crazyfarmer Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 i know its a vid section here, but whats a good entry level camera for video? Im not sure what you use for the TV shows, but ive noticed they have gotten much smaller compared to 10 years ago. My brother in law wants to start getting video of my hunts so we plan on splitting the price of a camera at some point. I know they arent cheap, but you get what you pay for. Plus I have a 7 year old and a 5 year old which I want to get good hunting footage of as they grow older so I dont want something thats gonna be outdated in 2 years. Thanks in advance btw and any advice would be helpful:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Andrus Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 Ill get ahold of my cameraman Rodney and have come in and answer for ya. might be a day or so tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyfarmer Posted April 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 Tim, its no rush on anything. Ill have to save a little from our small grain and corn crop this year. Hopefully a good used one comes up for sale. I'd like to go HD, but those will run over 3k im sure. I basically need something I can record with and watch in the DVD player untill I get good editing software. Thanks for you help btw also. I saw where some just use the lil sony handycams, but I was looking for something with better zoom and more professional. I have a older model handycam, but I swear the deer can probably hear that camera recording(8mm style)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodneyvideo1 Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 Canon has a couple good cameras to choose from I would say the gl2 would be a good start they are reasonably priced and the zoom is pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Andrus Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 Now howse that for quick service! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyfarmer Posted April 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 how much work is involved in just getting the hunting footage to a DVD? No editing, just transferring the data for now. Im not trying to produce a new realtree show here;) the thing I liked about the handycams is that they burn right to a DVD. But again, its a cheaper camera Tim, thanks for the quick help also man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Andrus Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 Rodney does alot of his editing on a program we bought I think it Adobe? not sur Will have to summon the expert ! Rodney get your tail in here!! he should come soon lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billkay Posted April 27, 2009 Report Share Posted April 27, 2009 A lot of the editing I'm familiar with is done with Final Cut Pro on a Mac, I think. PC systems usually use Adobe Premiere Pro. To the best of my knowledge, the GL2 is not an HD camera. You should really consider stepping up to one that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyfarmer Posted April 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2009 The GL2 isnt HD.. bascially I want to get something good to start out with. Then save for a HD model later on. I'm just going to have to test try a few instore to see which I like as far as features I like btw, thanks for all the help also everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 Sony has newer handycams out that are HD under $1000, may take a look at them. Looks like the canon gl2's have come way down in price, did not know that they were not HD either. I have a sony handycam minidv here and it has served us pretty well, have loaded quite a bit of video here. The uploaded video does not do the original footage justice in quality, but it is still pretty decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 i've got as sony handycam, and is shoots well. problem is, if you ever want to see your work on t.v. on a regular basis, the cameras start around 35 grand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyfarmer Posted April 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 i was a pretty decent HD handycam 40x optical and 2000x digi last night for 499. Really surprised me on the price. It takes the memory stick though and I would rather use the miniDV. Since I would do most of the filming myself, I might lean towards that for price reasons just to play around with. Its small and everyone seems to like them. wtn, which model handy do you have? I couldnt find a HD version at the store I was in for the miniDV models. The only HD version was the memory stick ones. If anyone has a link to one with HD and miniDV please feel free to post thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) wtn, which model handy do you have? I couldnt find a HD version at the store I was in for the miniDV models. The only HD version was the memory stick ones. If anyone has a link to one with HD and miniDV please feel free to post thanks again My camera is about 4 model years old now, the dcr-hc96. It is minidv and has the carl zeiss optics, a lot of accessories available for that model. For what it is, I have been very happy with it. I get stuff in the mail from sony all the time, they seem to be maybe kind of getting away from the minidv cams, but they do still offer the pro grade cams in mini dv. I noticed this 120 gb hard drive hd model camera for $899 through their sony store in the last mailing I got. If I was to get one and it not be a minidv model I would probably opt for a hard drive model, would think it would be easy to edit from a hard drive. Online here they do offer a pro grade mini dv hd cam, but it is a bit higher than the hard drive model. The prices at the sony store for the most part are higher than you can buy at electronics and camera stores though, so this cam may be able to be found for under a grand somewhere. Just found this http://www.zoommania.com/descript.asp?prodid=HDRHC9. I have no experience with this place though, and it appears to be one of those like butterfly photo that will upsell you on extras. Kind of gives you an idea of where you might be on price though, if they can reall sell this camera at $675. I did also see the same model minidv hd camera listed at several other places including the dell store in the $825 range. Edited April 30, 2009 by wtnhunt added a link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyfarmer Posted April 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 My camera is about 4 model years old now, the dcr-hc96. It is minidv and has the carl zeiss optics, a lot of accessories available for that model. For what it is, I have been very happy with it. I get stuff in the mail from sony all the time, they seem to be maybe kind of getting away from the minidv cams, but they do still offer the pro grade cams in mini dv. I noticed this 120 gb hard drive hd model camera for $899 through their sony store in the last mailing I got. If I was to get one and it not be a minidv model I would probably opt for a hard drive model, would think it would be easy to edit from a hard drive. Online here they do offer a pro grade mini dv hd cam, but it is a bit higher than the hard drive model. The prices at the sony store for the most part are higher than you can buy at electronics and camera stores though, so this cam may be able to be found for under a grand somewhere. Just found this http://www.zoommania.com/descript.asp?prodid=HDRHC9. I have no experience with this place though, and it appears to be one of those like butterfly photo that will upsell you on extras. Kind of gives you an idea of where you might be on price though, if they can reall sell this camera at $675. I did also see the same model minidv hd camera listed at several other places including the dell store in the $825 range. I noticed the zoom on the HC9 is only 10x. How's that gonna do for long range out past 100 yards video? btw, thanks for the links..Ive ordered from butterfly photo twice in the past btw;) but 2 canon cameras from them. One was the Rebel XTI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 The optical zoom at 10X can be overcome with a telephoto if you later opted to add one, I would not let that deter me. Really helps too that sony uses the zeiss glass. My camera only has a 10X optical zoom and it does quite well. Here is a clip of a bobcat I shot with my cam Clip from last years youth hunt. Unfortunately I could not see the viewfinder on the camera when my daughter took her shot, I could have zoomed in, although lighting was very poor. The bobcat in this second clip went through about 150 yards out to kind of give you an idea of what you get with a 10X zoom. Keep in mind too that this is in an uploadable quality and falls a bit short of the quality you are able to burn to dvd or cd. My camera is not hd either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyfarmer Posted April 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) thanks for the info... 10x seems to work pretty well by your vid also! I goggled your model camera and I see that ones around 450-500ish also. im gonna do some more research before jumping into one. Hows the low light with yours? the main use for this camera would be family kid video stuff, but I want something thats gonna do well in the woods I really like the looks of the HC9... 600+ is a good deal it seems for that camera alone. also, are the mini DV's sorta like the old style 8mm tapes? Just smaller? Edited April 30, 2009 by crazyfarmer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 thanks for the info... 10x seems to work pretty well by your vid also! I goggled your model camera and I see that ones around 450-500ish also. im gonna do some more research before jumping into one. Hows the low light with yours? the main use for this camera would be family kid video stuff, but I want something thats gonna do well in the woods Yep, they have come down in price quite a bit from when they hit the market. Low light close up is pretty good. Distant is fair, the model I have does have the night shot and super night shot and steady shot too. I got stuck in the stand and shot some footage with the night shot a few years ago of a deer working a scrape, and it turned out pretty decent. For family video, my cam has been great for me. For the woods it has done as much as I could possibly expect it to. You probably already know this, but one more thing to remember too is that for editing you will want a pretty fast computer with plenty of memory. My processor is plenty fast, but I only have 1 gig of ram, and that really is not enough for working with the editing software I am using(pinnacle studio), I badly need to upgrade to the max ram my pc will allow. The handycam and my minolta dslr both came from butterfly photo. So long as you know about their upsells and don't buy into the worthless warranties you can find some deals at those type places. Like I said in either this thread or the other, if it were me, I would be checking really close on the sony hdr hc9. That cam looks to be loaded full of features, hd recording capable, and at a pretty reasonable price. Here is another link with some more info that may be useful on that cam http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Sony-HDR-HC9-Camcorder-Review-34562.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyfarmer Posted May 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 the more I look, the more I like the HD model.. but if I find a good deal on the type you have I may go that route also. That way I have someone to walk me through the use of that one anyway LOL(haha) whatever I get, it wont be untill this summer. If you run across any deals, shoot me a PM. Ive gotta wait to cut small grain in june/july before to can buy anything right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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