[smilingcrow]

I’m interested in slow motion capture in either a SD or HD camcorder. I’ve been looking at the Samsung HMX20 but even though it’s a 1080p camcorder the slow motion mode has a resolution under half of SD camcorders which is a concern.
My budget is £500 maximum and I’d prefer a HD camcorder but if the slow motion facility is poorly implemented on a HD cam I’d prefer an SD cam with a better implementation. I’ve seen a Sony HD camcorder that offers slow motion but only for 3 seconds which is useless; at least the Samsung lasts longer than that. Any ideas?

[Magic Man]

It ultimately comes down to the bitrate the camera is capable of recording at. In order to get the higher FPS required for the slo-mo then it has to sacrifice recording size.

I think most if not all of the consumer cameras that offer some kind of fast recording for the purpose of slow motion playback drop the recording dimensions - they have to in order to keep within their bitrate limitations.

[senu]

It is a nice thing to have but surely you can do it in software,with rather more control

[jwramsay]

You should be watching the gadget show!

10 second delay from pressing the RECORD button to it recording. Hmmmm.

[Zupan]

I would also be interested in a consumer HD camcorder with decent slow motion capability (or higher fps recording), would appreciate input from those with some experience /knowledge.

to senu: once you captured at standard fps no software can create a smooth slo-mo

[senu]

Originally Posted by Zupan

I would also be interested in a consumer HD camcorder with decent slow motion capability (or higher fps recording), would appreciate input from those with some experience /knowledge.

to senu: once you captured at standard fps no software can create a smooth slo-mo

I guess smooth is a matter of degree

Ive certainly got watchable non-jerky slow-mo from Avid Liquid 7 and Sony Vegas
Im sure doing it in-camera is the ideal but apart from the know how needed, most consumer cams do not have any usable manual controls ( or any at all) to achieve it

[ronaldkwok]

The Sanyo HD2000 has 2 slow motion settings. One is at 600 fps, 192x108 pixels and the other at 240 fps, 448x336 pixels. You can record only for 10 seconds in both cases and playback is 10 times and 4 times respectively and smooth.

[ade4all]

as mentioned to get true slow motion you need a camera that can record at more than 25fps, & will be way above your budget - these consumer cameras offering higher frame rates for 10 seconds or so are a bit of a gimmick & you lose most of your resolution doing so. You are better off doing it in editing software & retaining the resolution - make sure you film interlaced & if you're camera willl let you increase the shutter speed from 1/50 to 1/100 or even higher if you have enough light - then slow the footage down on your timeline - if you want to slow it more than 50% though you will get stuttering playback, obviously the camera can only capture a cerain amount of frames each second. I don't know enough about cameras in your price range to recommend one, but if you can find 1 that has adjustable shutter speed this will give reasonable slow motion

[UrbanT]

As a heads up, the camera that was mentioned in the initial post (Samsung HMX20) is now for sale in my advert in the camera classifieds if anyone is interested

[Streak]

I'm in the same position, looking for a camera which records long slow mo sections in a high resolution and so far all I can come up with (in my price range of £500-600) is the sonys. They record the slow mo in full hd 1920 x 1080 resolution. Unfortunately its only for 3 seconds

[ronaldkwok]

Originally Posted by Streak

I'm in the same position, looking for a camera which records long slow mo sections in a high resolution and so far all I can come up with (in my price range of £500-600) is the sonys. They record the slow mo in full hd 1920 x 1080 resolution. Unfortunately its only for 3 seconds

What is the frame rate used for normal video by the Sonys and what frame rate is used for the slow mo above?

[willj12]

normal is 25fps and slow mo is 240fps

[ade4all]

also look for cameras that film in 50p, i think some of the jvc consumer cams do, & i'm sure there are others - this will play nice slow mo footage at 50% in a 25p timeline when editing