Do you own a video camera? What kind? What format? Do you like it?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

I’m getting rid of my Sony, Digital 8mm camera and looking at a Mini DV camera. Mostly for two reasons: 1) I want something with a mic input. 2) I want to get a newer format.

I’ve had several Sony camcorders and have liked them all. They seem to do pretty good in low light, battery power, and features. But, they do seem a bit over priced compared to others I’ve seen with the same features.

So, I’m wondering what people have. How they like them. Have you had any problems. How well the camera works in low light. You know, the regular stuff.

#2

Wow. Not one person has a video camera here?

heh heh

#3

Looks like I’m the only one.

I have an 3-year old Panasonic NV-DS15 (I think), which is Mini DV format. I have used it quite a bit but am starting to find that it occassionally chews the tapes. Next time around I will look at other digital formats because of this problem.

Sony have a pretty good reputation - my still digital camera is a Sony DSC-71 and I love it.

In general I suggest you look at things like lens quality, battery life, and zoom, but don’t worry about features like the effects settings (like mosaic, fade out etc) since you can do all this on your computer when/if you edit it.

When I’m in the market for these types of purchases I will buy a couple of the specialist magazines to narrow the choices, though I often wonder how influenced the reviews are by the magazine’s advertisers.

#4

I have a Sony Hi8 camera. I bought it about two years ago when I finally decided it was time to dispense with my big and bulky RCA VHS camera that I bought in 1995. It’s worked really well and it takes good video, and it’s a lot smaller than the old VHS camera. It performs really well in low light, and it even has a “Nightshot” feature, which uses infrared light to see in the dark (my cats’ eyes look weird since they are fully dialated in total darkness). The only drawback is that It’s a hassle to copy and capture the video to the computer since it takes extra time to do this. My next camera will likely be all-digital, but I hope to get several years out of the one I have now.

#5

I have a JVC DR-9800U. Mini-DV format, so I can transfer video easily to my computer. One thing I completely hadn’t thought about when I bought it, though, was “light sensitivity”. The camera is very much an outdoors device; it has trouble recording in a regularly-lit room, let alone anywhere with dim light. Oh well… live and learn.

#6

Sorry. That’s “GR-DVL9800U”.