# Video Camera Suggestions?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-camera-suggestions/517973>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 18, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-camera-suggestions/517973 "2009-11-18T00:02:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-camera-suggestions/517973/1 "2009-11-18T00:02:14Z")

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A friend is in the market for a video camera, and wants one that is small and durable ( she wants to be able to carry it in a hand bag or backpack while travelling on rough roads), but relatively high quality, with sound being particularly important. Can you give some recommendations? She’s looking for something in a mid-price range.

Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-camera-suggestions/517973/2 "2009-11-18T00:22:53Z")

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Define “high quality” please. Do you mean the camera should be durable, the video must be pristine, or something else? Does your friend require HD? Is disk, flash, or tape storage preferred?

Has your friend looked at still cameras that capture video? These can be extremely small and with flash memory being so cheap you can record quite a bit of video at SD size. Good sound quality, not so much. In fact, in-camera audio is at best just okay, even at the high end of consumer cameras.