i know some of you guys tape a lot of the stuff you do so you might be able to help me out. i'm looking for a digital camcorder in the $300-$400 price range (new or used). what should i be looking for? right now i am looking at the sony digital8 handycams. they're $349 new. 20x optical zoom, 990x digital zoom. seems kind of bare-boned but i am not really sure. i'd really look something that could do regular recording (obviously) and maybe some cool features like black & white, sepia, slow-motion.. you get the idea. those are a necessity but they would be nice. also, i know that you can usually get something cheap but ends up being pretty expensive cause of all the accessories you have to buy... so what would i have to get? extra battery/charger, hi8 tapes (or whatever it uses), software, etc? i'm fackin bored as **** cause i went to work and they didn't have any work for us so i came home and i got jack **** to do so i'm looking at cameras.

 

Get a mini-dv not a digital8. Not all mini-dv are the same either. Mine's pretty shitty but my parent's sony is nice. I think any of the sony mini-dv are decent. You may have to buy used though to get into your price range.

 

yeah i was looking at some of the used sony mini-dv ones, they look pretty nice

 

nobody else uses this bitches?

 

definately go minidv... and don't really pay to much attention to the digital zoom the only one that really matters is the optical zooml. cause as soon as you start using the digital zoom you image is going to get all pixelated and ****, don't be affraid to get in the action.. that is a pretty tight price range but i'll do some looking around for ya and post back

 

:jerkoff

 

thanks brah. i knew that about digital zooms so the more optical zoom the better. i got someone here on SL offering me a Sharp VL-NZ100U. it's like 4 mo's old. its like this one..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...829765923&rd=1

any opinions? not sure if it's a pos cause it's cheap or what.. but you never know. they sell new for about 300

 

to be honest with you i don't know much about the camera but just by looking at it. i don't like it. it doesn't seem to have a regular viewfinder so that camera is going to eat up your battery like a ****. i get like 180 minutes out of my camcorder using the eye piece and i use the lcd screen it is cut down to about a third of that. also when i was looking at the spec of the camera the two most important things you need to know weren't available which is weird

Maximum CCD resolution: Information unavailable
CCD size: Information unavailable

that is important stuff and i really doubt it is unavailable they probably just don't want you to know how shitty it is. you do have a really tuff price range so that might be the best you can do

 

one thing you might want to try is going to best buy they have a case filled with returns and stuff they are usually alot cheaper then the regular ones because the boxes have been opened and it may be missing something little. it is worth a look at least. try the kingston mall i was there this past weekend and they had some stuff in there under 400 in the case.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...830491626&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...829762657&rd=1

i only work with sony because i have had so much luck with them and it is what i know... both of those cameras are really good models i have owned one of them before and it works great.

don't worry about the digital effects they have it is wicked easy to just put those in later when you are editing. and also don't expect to much in stil picture quality out of any camera with a memory stick they do great video but the stills don't come out very well at all.

 

thanks for the info. i think i'm gonna stray away from that sharp one... i'm not too keen on it. he said 250 plus shipping but if i wanted to get one of those they have them on ebay for like 250 new so i'll pass.

i got a good digital camera to use so digitial still capability isn't a must. i also got someone offering me this for 300 shipped..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...829285606&rd=1

(same model.. not that one in the auction). it def. looks better than that sharp one and it comes with all the original stuff in the box (charger, booklets, etc... im waiting to hear back from him about what exactly is included with it).

if these ones dont look to great, i'll probably just wait and get a used sony one. i know sony is quality but there are other pretty good brands. whats the deal with the CCD thing? i know with digi cams you look for megapixels, i'm assuming this is sort of along the same lines. i'll check out those TRV-22's more now on ebay..

 

that panasonic one doesn't look to bad it is pretty much the same specs as the sony ones i showed you i would say go for it.

a ccd(charge coupled device) is a chip that converts the incoming light into a picture obviously you want one with really high pixel rate but more importantly you want a larger chip 1/6 is pretty common but 1/3 will give you a shallower depth of field and better yet if you can get a 3ccd camera then you have a chip dedicated to the three basic colors: red, green, blue. rather then having one chip trying to do all the colors. broadcast cameras like in the news station use either a 1/2 or a 2/3 inch chip. i will stop rambling now

 

"i will stop rambling now"
Yes please do

 

haha thanks mang... i'm def. looking into the panasonic one

 

Here R Some Pix Of The Video Cam. The Only Thing It Doesnt Show In The Pic Is The 2 Memory Cards. Everything In The Picture Is Included. This Is A Great Camera, And Runs About 2-3 Hours Of Filming Time!!! But Its True, It Runs Through Battery Pretty Fast, But Not As Fast As That One Dude That Can Only Use His For 98 Mins. Or So? As For Its Digital Pictures, Its Not The Best. Like You Said, You Have A Digital Camera Already, And Ur Looking For A Video Camera. It Has Clean Clear Video Footage, And Small Enough To Hold In One Hand.