What camera/camcorder to buy?

x00065954

Hi everyone,

I am currently looking for a new camera/camcorder for recording people singing etc so preferably would like to have the feature of connecting an external mic to the camera. Also another feature I would like is to have the ability to take still pics while recording would also be awesome. Obviously 1080hd would be great too.

So would anyone know such camera? Or even quite similar cameras that I described? Have quite a big budget for the camera so it would be great if you guys could just list the cameras best to my suitability. Thank you all

x00065954

Forgot to say I currently have a JVC Everio GZ-HM440. Its not a bad camera but defiantly want to upgrade soon. Thanks again.

pandaboy

How much is your overall budget? Would you consider the DSLR route? Are you looking to record for internet/personal/tv?

I'd recommend the DSLR route. It's cost effective and with the right lenses you can get some excellent images.

The big advantage of having a pro camera is the functionality and bit rate that the footage is recorded at but there's the Panasonic GH2 DSLR which costs a pittance compared to a proper camera and there's also a camera hack which allows you to shoot at higher bit rates giving you superior image quality.

There is no XLR input for a mic but I recommend recording your audio separately on a Zoom H4N or H2N recorder. This will give you fully uncompressed WAV audio and multi channel support if you were looking to do a mix with audio.

Anyway just let me know what your budget is and what the medium you want to shoot for and I can rustle up something for you

x00065954

Yea most defiantly would consider a DSLR. And in regards for whats is used for its for an internet music show. Im budget would be roughly 200-500 possibly? So anywhere inbetween that region would be great. What are the two audio recorders like esp for live singing etc in relations to quality?? Thanks

pandaboy wrote: »

How much is your overall budget? Would you consider the DSLR route? Are you looking to record for internet/personal/tv?

I'd recommend the DSLR route. It's cost effective and with the right lenses you can get some excellent images.

The big advantage of having a pro camera is the functionality and bit rate that the footage is recorded at but there's the Panasonic GH2 DSLR which costs a pittance compared to a proper camera and there's also a camera hack which allows you to shoot at higher bit rates giving you superior image quality.

There is no XLR input for a mic but I recommend recording your audio separately on a Zoom H4N or H2N recorder. This will give you fully uncompressed WAV audio and multi channel support if you were looking to do a mix with audio.

Anyway just let me know what your budget is and what the medium you want to shoot for and I can rustle up something for you

pandaboy

x00065954 wrote: »

Yea most defiantly would consider a DSLR. And in regards for whats is used for its for an internet music show. Im budget would be roughly 200-500 possibly? So anywhere inbetween that region would be great. What are the two audio recorders like esp for live singing etc in relations to quality?? Thanks

OK, your budget might be a little bit low, tbh. If you're not too fussed about your camera then hang on a little while and invest in an audio recorder now. I worked with Eugene O Connor, from Fr. ted for a bit and he had some great advice but this one stuck with me. It doesn't matter which camera you shoot with whether it's €100K or €100, once you have an image that's got a great composition and you have great audio then you're set. The Zoom H4N or H2N are the devices that you're looking for. They will allow you to plug 2 mics into the device and also have a built in mic so you can have two audio inputs.

The GH2 retails for around €600, I think, I'll do a number crunch after lunch. Have a gander around adverts.ie, you could find a bargain there. Normally for DSLRs I recommend a budget of 700 to 1000 euro. That will cover batteries, extra lenses, filters, lens wipes and a good tripod.

ScumLord

There are some hybrid systems out there that try and give you the best of both worlds.

I saw a good one that was about €300 but I can't remember the make of it. Could have been sure it was a cannon. It's not a pro camera, I don't think you can change lens but it does give DSLR features mixed with camcorder features along with high frame rate features like being able to capture at 300fps or high burst rates for photos.

x00065954

Well if you can give me some model names I can even have a look and adjust my budget just that I really want to upgrade my camera as I will be going away soon to Asia and hopefully get it much cheaper. Even the DSLR cameras would be cool cause I was actually looking for one of them

pandaboy

x00065954 wrote: »

Well if you can give me some model names I can even have a look and adjust my budget just that I really want to upgrade my camera as I will be going away soon to Asia and hopefully get it much cheaper. Even the DSLR cameras would be cool cause I was actually looking for one of them

Stick with your current camera for the time being and then invest in a good audio piece, trust me, in a few months time when you should have your DSLR you will thank me.

You can invest in a hybrid for a lower price but overall the next best option for you would be a DSLR. A lot of hybrids do not shoot progressively when in 1080 (Full HD mode) so you can lose a bit of quality in the final image (scan lines appear in fast action shots).

The one thing about buying a camera in Asia is warranty. Like Canon cameras' warranty is based on continental regions, so if you bought the camera in Asia, then it's warranty is in Asia. The Kiss X2 cameras are the asian canon 550D models, they work out at about half the price of the 550D in Ireland. You could probably get a 600D or 60D for around the same price and offer more finctionality with regards to ISO and so forth.

Also, if you buy a DSLR you can most likely get the Magic Lantern hack. This will turn your €600 camera into a €2,500 camera with added functionality and it's pretty stable I have to say. I downloaded it and though it may not look as steady as it should be the functions available were comparable to those on any pro camera. I live by ML now because of this.

Another thing is lenses. You can purchase adaptors for DSLRs which will allow you to connect a different variety of lenses other than Canon, Nikon, Nikor, Sigma, etc. For example, the M42 adaptor which fits M42 film lenses opens up the universe to lenses. You'd pay about €800 for a Canon F1.4 lens. With the M42 adaptor you can get an Olympus Zuiko lens F1.4 for about €140. The image quality is really excellent, like I've never seen a lens perform at this quality for such a price. It's also one of the best Bokeh lenses I've seen also.

Here are some examples of the kit lens and a 50mm 1.8 lens on a canon 550d shot at 1080p. There's slight colour correction done so in low light situations if you can find the right balance of light and ISO you'll achieve a nice (almost) filmic looking video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXM6aPweKwE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLvT4mEdEbY

Rew

Do any of you find the recording time limit on DSLR's a problem?

pandaboy

Rew wrote: »

Do any of you find the recording time limit on DSLR's a problem?

Magic Lantern removes the 12 minute/4GB limit to around 30 mins. The only problem with recording for that length of time (on the canon T2i/T3i chips) is overheating, though the T3i performs better. The GH2 overall provides better temperature levels for longer recording because of a different chipset.

m83

pandaboy wrote: »

Magic Lantern removes the 12 minute/4GB limit to around 30 mins.

Have you got a source for that quote? Unless you change the Q-Scale I don't think it's possible, judging by the link below at least.

http://www.chungdha.com/2011/01/how-to-4gb-limit-on-canon-550d.html

pandaboy

How do I record for more than 12 minutes?

Lower the bitrate (CBR 0.4 will let you record continuously for 30 minutes).
Use Movie restart, but you will lose a few seconds when a new file is created.
To record continuously for more than 30 minutes, you need to use a HDMI recorder. Select Clear Overlays: Always to hide all graphical overlays and enable Half-press shutter: Every second to prevent the camera from shutting down.
Technically, there's no 12 minute limit. There's a 30 minute limit and a 4 GB limit, whichever comes first. With default bitrate settings, the 4 GB limit is reached after around 12 minutes (more or less).

ML User Guide
It's the third or fourth paragraph in the FAQ. Being able to adjust the Bit-Rate with ML is one of the biggest features because to be honest, the stock bit-rate is fairly crap. On the 550D you can get a bit-rate of up to 75mbs with ML but in reality it's glitchy as feck and I'd recommend a max of 25mbs with a fast class 10 card. Bear in mind, the higher the bit rate the faster the card you need.

pandaboy

m83 wrote: »

Have you got a source for that quote? Unless you change the Q-Scale I don't think it's possible, judging by the link below at least.

http://www.chungdha.com/2011/01/how-to-4gb-limit-on-canon-550d.html

Actually very interesting article. It's a lot more detailed than the Wiki page with a lot more trial and error tests completed. Thanks for the link.

m83

No problem I've seen a lot of tests done on changing the bitrate on the Vimeo ML forum and no noticeable quality improvements were made, mostly due to aliasing. I'm not a fan of lowering the bitrate from the default setting but I guess it all depends on what you're shooting and what your ISO setting is.

For me though, the 12 minute time limit is only an issue for shooting events, but I have a XHA1 for those times. It's the one area where DSLRs fall down but a multi-cam setup could always be considered seeing as the bodies are so cheap. Just stagger the recording start times and make sure Movie Restart is enabled in Magic Lantern.

I'm a huge convert of ML though, been following it closely for a long time. The GH2 image may be better but I just love ML too much to move away from it.

pandaboy

m83 wrote: »

No problem I've seen a lot of tests done on changing the bitrate on the Vimeo ML forum and no noticeable quality improvements were made, mostly due to aliasing. I'm not a fan of lowering the bitrate from the default setting but I guess it all depends on what you're shooting and what your ISO setting is.

For me though, the 12 minute time limit is only an issue for shooting events, but I have a XHA1 for those times. It's the one area where DSLRs fall down but a multi-cam setup could always be considered seeing as the bodies are so cheap. Just stagger the recording start times and make sure Movie Restart is enabled in Magic Lantern.

I'm a huge convert of ML though, been following it closely for a long time. The GH2 image may be better but I just love ML too much to move away from it.

Events can be a pain, I was doing one at the Opera House in Cork and it really annoyed me, that and the overheating. It's always nice to have a tape based camera fit in, dynamically, DV holds more information than H.264.

The use of time code is quite handy also but not fully ideal, I don't think you can gen sync DSLRs.

There's a hack for the GH2, I saw a video a while back by Philip Bloom (for anyone interested in DSLRs, check out his stuff) and he rated the GH2 as being one of the best value DSLRs out there. The final image quality was phenomenal, I think it support 2k, just that little bit more than HD and in theory, with the hack, there's the option to record at 120Mbs, not that anyone needs that data rate to be honest, again 25Mbs is just fine.

randombar

Hi Guys,

Have the same question myself our wedding is coming up and looking at these cameras.

So just wondering what ye would go for and why? Budget of about 300 euros I'd say something decent for cheaper would be great.

Thanks for your time.

Gary

ruthie113

Hey guys,

Don't mean to spam up the place, but I am casting an ad at the moment looking for successful savings stories from people who have saved up for specific item, i.e a camera, to take part in a commercial for a bank.
As a fellow photography enthusiast, I thought of cameras when given the brief.
If you want any more details, PM me

Freddie59

GaryCocs wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Have the same question myself our wedding is coming up and looking at these cameras.

So just wondering what ye would go for and why? Budget of about 300 euros I'd say something decent for cheaper would be great.

Thanks for your time.

Gary

Have a look at the Canon HV40. A bit over budget, but you get what you pay for. I've done a few weddings for family using this, and the quality (in SD) is excellent. OK - it is tape, but that has so many advantages when editing.

randombar

Thanks for the tip, I would probably prefer something digital rather than tape though as I would be working on it on the laptop etc.

m83

You can import the tape footage onto your computer for editing. It's quite simple and tapes are a great way to backup important footage such as a wedding.

randombar

But if it was digital I wouldn't need any conversion or import?

My back up process isn't too bad at the moment with Time Machine, Dropbox and Raid (well you can never back up too much I know)

m83

It's digitally stored on the tape. Importing the footage to your computer will give you a single file digital copy of it. This can be viewed as is or edited in a non-linear editing program of your choosing