I am not entirely bew to the video industry, but that by no means implies that I know at all what I am talintg about. I have an Audio install at a church coming up, and they want video just for recording sermons and baptisms. I want to give them something that can be mounted and have complete control. They don't have a huge budget, so basically a camera that will just do the job will be fine. Also I should mention that it needs to go into a computer. I have expeience with mostly firewire, any more suggestions would be great. What about these?
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...&modelid=11847
would these do any good? Thanks guys.

[MarkE19]

I would say that your best bet would be any consumer camcorder. Churches are often not the best lit of buildings so look for one with as big a CCD as you can find to help. A miniDV (or HDV) cam will have firewire output so you can get the video easily onto a PC. Or a DVD cam will let you just put the disc into the PC for editing etc. Most camcorders will offer some sort of external control such as Lanc, or firewire would do the start/stop recording control if capturing directly to a PC.
The camera you linked to may be ok, but it depends on the quality you are after. I would think the camera would be webcam quality rather than something good enough to watch on a large TV.

Mark.

[senu]

I agree.. Any decent consumer Camcorder would serve you well.
I would add though that nobody has an unlimited budget and Spending less might seem astute in the short term... It often isnt in the long . I would also steer you away from DVD camcorders, they are very convenient for quick playback on a DVD Player but Having done a few church videos myself..... I would avoid that convenience for the increased functionality of MiniDV tape based camcorder.. not to mention longer recording time and affordability (and ruggedness) of tapes

Any Camera can be mounted and the security type ones like the one you've linked looks the business ( for mounting) but I'm unconvinced of the quality for recording of Sermons in a Church ( both detail and low light abilities)..despite the stated specs. I notice the use of telconferencing ect are mentioned as possible uses but video for viewing playback is more exacting
As there will be other ceremonies ( such as Baptisms as you've mentioned) possible mediocre playback quality ( if that) may soon make a second purchase of something better needed.

Im not sure what you mean by complete control but For video The best thing would be a Podium mount ( not in front nessesarily) tripod mounted for Panning and zooming... by an operator.
If need be, start , stop can also be done via LANC or its wireless remote control. Single angle shots of any video can get very tiresome to watch very quickly
Wall mounting is more for security type cameras .. unless you get 2 camcorders and then edit a multi camera shoot: OTT especially on a low budget
I would say looking regularly at Church type videos as I do that the audiences have become more sophisticated and have come to expect a certain minimum Standard... Even in a basic setup any falling short of those standards will be noticed
HTH

The Sony HDV camcorders HC5, HC7 have Lanc.. and Firewire For PC. Apart from being HDV they are also rather good DV camcorders too.
I would give them a look