camcorders/video cameras

[electric454]

Any recommendations? Did some still shoots about 10 years ago, and am now looking to do some more in the next couple of months, but would like to shoot some video too. I am what you would call an amateur/hobbyist, though I would look to maybe put some stuff up on AW. Would there be any value in going down the used route, or are there any new cameras worth looking at? I have a budget of around ?750. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

b.

[sparky]

At the right price anything a couple of years old that is little different in major specification to the current model will be a good used buy to save significant ????, or if you still spend your full budget you will get something that overall is higher specification.
I have not bought a brand new camera or camcorder since 2001.

I will stand corrected as not really aware of the latest products but the secondary function quality of either camcorders that take stills or cameras that take video is normally significantly compromised.
As an example my HD Panasonic camcorder can take stills that are only slightly lower resolution than my now quite old pocket camera. However the quality difference just on a laptop screen is obvious. The only time the camcorder wins overall is long distance shots because of the much larger optical zoom together with the stabilisation.

Hence plan for both a digital SLR and a camcorder plus additional batteries and memory cards, these are often bundled as a package with used items for only a slight price increase.

Unless your shoots will be at a studio you need to think about flash / lighting too.

[electric454]

Thanks for the reply. Yes as with all technology, in my opinion, the improvements, of newer models are minimal at best, for stills i'm still using a 10 year old Fuji. With a bit of tinkering on my mac I think I can get fairly good results for my needs. As for the camcorders, could you recommend any specific model?

b.

[one eyed jack]

Check out our tech forum. My opinion? Get a 4k ready camera now

[electric454]

Thanks for that, I'll check it out.

b.

[sparky]

electric454 wrote:

> As for the camcorders, could you recommend any
> specific model?
>
> b.

Other than a JVC DVP5 for travel rather than best quality I've only bought Panasonic since moving to miniDV from Hi8.
One thing I found back maybe 7 years ago was that in low light the 3ccd consumer models gave a noisier picture and struggled to focus. However I expect the sensitivity of the current equivalent has been considerably improved but do try one if you can.

The last I bought was a HDC-SD90 for I recall just under ?200. This records ~ 2hrs 30mins on a 32GB SDHC card at highest quality. Given the opportunity get a model with some internal memory so you have reserve capacity if the card is full.

My DSLR is a Pentax of around 12MP bought with the theory that I could use my existing collection of lenses but actually I never have since while not perfect every time the auto-focus does a better job than I can ....... Given my time again I would have to research to decide between Canon and Nikon.

If you were to split your budget 50:50 on used equipment you would get a much higher specification camcorder for under ?400. Similarly you would get a better DSLR, short range zoom lens eg 35-90mm ( this will have noticeably less distortion than say a 18-200m ) and on-camera flash gun.

[electric454]

Hi Sparky
thanks for the info I'll check them out

b.