that Panasonic have just released a range of entry level 3CCD Digital Video cameras at only a fraction more than most 1CCD units.  Even better news is that these cameras use a Carl Ziess lens.  Carl Zies lenses are very highly regarded by proffessional photographers and are standard equipment in the world's best cameras, being Leica and Hasselblad.

So, for home video with a quality edge, I'd look around for one of the new Panasonic 3CCD digital video cameras or if you want proffessional quality then a little higher up the price bracket, a Canon or Sony 3CCD pro or semi pro unit.

For serious editing duty and DVD production, chuck you IBM based PC in the trash and get yourself a MAC.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

For serious editing duty and DVD production, chuck you IBM based PC in the trash and get yourself a MAC.

Carps;  thanks for the info.

and , I own a Mac