First Camcorder, HELP!!

[chowning87]

Greetings to everyone on AVF.

I am buying my first camcorder. I'm currently looking at the Panasonic SW20 and the JVC Everio HDD cameras.

I am making surfing films so I would need to protect from sand and rain. how do you protect your cameras from sand?

I think I prefer the JVC camera at the moment as the Panasonic feel a bit small and fragile when I hold it. Even though it's waterproofed.

I look forward to your replies.

Thanks.

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by chowning87

I am buying my first camcorder. I'm currently looking at the Panasonic SW20 and the JVC Everio HDD cameras.

Does this mean your budget is around the £250 mark?

I am making surfing films so I would need to protect from sand and rain. how do you protect your cameras from sand?

Keep it the hell away from sand, that's how! Precision-engineered moving parts and sand are a god-awful combination. Pardon my biblical references, but have you ever eaten a sandwich that's full of sand? That's how your camcorder will feel - like it's been condemned to eating sand-encrusted egg-n-cheese for all eternity. In fact, smearing egg and cheese on a camcorder is probably wiser, but I see it's surfing videos you want to make, not sandwich-making videos. To sum up: avoid sand.

I think I prefer the JVC camera at the moment as the Panasonic feel a bit small and fragile when I hold it. Even though it's waterproofed.

Yeah. The SW20 is "waterproof" to 1.5m. So if you were to get in a pool in your backyard with the SW20, it'd survive. Will it survive pounding surf? Yes. Until it dies, which shouldn't take too long. It's water pressure that's at issue here, and surf = pressure. The seals probably aren't designed for that. A bit of splashing around, but not a surfable swell.

You can probably tell I'm not keen on the idea of mixing video electronics and the surfing lifestyle. You could give it a go, but I'm not really sure that's the kind of thing the SW20 is designed to do. The JVC Everios? Definitely not. Water (or sand: see above) will kill an Everio dead.

With the Everio harddrive cameras and the SW20 which records Mpeg2 to SD card (I think), you're getting very basic standard definition camcorders. There are a number of other camcorders around the same price point that record to miniDV tapes and will give you better-looking results, but they have even more moving parts and are even less likely to enjoy munching on a sand sandwich.

Andrew.