Hello. i would like to buy/use a dv camcorder to film night time city scape footage. I'd like advice on which cameras are best suited for this (as well as being a good general purpose machine) i have up to £2000 to spend.

There is Only One...Sony ..2000 !!!!!!!
Rgrds

[gringottsdirect]

Have a look at the JVC GR -DVP7.
1.02 Megapixel CCD
Digital Colour Nightscope
DV In/Out

Good Morning , gringottsdirect !!!

Please, WAKE UP !!!

Do you Really want to help this guy?!...

I mention the Best in miniDV what a £2000 can buy !!!!

Just to inform you: Sony DCR-VX2000E, a 3CCD semi-pro mini DV cam, etc..............!

A Ferrari.., not the Ford Fiesta, somebody mention later....

[gringottsdirect]

Originally posted by AAA
Good Morning , gringottsdirect !!!
Please, WAKE UP !!!
Do you Really want to help this guy?!...
I mention the Best in miniDV what a £2000 can buy !!!!
Just to inform you: Sony DCR-VX2000E, a 3CCD semi-pro mini DV cam, etc..............!
A Ferrari.., not the Ford Fiesta, somebody mention later....

Hello AAA,
htlolife may want to buy a full - featured state of the art 3 CCD DV camcorder for semi-professional users. I'm guessing that a semi-professional user may not have posted that question in this forum. Apologies to you both if I am mistaken.
If the requirement is to have a simple to use, latest specification, good quality mini DV for general purpose use and night-time city scapes then it may be the JVC is more suited.
It's a point and shoot as you will know, also I'm guessing again that htlolife will feel less conspicuous on Chicago's East Wacker or NYC's Battery Park with the pocketable solution rather than a camera resembling the Hubble space telescope.
Ideally the thread starter will illuminate, perhaps you are correct.
By the way, as skyliner put it, ask " AAA he seems to be the man",
you may have noticed a few strange folks in your back yard, it's mainly because a request was made to explore the camcorder section, if any camcorder users have been viewing "General Chat" they may pop in for a look.

Hello. I am a beginer but i would rather buy the best that i could afford. I like the idea of having a piece of kit that i can get more out of as i get more experienced. However, the issue of perhaps being a target in dodgy areas bothers me a lot.
cheers for the advice sofar. im sure i'll be asking more questions very soon.

[gringottsdirect]

htlolife,
Ask away....

htlolife,

If you have £2000, and you want the best- then, please , buy Sony.

I had other manif. Cams, but The Sony ones produse the most stable, no focus hunting picture.
And the build quality is the best.

But, again it is a personal opinion.

If you have Q-s, I am happy to answer.

hello again.
how would you compare the canon xm1 with the sony vx2000? I've heard the canon's not very good when used in low light situations but how does it compare otherwise?

cheers.

XM1 has bigger 20x zoom, fluorite lenses, 6 lux min. and it is cheaper !

VX2000, has bigger 1/3'' CCD,more pixels 450K/400K effect., 2 lux min !! Better build q-ty, picture and handling!
But it is bigger and more expensive!

Or go for the replacement of TRV900, TRV950- it has 3 CCD X 1Mg Pixel !!!

I saw it at a location, it is a very good cam....

The best is to go in a very good shop and try them.

Or go for the "lovely...." JVC DVP7, the best feature -that you can hide it in the pocket ?!...

[gringottsdirect]

Originally posted by AAA

The best is the lovely JVC DVP7 !...

AAA never actually said it, but it may well be true, after all horses for courses and all that...
However, as suggested by AAA Sony DCR-TRV950 is very well specified.
Trying them both out in a shop is good advice.

AAA please stop taking every post that offers a differing or supplementary viewpoint as a personal affront.

[gringottsdirect]

Originally posted by htlolife
hello again.how would you compare the canon xm1 with the sony vx2000? I've heard the canon's not very good when used in low light situations but how does it compare otherwise?
cheers.

If you don't mind the bulk, buy the Sony, if you do a search on E-Bay there is a DCR-VX2000, present bidding £835 (buyer to pay shipping), bids end 11 July 2002, so be quick.

If you have an interest in architecture, you'll probably be visiting the world's great cities, what I have found over the years is that if a camera is convenient to carry, it will be more useful.
If you have some other reason to film city nightscapes, maybe it's not an issue.
Investigate the Panasonic NV-MX350B, 3 x 570k CCD plus Leica Dicomar Lens with lightweight compact build.
Have a look at the camcorder magazines.
The Canon is an excellent model but is being left slightly behind by more recent Panasonic, JVC and Sony models.
Personally, the performance of the latest pocketable models is sufficient for my purposes, try them yourself, only you can sAAAy.

I agree, convenience to carry the Cam with you is very important!

That is why my latest Mini DV Cam is a single-chip,compact Sony, which provides very high Quality/Size ratio.
You can't say this for the price....

Panasonic MX350B is a very 3CCD good cam, as well as MX300, which cost approx. £1100 now. They are both compact and of high Q-ty.

Regards,

is a 3ccd system always going to work better than a single ccd?
example. canon xm1 = 3ccd (each sensor has 320,000 pixels)
sony dcr-pc120 = 1ccd (1,550,000 pixels)
the sony has more pixels in total but the canon's ccd's are each dedicated to a primary colour, red , green & blue.

this should be my last question before i make my desicion.
the reason i mention the pc 120 is because a friend of mine owns one. I think its good enough for what i want to do (forgetting about low light - not my main focus at the moment) but i can get the canon for much the same price.

cheers guys.

[gringottsdirect]

Originally posted by htlolife

this should be my last question before i make my desicion.
the pc 120 . I think its good enough for what i want to do (forgetting about low light - not my main focus at the moment) but i can get the canon for much the same price.

Don't worry about asking questions...
Buy the Sony, I think you'll be delighted.

IMO -
JVC's are poorly built. My GR-DV 2000u was in the shop for 6 weeks, while they tried one thing after another. It's back but if I didn't have soooo much money in it I'd sell it.
The Night Alive feature or other iris controls do brighten the scean but leave a grainy picture.
Drafter