Camcorder for a mac

sparhawk · October 20, 2006 12:01PM

Hi, first of all, I did do a search!

just didn't find an answer and technology has a weird habit of advancing anyway.

Ok, now we have an 'old' iMac 20" PPC and need a new camcorder so we can register what my lovely kids can do when they are not so lovely...

Now, what is a good camcorder? What is the best system ? Tape, HD, DVD?

dvd recorders seem not compatible, most HD neither... but I don't want to 'go back' to tapes either... advice very much appreciated

x704 · October 20, 2006 3:26PM

Personally I'd say a HD would be idea due to storage capacity and transfer speeds. That said I wouldn't rule out DVD's or Tapes either. It really depends on your budget. Obviously you'd want make sure that it has a widescreen picture mode and preferably HD capture. There are many other features that you should be concerned with like how it shoots in dim or dark light conditions, etc. There are many great websites that givve comprehensive reviews of video cameras and they consider all the factors. I really suggest you go to one of those sights vs. just looking at specific features which may be deceptive.

Ex. It has all the features you want but produces terible image quality since it has a poor lense or looks bad in all but ideal lighting condidtions.

SpamSandwich · October 20, 2006 5:02PM

Sensible cost: Canon mini DV tape based camcorder in the $600-$1000 range

Higher cost: Canon mini DV tape based HD camcorder in the $3,000 range

I don't particularly care for Sony or Panasonic (or most of the other manufacturers, for that matter).

http://www.dvformat.com/articles/vie...e.jsp?id=20961

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/index.php

http://www.dv.com

kingofsomewherehot · October 20, 2006 8:27PM

I've been pleased with my Canon mini-DV tape camera.

Transfer to the computer is at real-time (due to the tape format), but otherwise, it works great and interfaces seamlessly with the mac/iLife.

jpennington · October 21, 2006 10:54AM

I have a jvc everio HD camcorder. If you get that you need a program called DVDrop to convert the files into a usable format. It supports mac (comes with crappy mac apps) but you can't import into final cut or imovie (which means you can't play with QT either).

I love the camera though, the DVDrop app works great especially on the fly. It isn't as great that directly copying the files, but it is better than a firewire import from a tape.

jeffdm · October 21, 2006 5:25PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

Sensible cost: Canon mini DV tape based camcorder in the $600-$1000 range

Higher cost: Canon mini DV tape based HD camcorder in the $3,000 range

The $3k unit is pretty much a pro unit.

There is something in between. Canon's HV10 is a very compact HDV (HiDef on miniDV tapes) camcorder for $1200-$1400. The video quality is outstanding and it works fine with Macs. It doesn't seem to have a mic-in jack though, but I will try to dig into the manual to see if the AV-in jack can be used as a mic-in in conjunction with the HD video sensor, but I don't have much hope. I might have to use some form of external audio recorder. I do have a Sony HC1, which was the first HD consumer camcorder (IMO, FX1 was way too expensive and large to be considered for consumer use), with an XLR converter, but had to resort to the HV10 when I was recording how to make a quick mod to the HC1.

Marvin · October 21, 2006 7:47PM

I'd go for a hard drive based camera too. You can even get a tape camera and an external HD but all-in-one is probably better for portability.

If you plan on doing a decent amount of filming then the capture time gets tiresome really quickly. Imagine a birthday party that is 5 hours+. You then have to set up the computer to capture all that in real-time.

You might want to look at flash based camcorders for ultimate portability and battery life:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/12/s...0l-and-sc-x20/

If it's H264 then you should have no trouble editing it on a Mac.

ecking · October 22, 2006 11:19PM

If your looking to edit your footage, tape owns all other forms right now. None of the others are really prime time yet.

if you looking for affoardable HD Canon HV10 and Sony HC3 are the ones to look at. If you looking at shooting in SD, I'm not quite sure maybe something in the panasonic pv-gs series like the gs500.

I don't follow SD camcorders and don't even follow anything lower than prosumer but I was looking at the HV10 and HC3 for vacations and BTS stuff of my projects.

bergermeister · October 23, 2006 7:08AM

Use tapes. You can always keep them in a drawer until you have finished editing your video. If you are recording events longer than a regular tape and you just gotta have the whole thing, get a second camera (a cheap one will do so you can change tapes on the main cam, or just get two cheap ones in the first place; otherwise, learn how to choose the right moment to change out the tapes (at a school event, during the applause).

Most vid cams now are pretty good. My photo cams are Canon, but for video I use Panasonic and Sony (total of three cams), not necessarily due to choice but rather they were on sale cheap. They work great and the finished products are fantastic coming out of iMovie.

HD is good if you want to print individual pictures from the movie; the higher quality per shot pays off here, but if you have a photo cam, you don't really need HD IMO.

sparhawk · October 23, 2006 2:50PM

hd is preferable, budget is up to 1000$US

Tape has worked fine for me so far. Really, no complaint... but yeah, I'd hoped

to buy something nexgen so to speak hehe

It's only for home use really, so nothing too fancy is needed.

Thanks for the input so far!! It is highly appreciated

Camcorder for a mac

Comments