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I fancy one, I like the idea of taking videos of the kids as well as pictures.
I saw a reasonable HD one in Comet as a manager's special sans battery for £110, and I'm debating whether or not it's worth it. Better than using a compact camera for videos I'd imagine.
Just don't want to spend money on something to leave in a drawer...
errr yeah but possibly not the type your thinking about..
for 110 you can't go wrong, I guess you're not in a position to get a dslr that will do HD
my DSLR doens't do video, and I'm definitely not getting another 🙂 Maybe one day I'll get an Olympus E-P3 or something but.. I dunno.. seems a bit more faff somehow and surely not as good as a camcorder?
Of the three people I know (me included) who have bought an HD camcorder "for the kids", only one bothers to take it anywhere and the other two (me included) just bought phones that take good videos because you tend to have it with you when a good video or photo opportunity pops up. The third person just uses theirs as a camera.
You have to decide for yourself though, eh. Maybe you would get the use out of it.
(Not sure this has been a helpful post. Nokia N8s do great video btw.)
Yeah that's basically what I am thinking might happen Gordy. My phone tho won't zoom in (or out, since it's pretty zoomed in by default), and doesn't have IS so the vids look rubbish. I do usually bother to take my camera with me on particularly interesting trips so there'd be room in the bag for this little thing I am sure.
There are some videos of me as a little kid, and to be fair they do help to keep my childhood real when I watch them.
I've got a Sony Digital8 camcorder - had it about 10 years. It gets used for band stuff pretty regularly, but the on-board mic is easily overwhelmed by loud guitar-band type music.
Samples at http://www.reverbnation.com/chasingglass - as you can see the picture quality is quite good but the sound is awful. I'm the fat fella at the back 😉
We're planning on doing it again but getting a quality sound recording out of the mixing desk & dubbing the two together, see what happens
We're planning on doing it again but getting a quality sound recording out of the mixing desk & dubbing the two together, see what happens
That's what they do on films and TV. You know that when they have club or concert scenes there's no music at all and all the extras are just shuffling about in silence.. 🙂
oh yeah, been there, done that 🙂
down the front, 10-17sec in, spikey black hair next to a lass with orange (yes, orange, not ginger) hair (my sis). that's me that is
Yeah, but you miss the little things if you've only got it on the interesting trips I think.
You can't go far wrong for £110 though, I wouldn't have thought. I'd upgrade your phone instead but what suits me maybe won't suit you.
Hope you have a good time watching the videos with them some day whatever you do.
Already upgraded the phone, so I will still have backup video capability even if I don't have a camcorder. I think I might go down Comet today and see if it's still there.
get a decent bag/pouch for it and make a point of taking it everywhere with you.
A £50,000 HD eng camera is no use if its in the car when something happens.
Do it, buy stuff, prop up the economy!!
Sell you camera's and a buy a dSLR with HD video, I'll be looking at the Canon 600/650d when I come round to making a purchase.
Not buying a new DSLR.
Martyn - agreed about the bags.. that's why I have so many SLR bags 🙂
My take on the 'must get a camcorder when you have kids' thing is pretty simple. Video I want to take of my son (and when he/she arrives, kid 2) does not need to be HD, super hi def mega bass audio. It needs to be watchable. My mobile does that and I'll already have it with me pretty much anywhere so I never wasted my cash on a camcorder. It seems that my friends who bought camcorders ultimately came to the same view. YMMV particularly if you're an audio/video geek 😉
Videos from my phone are not particularly watchable on a big tv because it's got no IS and it's not easy to hold steady, so it's quite wobbly. And it doesn't zoom - those are the two things I am thinking about, not so much whizzo image quality and whatnot.
But yes we already have quite a bit of footage shot on compacts and phones. It's all in very short clips tho.
Dunno if this is any good, not HD, but pretty cheap:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350487423741#ht_2518wt_1139
I still use a Canon Vid Recorder, a mini tape one. It's still the bits and has proved to be very reliable even in the chomping battery stakes. If I want to get the stuff into digital then I get a mate to transfer it over.. pimples. You can of course just plug it into the laptop and record the vids or slam them through the TV..
I bought one a few years ago...I can't say I use it loads, but it's been worthwhile have it. I got a Panasonic which takes inputs from an external microphone (Rode Stereo Videomic). The audio quality is miles better than using an inbuilt mic, so it's really good for videoing the kids if they have made up a play or doing something where hearing the dialogue is important. Dunno how much you have to spent to get ext. mic inputs though?
The kids like acting up to it, so it has become something to stimulate creative play.
Video mode on dSLR's is not good for waving around in front of kids playing (IMHO), shallow DOF and lack of proper AF makes uncomfortable viewing in most cases