What Camcorder do you have ?

Boy no ones got a camcorder in here ?
 
I have one. It's an 8mm. It decorates my closet. About once a year, I charge up the battery and drag it along with me to shoot some video, and end up leaving it in the car.
 
I've got a couple of them.

One, a sears model, is getting old, i bought it in'91, for around $350 or so, and that was a special deal for me, from the manager at the store. I was still working for Sears service then, and the camcorder was around 700 or more regularry.

The other one, I got at the Hamfest in Dayton two years ago. It is also a full-size, like my sears(LXI) modle, but is MUCH lighter, since is is only a few years old. ( model,I think). It has a digital zoom, and an LCD monitor on the side. I use it several times a year, but i will have to get a new charger for it, as the one for it got stolen from my garage last year(I told everyone about the theft of things from my house last year, if you all recall).

I paid a WHOLE $15.00 for the RCA, at the 'fest. it had no chargr, and a dead battery, but that was easy to remedy.
 
Looks like a nice one grumpy. I have a Sony. In my research before buying I had narrowed it to Canon and Sony but went with the Sony only due to price. My main thing I wanted was good optics and optical zoom. Canon has the best in the business IMO. My Sony is just so packed with features, 2/3 of them never get used. I hope you enjoy it.
 
I wanted a Sony to. Don't really know why as the last digi camera i got from them was not to my liking but the canon was on sale for 279.00 with 20 bucks back.
 
I have a sony, dont know which model number, its a couple years old but uses Digital 8 tapes and takes pretty decent videos. Also has a really good zoom.

Was just watching videos we took while on vacation this evening. Its not as good of quality as something more expensive, or like those camcorders they use to shoot tv shows but pretty decent for something to have around the house. Those new MiniDV camcorders are sure nice though. I like how you can instantly put the video on your computer. Im not too sure of their quality but i bet its on par with what we have now. Probbably better.
 
One of the big things going for Canon camcorders, such as this one is the ability to use them as a low cost but quite decent video capture device for the PC. You just hook them up to the output of the VCR and then send the signal to the PC or MAC via the firewire. This is all done without a tape needed. Most others you will need to record the signal onto tape in the camcorder and play it back to the computer, this one should go straight through. An equivalent capture card for a computer usually costs as much as one of these cameras (to my eyes anyway). Great for condensing old VHS collections to DVD.
Cheers
Tony
 
I have a Sharp Hi8 model. I picked it because it has a relatively huge LCD screen. This makes the Sharp much easier for me to use. Video quality is very good.

I used to have a semi-pro model Panasonic VHS camcorder. It was far better than your average VHS machine. I used it to shoot weddings when I did that for a living. I loaned it to my son, who hooked up THE WRONG CHARGER and burned up the camera! He promised to buy me a replacement but I'm not holding my breath. Besides, it paid for itself many times over.
 
I almost bought the Canon ZR85 but was unimpressed with the ability to access the contents on yet another tape format and the ability to transfer it to the computer. The quality was there but for me the convenience was not. I ended up almost doubling my budget and bought a HitatchiDZ-MV380A DVDCAM. Less moving parts, media is comparatively priced and everytime I stop recording and start again it creates another track for quicker access. I love it, I can take digital stills onto an SD card and when I'm done recording on the disc I just plop it into the DVD player and play it. The hitatchi plays in all 4 of my DVD players so I'm not to concerned at this point about compatability issues. The Sony's are the best for compatability though, they will play with any DVD format out there but the price was a bit too much.

mac
 
I have a Sony DSR-PD100A.. which is a DVCAM and a Sony TRV-22 a tiny little miniDV camcorder that is just amazing. I also have an older Hi-8, and several Super 8 "camcorders" lol that I still use!
 
I got a Hitachi dz-mv550a for x-mas. Records directly to DVD-Ram and DVD-R mini discs. Also has SD memory card for stills. Havn't had much of a chance to play with it yet.
 
toenail said:
I got a Hitachi dz-mv550a for x-mas. Records directly to DVD-Ram and DVD-R mini discs. Also has SD memory card for stills. Havn't had much of a chance to play with it yet.

If your Hitatchi is like mine you can put stills onto the DVD Ram as well as the SD card

mac
 
Shot some video with ours this weekend and boy is it 10 times cleared then a VHS C tape. Very happy with it.
 
I have a Canon ZR60. It does have a great image when used in good lighting. I bought it mainly because Dell gave me $100 off when I bought a computer. The price was too good to pass up.

There is a program that I like to use for making music videos with my movies. It is called Muvee autoproducer. It will take your movie and set them to the pace of any mp3 file/files.
 
I have a Sony Digital 8 model that we bought in 1999 just prior to Thanksgiving.

It will also play back analog stereo or mono sound 8mm tapes (don't know about hi band 8mm tapes).

One isn't supposed to use regular 8mm tapes in it but I have and never had a problem. I played them back on 2 other digital 8 camcorders and saw no dropouts which supposedly with happen when using regular 8 tapes instead of Hi-8 ones.

It records 1 hour on a 2 hour tape. The newer ones will also record at an LP speed but I can't imagine why changing out a tape every 56 mins would be a very big deal.

Mine also has composite and s-video analog in as well as stereo analog in both via rca jacks.

As far as longevity is concerned I really haven't been able to tell. Tapes recorded in November of 1999 play back flawlessly.

However I typically never allow the original master camcoder tapes to be played back other than for making a VHS dub. Later when I can edit video they'll be played again. Of course they could self-destruct at any time but I do take care to make sure they're stored on their sides in their boxes in a reasonably controlled climate.

I do wish it had a manual override white balance. Whenever I go from inside to outside I always have to take a piece of white paper, aim the camcorder at that paper and turn the power on. It certainly makes a difference when I do that though.
 
I recently bought a Panasonic PV-DV953D. This is a 3 CCD MiniDV camera with progressive scan and 3MP camera. The video quality is awesome. This camera doesn't do well with low light (most 3 CCD cameras don't). Lots of options with this unit. Everything can be controlled manually. This camera also comes with a rare manual focus ring. I'd give it a 10 out of 10 if it was a little easier to use. My final score: 9
 
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