[Annie Daydreame]

Hi,
I am completely new to camcorders and I am thinking of buying one. Ive done hours of reseach, but then realised I dont know what to look for in the specs.

I want to be able to shoot some footage, ie breaking waves, then be able to print off one frame, (I am an amateur artist) so that i can use it to paint from.

Ive noticed that the stills capability on the cheaper models is down as low as 0.3 mpixels and reviews say they are of poor quality. but nowhere does it say about printing from the video images.

Please can someone tell me where I should be looking to find out, a) if a camcorder is capable of doing that and b) what the results are like.

just for info - i know you dont like giving opinions about particular cams but ive got it down to - panasonic s26,s15,sw21, sony sx30, sr37, canon fs200 -
if anyone can give me any advice/info on which one to buy or more importantly one i should discard from the list, i would be eternally gratefull.

thankyou.

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by Annie Daydreame

Hi,
I am completely new to camcorders and I am thinking of buying one. Ive done hours of reseach, but then realised I dont know what to look for in the specs.

I want to be able to shoot some footage, ie breaking waves, then be able to print off one frame, (I am an amateur artist) so that i can use it to paint from.

Ive noticed that the stills capability on the cheaper models is down as low as 0.3 mpixels and reviews say they are of poor quality. but nowhere does it say about printing from the video images.

Please can someone tell me where I should be looking to find out, a) if a camcorder is capable of doing that and b) what the results are like.

just for info - i know you dont like giving opinions about particular cams but ive got it down to - panasonic s26,s15,sw21, sony sx30, sr37, canon fs200 -
if anyone can give me any advice/info on which one to buy or more importantly one i should discard from the list, i would be eternally gratefull.

thankyou.

Unless you plan to do some video filming as well as take stills standard def camcorders will only take poor stills ,some say most camcorders only take poor stills. For what you plan to do i dont know why you just dont go with the still cam option.

[Annie Daydreame]

Many thanks for taking the trouble to reply.

I thought video would be a good idea as I nearly froze to death standing on the seashore trying to get the moment when a wave broke. Took, what seemed like hundreds of photos on my now defunct camera always just missing the action because of the time delay between hitting the button and it actually taking the picture.

My bright idea (usually turn out to be bad ideas) was if i could have taken a minute or two on video, i could then have a choice of waves, and stop and print at just the right moment.

I hope you can see what Im aiming at, Im know im not very good at explaining myself.

Would really appreciate knowing what to look for in the specs, as I really dont have a clue.

[ade4all]

as chris said stills from video cameras have nothing like the resolution of even the most basic photo camera - i understand what you're after just be aware that if you get a standard definition camcorder you can grab stills off it at 720x576 pixel resolution, depending on which flavour of hi def you can get up to 1920x1080 stills (i think only with some acvhd cameras though could be wrong) - hdv is 1440x1080

[Annie Daydreame]

Thankyou for your reply.

Its obviously me getting confused (again), For some reason I thought that the moving picture, so to speak, was a higher resolution picture than that taken by the 'stills' function on a camcorder.

Doh..... I really am stupid, should have realised it would be the same.

Again, thankyou for your reply.

[Mr Taylor]

Hi,

I can see what you are trying to do.

You want to capture the dynamics of a wave mid flight.

First, get a big coat and hat and gloves.

Then get any still camera that has multi shot mode.

you just press the button and the camera keeps taking shots untill you let go.

Then you can just sort through the multitude of shots untill you see something you like.

Also go on to your local surfers swell web site. you want a good swell, and an offshore wind..that should get em standing high....just ask the local surfers, they know all about good waves.

Forget the camcorder idea, all you will get is a blurry mess.

[senu]

Originally Posted by Mr Taylor

Hi,

I can see what you are trying to do.

You want to capture the dynamics of a wave mid flight.

First, get a big coat and hat and gloves.

Then get any still camera that has multi shot mode.

you just press the button and the camera keeps taking shots untill you let go.

Then you can just sort through the multitude of shots untill you see something you like.

Also go on to your local surfers swell web site. you want a good swell, and an offshore wind..that should get em standing high....just ask the local surfers, they know all about good waves.

Forget the camcorder idea, all you will get is a blurry mess.

Correct
Saying that you are more likely to get that in a DSLR with good burst mode and fast lens
Canon 30/40D ect come to mind

[WorKid]

Or those casios with the stupidly high frame rate (1000/s ?)