Which camcorder (non-DSLR) do you use?

[Electromen]

Like John the Gadgetguy, I use both stills and video. I enjoy the excitement of learning to use new equipment and the challenge of mastering the associated software. Instead of buying the D3s I came very close to buying a Sony professional camcorder for $4,400. I debated long and hard. Instead I bought the D3s and a $1,000 HD camcorder.

I'd rather spend my time and money on these two things rather than cigarettes, lottery, gambling, hanging out in a bar, or some of the other items friends at work waste money on. I'm not saying anyone here has these bad habits, just that those same guys at work wonder how I can afford the cameras.

 

[crazy]

apologies, I did not read all the posts, you may find this site helpful.....go to the Forum section:
http://www.dvinfo.net

 

[Terri French]

Like John the Gadgetguy, I use both stills and video. I enjoy the excitement of learning to use new equipment and the challenge of mastering the associated software. Instead of buying the D3s I came very close to buying a Sony professional camcorder for $4,400. I debated long and hard. Instead I bought the D3s and a $1,000 HD camcorder.

I'd rather spend my time and money on these two things rather than cigarettes, lottery, gambling, hanging out in a bar, or some of the other items friends at work waste money on. I'm not saying anyone here has these bad habits, just that those same guys at work wonder how I can afford the cameras.

I think you have chosen a much better way to spend your money..... I understand what you mean about the excitement of learning new things. It is what has driven me my entire life.

 

[bpdougd]

Hmmm... let me get this straight.

By this logic I should sell my D3, D700, D300S, and 2) D300's and find solutions to getting those darned images captured with bodies selling $3000 less? Save even more by selling my 200-400/4, 200/2 and 300VR because that range is covered by a kit lens or 2?

Or is it OK to spend D3 budget for DSLR gear but not on pro video gear? :biggrin:

No offense meant, John. However, the discussion was centered around consumer camcorders in the less than $1k range. And the specific discussion was about how to get that pesky HD footage from such consumer camcorders into a video editing app. If the solution to that problem is a $3500 camcorder, well, I guess it will never get solved, at least by me.

Think of it this way: it is kind of like starting a thread in the Lens Lust forum asking for help getting sharper pictures from your kit lens on your D90. If someone suggests that the real solution is a D3s and 24-70.... well, that might lead to sharper pictures but it is hardly a practical solution to the original poster's problem.

 

[Electromen]

No offense meant, John. However, the discussion was centered around consumer camcorders in the less than $1k range. And the specific discussion was about how to get that pesky HD footage from such consumer camcorders into a video editing app. If the solution to that problem is a $3500 camcorder, well, I guess it will never get solved, at least by me.

Think of it this way: it is kind of like starting a thread in the Lens Lust forum asking for help getting sharper pictures from your kit lens on your D90. If someone suggests that the real solution is a D3s and 24-70.... well, that might lead to sharper pictures but it is hardly a practical solution to the original poster's problem.

My Sony HDR-CX520V imports into Sony Vegas Pro without any conversion and is directly editable. I paid < $1,000
It's only when I use Apple Final Cut Pro that a conversion takes place.
It records 1080 60i.

 

[Electromen]

I think you have chosen a much better way to spend your money..... I understand what you mean about the excitement of learning new things. It is what has driven me my entire life.

Funny story. One guy played $5/day on the PA. daily number. Since he lived out in the country, I told him I would buy his tickets on the way home.
He gave me $5 everyday for 9 months. I never bought any tickets, his numbers never hit. If he would have won I would have paid him, I just took that chance. I made about $990

 

[operknockity]

funny story. One guy played $5/day on the pa. Daily number. Since he lived out in the country, i told him i would buy his tickets on the way home.
He gave me $5 everyday for 9 months. I never bought any tickets, his numbers never hit. If he would have won i would have paid him, i just took that chance. I made about $990

:910:

 

[little big man]

I made about $990

Not to get off-topic in this thread, but that sounds like fraud to me. I get your point about the choices people make, but taking someone's money and then not following their instructions is just gambling against his gamble....?

Sean

 

[gadgetguy11]

Think of it this way: it is kind of like starting a thread in the Lens Lust forum asking for help getting sharper pictures from your kit lens on your D90. If someone suggests that the real solution is a D3s and 24-70.... well, that might lead to sharper pictures but it is hardly a practical solution to the original poster's problem.

Doug,

You started this thread and I and many others have found it thought provoking, educational, and in a word, EXCELLENT, as is evident by the number of posts. However, I still do not see in your opening thread any dollar restriction to the video cameras to be considered. You asked what we owned and challenged each to contrast his or her gear to DSLR. This is an EXCELLENT opening for starting a discussion! If you had suggested kit lens / D90 price range, my discussion of a pro video cam with all the details I shared in posts #5, 8, 16, 41, & 44 of this thread could have been considered rude and not contributing toward the topic of the thread. In that case I would have been self serving, and certainly not contributing, as was my intent.

Understanding now that your intention was to limit discussion to entry level (point and shoot) consumer video products costing less than $1K, I defer to you, the originator of this thread, and hereby delete my posts #5, 8, 16, 41, & 44. Thank you.

 

[bpdougd]

Doug,

You started this thread and I and many others have found it thought provoking, educational, and in a word, EXCELLENT, as is evident by the number of posts. However, I still do not see in your opening thread any dollar restriction to the video cameras to be considered. You asked what we owned and challenged each to contrast his or her gear to DSLR. This is an EXCELLENT opening for starting a discussion! If you had suggested kit lens / D90 price range, my discussion of a pro video cam with all the details I shared in posts #5, 8, 16, 41, & 44 of this thread could have been considered rude and not contributing toward the topic of the thread. In that case I would have been self serving, and certainly not contributing, as was my intent.

Understanding now that your intention was to limit discussion to entry level (point and shoot) consumer video products costing less than $1K, I defer to you, the originator of this thread, and hereby delete my posts #5, 8, 16, 41, & 44. Thank you.

Oh for pete's sake.... my point is that Terri was asking about a specific problem getting a video editor to work on the output from her roughly $500 camcorder. You seemed to suggest that the problem could be avoided by getting a camcorder that cost roughly 7 times as much. My only point was that your reply was OFF the point. If you took offense, I sincerely apologize. I only wanted to make sure that we stayed on topic for Terri's specific request and problem. If you have suggestions about how she might transcode the video from her camera into something that a PC based video editor can work with, I am sure she (and the rest of us) would be most appreciative.

 

[Electromen]

This Sony camcorder is HD, retails for under $500 and is directly editable using Sony software.

 

[bpdougd]

This Sony camcorder is HD, retails for under $500 and is directly editable using Sony software.

Thanks, Greg. That is a model that I did not review when making my buying decision. Useful information for anyone currently in the market.

 

[bpdougd]

Terri, I don't know if you have visited this site.

http://www.cheema.co.uk/site/

Quite few tutorials.....

 

[bpdougd]

FWIW, I just input some .mts files to Corel Video Studio. It ingested them without incident. If there is any transcoding of the native video format within the mts file, it is occurring invisibly and "on-the-fly". All done within a Parallels virtual machine running Windows XP so it does not seem to be taxing the system.

I am recording a speech that a friend is giving the the Chamber of Commerce next Tuesday. I'll run that through Corel instead of FCE and let you know if I run into any problems. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of the Sony app to test.

 

[Johnnymg]

FWIW, I just input some .mts files to Corel Video Studio. It ingested them without incident. If there is any transcoding of the native video format within the mts file, it is occurring invisibly and "on-the-fly". All done within a Parallels virtual machine running Windows XP so it does not seem to be taxing the system.

I am recording a speech that a friend is giving the the Chamber of Commerce next Tuesday. I'll run that through Corel instead of FCE and let you know if I run into any problems. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of the Sony app to test.

Found a good solution for the Pani dot-mts files. Clipwrap works perfecto on the Pani dot-mts files. Clipwrap converts the dot-mts files to Apple prores 422 mov files which FCP will accept. These are 1080 60P clips.

I should be able to post some clips this weekend.

cheers
JohnG

 

[Terri French]

FWIW, I just input some .mts files to Corel Video Studio. It ingested them without incident. If there is any transcoding of the native video format within the mts file, it is occurring invisibly and "on-the-fly". All done within a Parallels virtual machine running Windows XP so it does not seem to be taxing the system.

I am recording a speech that a friend is giving the the Chamber of Commerce next Tuesday. I'll run that through Corel instead of FCE and let you know if I run into any problems. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of the Sony app to test.

Thanks so much, Doug. I wonder if my software is having issues with Windows 7. I'm really struggling to get the mts files to work.

 

[bpdougd]

Thanks so much, Doug. I wonder if my software is having issues with Windows 7. I'm really struggling to get the mts files to work.

Tuesday will be the test here. I should have about 40 minutes of HD footage from two sources: primary source will be the Canon HF200 and secondary will be some alternative angle shots with the D300s. It should be interesting putting the tracks together along with a separately recorded sound track. This will stretch my editing knowledge quite a bit. (Funny how "challenge" is often a synonym for "pain" :biggrin

As noted, FCE has worked without incident. I must note that I normally shoot at either 24 or 30 fps and don't know how it would handle high frame rates. It will be interesting to compare FCE to Corel.

 

[robien]

This Sony camcorder is HD, retails for under $500 and is directly editable using Sony software.

Greg,

where did you find the Sony CX520V for $500? I'm in the market for one and was looking at the 500v...thanks

 

[Khaisy]

Is there any conversion format that is lossless?

The answer is No..

I use the HFS10 and it produces MTS file AVCHD is not an easy codec to edit although i was using a decent PC with premire CS4 8GB od ram still had issue. when it comes to a choice between a camcorer and DSLR video. when question to ask is what do you want to use for? I shot a short film with HFS10 and the image was very good. it'sharder to acehive the DOF with camcorder than it a DSLR and it is easter to shot a school play for yor kid with camacorder and probably better than DSLR.

 

[dragioniii]

Just wanted to chime in...

I actually purchased the Sony HDR-CX550V for all the special performances of my daughter's school plays and other occasions that required video.

I bought it at BestBuy right before Halloween last year and tested it out while Trick or Treating with her & her friends.
I found out that the low light function on this camcorder was great, but not worth the extra $600 that they wanted over Sony's lower end HD camcorders.

I ended up returning it and trading it for my D3100 & Sony HDR-CX150.
I will only miss the "wide" angle lens on the CX550V...other than that the 1080/60p HD is about the same.

I think I did a wise choice...now I can enjoy my D3100 DSLR and still able to record those video moments with the CX150!