Recording a golf swing

[biffabacon]

Hi all,

I'm clueless when it comes to Camcorders so I apologise now.

I'm looking to purchase a camcorder to record my golf swing and am unsure what camcordeer would be suitable?

Would I need one with a higher fps? I believe this allows you to record more detail?
Would HD benefit me or just stick with SD?

I have a budget of around £400 but may stretch over if somebody can recommend or advise on a model.

Do all newer slim looking models mount onto a tripod or would I require somebody to hold and film me?

Many thanks.

Andy

[senu]

Originally Posted by biffabacon

Hi all,
I'm clueless when it comes to Camcorders so I apologise now.
I'm looking to purchase a camcorder to record my golf swing and am unsure what camcordeer would be suitable?
Would I need one with a higher fps? I believe this allows you to record more detail?

In theory it does, In the real world it may depend on how well the specific camcorder implements recording of motion; As it happens you only get a choice of 25 or 30 fps : I would get hung up on that detail. I would imagine that watching in slow motion to analyse the footage would be an aspiration
The ease with which you can do that ( at least on domestic kit) are DV AVI, SD mpeg2 ( well encoded at higher bitrates) HDV ( mpeg2) and AVCHD as a function of compression and format

Would HD benefit me or just stick with SD?

Once again implementation. anecdotally it is easier to make SD camcorders which record movt more fluidly and smoothly but a well sorted HD model would be just as good ans a poor SD one , worse VFM.

I have a budget of around £400 but may stretch over if somebody can recommend or advise on a model.

Ill pass on that one: Do you want, SD card, HDD ( or tape..) There is no right or wrong answer there

Do all newer slim looking models mount onto a tripod or would I require somebody to hold and film me?

They should all have a tripod mount , and for your intended use , you could do without the shake that is characteristic of handheld footage

PS: I notice youve been here even longer than I but only pop in now and again

[A n d r e w]

It might be worth doing a search of this forum, since a few people have posted regarding recording their golf swings. I can't remember what they ended up opting for, but you could always PM them and see how they got on.

Andrew.

[senu]

Originally Posted by A n d r e w

It might be worth doing a search of this forum, since a few people have posted regarding recording their golf swings. I can't remember what they ended up opting for, but you could always PM them and see how they got on.

Andrew.

My ( perhaps vague ) recollection from such past threads is that the camcorders either had to be capable of slow-motion capture in order to analyse the swing, or have a slow motion playback feature to play for analysis motion recorded at normal speed.
As they didn't have any specific model consensus It would still help if anyone with experience chipped in as I don't think a search will yield very much
What was raised in the past is that apart from the currrent Sony golf swing feature ( On thier costlier models) or those more pocket friendly ones which do it in a very limited way or Tape models which could be used to vary shutter speed ( now getting scarce) rather than 30 vs 25 fps was raised.

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by senu

My ( perhaps vague ) recollection from such past threads is that the camcorders either had to be capable of slow-motion capture in order to analyse the swing, or have a slow motion playback feature to play for analysis motion recorded at normal speed.
As they didn't have any specific model consensus It would still help if anyone with experience chipped in as I don't think a search will yield very much.

True - your memory must be better than mine!

I agree some chipping in from anyone who has done this successfully would be good, but there's always the possibility that people who signed up to the forums for a one-off request such as this might not visit frequently (or ever) and a PM might be helpful in those circumstances (assuming they opted for email reminders when they signed up) if the OP is after a reasonably quick response.

[senu]

True
However even the OP himself seems to have had only 15 posts since 2005!
Of course a lot of folk also browse ( or lurk silently) and only post where they feel they need a specific requirement which has not been stated