Hi everyone, Obviously I'm new to the forum, but I've read many of the post and it looks like these forums have the people with the knowledge I need. I'm no pro, just a regular family guy looking for a decent DVC for my needs. shooting vacations, school events, maybe some of the kids sports. I do want to transfer this to ... I think DVDs for the purpose of archiving... Editing? Maybe later... right now I just want to record and store.... I don't think I need HD, I do want a decent optical zoom, I'm hoping it to be able to take better stills than my current Canon sureshot A300 (3.2 MP..which is doing nicely for things that are at a stand still...although that is the thing that bugs me about it...) can't snap pictuers of the kids playing soccer for instance ... So .... 1 CCD, 3 CCDs (other?), HDD, miniDVD, tape (format is called?), memory cards? I don't think I need HD. Firewire or USB...should I care (PC User). Basically I'm looking for an easy to use value for money DVC that shoots stills better than 3.2 MP and faster at stills than the A300 I have. I'm looking at a budget of around $500 Canadian. I'm not partial to brand really .. Cash is king. bags, extra batteries in a bundle ... I'm talking a position out of country ... leaving soon and I really don't have the time for the 2 solid weeks of research it would take ... So I'm hoping to learn and decide fast with everyones help.... Any assistance would be great. I'm leaning to a 3CCD, MiniDV, taking actions stills I think it the hardest part of trying to get 2 devices in 1. (why 3ccd versus 1 ... the options really seem to drop) I understand that one is allocated to each color so the capture is faster? (more processing power for the image?) Camless in Canada...
You are going to have a tough time finding a cheap video camera that takes better than 3.1 megapixel pictures. I would most definitely get a MiniDV video camera. I have the Sony DCR-HC96 Handycam, and I love it. It does take still pictures, but the resolution is only 3.3 megapixels, which is good enough for me. It takes pictures in 4:3 or 16:9 widesceen. This Handycam has a 3 CCD size. The larger the CCD, the better quality video/pictures you are going to get.
So if MiniDV is tape, is there a memory card for the stills? Our current 3.2 MP A300 sureshot has been good enough for a number of years and for the size of the prints that we use larger would only be useful in rare occasions.... So the question I have is, Are you able to take 3.3 MP action shots? I'll give you an example.... Kids playing soccer .... The A300 is no speed demon, either the kids are out of the from by the time it figures out its ready, or if I track the kids I get motion blur. otherwise for stills its great. So what is the speed like for the snap shots? How many hours can you put on the miniDV? How do I get it from tape to DVD for archival? You help is greatly appreciated....
There is a memory card for the stills. I haven't taken any action shots, so I can't speak to that issue. I don't, offhand, know the speed. You get 1 hour of video, on the miniDV tapes. I use a firewire cable to capture to my hard drive, and I use Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 or 10 to capture. I capture the files as .avi.
