Which is the best option here?

mikehawley · 03-09-2008, 11:37 AM

Hi

I have never used a camcorder before in my life so please go easy on me!

I am looking at get a a camcorder, purely for the purpose of recording martial arts katas (demontrations), the odd home movie of mountain biking etc, and still photos ( so an acceptable resolution would be needed for photos). Some formatting of videos etc may need to be done via pc.

im stuck between two samsung camcorders with 2 different formats. Which in any ones opinion (which would be highly appreciated) would be most suitable

Samsung MX-10 (SD Card format)
Samsung VP-DX100 (DVD format)

Or are both of these a complete waste of money?

If so could anyone recommend a decent camcorder for around the £150 mark please?

Thanks in advance

Mike

redsox_mark · 03-09-2008, 12:35 PM

For £150 I would go with miniDV; Canon MD205. Better video quality.

mikehawley · 03-09-2008, 1:00 PM

Ok

What are the still shots like?

How come the cassette can give better quality than DVD (sorry been really thick here lol)

Thanks for the input

Cheers

mike

**senu** · 03-09-2008, 1:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikehawley

How come the cassette can give better quality than DVD (sorry been really thick here lol)

It is a misconception to compare the tape to VHS
The tape ( or at least its contents ) are digital and it has video on it that is better starting quality and far less compressed than from DVD camcorder
While it may end up as a DVD later, control over that means you can determine DVD qualty which you cannot with a DVD camcorder
However, even if quality were near identical , there are other reasons why a Mini DV model would be preffered to a DVD

mikehawley · 03-09-2008, 2:02 PM

Superb!

thanks very much for all of your help!

Mike

redsox_mark · 03-09-2008, 3:20 PM

The still shots are nothing great. You won't get good stills on a £150 camcorder.

rhubarbe · 03-09-2008, 3:21 PM

Well, not until the motor breaks.

**senu** · 03-09-2008, 3:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

The still shots are nothing great. You won't get good stills on a £150 camcorder.

Or indeed from some costing even more..
A £100- 150 digital stills will more than likely do a better Job with stills that the average £3-400 camcorder with very few exceptions ( and they might not be great camcorders )