Video Cameras: What to look for


Jorden

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Sounds to me like you need to stick with Standard Definition.

The High Definition stuff is surely better but the expense won't stop at just the camera. You also need HD compatible editing software, a computer with a VERY large hard drive capacity, an HD DVD burner and player. It takes a high horsepower computer to edit HD video and even then expect it to take a long time even to do short clips.

For hobbyist outdoor video making look at Canon's Powershot S2 IS,S3 IS and S5 IS. With a 2gb SD card you can record 28 minutes of video at DVD quality. Getting it into the computer afterwards is simple as putting the card in your computers card reader. The cameras are light and easy to carry. SD memory is cheap and practically infinitely reusable (easy to carry several cards). The sound is stereo and digitally wind filtered. The work with standard easy to find AA batteries and Lithiums last an incredibly long time in them. No more recharger stress! And because these cameras are primarily stills cameras, they of course take great still shots.

I feel like a broken record recommending these cameras to outdoorsmen who want a decent camera to take in the field. I don't care. I bought mine thinking eventually I'll get a "real" video camera. I can absolutely say that this camera's video function is NOT a joke like it is on practically every other dual use camera I have ever handled. In fact I still haven't got the "real" video camera because the video function on these Canon's is so hard to beat.

Here's a frame capture from a Canon Video

Gobbler07bang.jpg

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