Any suggestions for a digital camcorder for an aspiring movie producer?

Question

My daughter (14) and her friends are wanting to get involved in an amateur film festival for high school students in the county.  These are some of the criteria that I have:

- Relatively easy to operate but includes some advanced options as she learns to use it
- Cost less than $200 (USD), maybe a little higher if necessary
- Playback on the camcorder
- Easy transfer to a PC
- Mountable on a tripod

Optional but desirable
- Video editing software

Last year she used our digital SLR, but the video capture wasn't decent enough to work with.  The videos are presented in an auditorium so the video must be captured at a resolution suitable for a large screen.

Thanks

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

With the Camileo H30 you can enjoy state-of-the-art technology with 1080p Full High Definition Video and take sharp 10MP photos. Experience high definition up close. Take pleasure with your 5x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom and video stabilization. Control recordings on the large 3-inch touch-screen LCD monitor. Master great videos with 4 different recording modes: Macro mode for close up shots, motion detection mode for surveillance, slow motion for sports, and time elapse mode. Never miss the perfect moment! The H30 takes SD/SDHC memory cards up to 32GB (not included).

Palladini · Answer

Consumer level HD camcorders have 4 problems. 1) Blurry, fuzzy, out of focus areas closely around people in videos taken by consumer level HD camcorders. 2) Any movement, even a wave or lifting an arm, while in front of a recording consumer level HD camcorder, results in screen ghosts and artifacts being left on the video track, following the movement. Makes for bad video, sports videos are unwatchable. 3) These Consumer level HD camcorders all have a habit of the transferred to computer files are something you need to convert, thus losing your HD quality, to work with your editing software. 4) Mandatory maximum record times - 1 hour, 30 minutes, 8 minutes, 3 minutes – four different times advertised as maximum record time for some consumer level HD camcorders. No event I have ever been to is that short. Either take multiple camcorders or pack up with out getting the end of the event on video.

With a MiniDV tape camcorder, record 60 or 90 minutes ( camcorder settings), 90 seconds or less to change a tape and record for 60 or 90 more and repeat till you run out of tapes.

You can get a Canon ZR960 for $250. It is a MiniDV tape camcorder, has a Mic jack. You will need a firewire (IEEE1394) card ($25 to 30) for the computer and a firewire cable (less than 10) to be able to transfer video to your computer. To say this is not HD, think about this. It would cost in excess of $3500 to get a HD camcorder that could equal the video Quality of a $250 Canon MiniDV tape camcorder.

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Any suggestions for a digital camcorder for an aspiring movie producer?

2 Answers