Help!! Newbie Question Here

jonnyboy73 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 01:50 PM

Hi Guys

I need some help. I know people like me are a pain in the arse on forums. But I'm gonna be a dad soon and the missis thought it might be a good idea to get a camcorder to document the little kiddies progress through life! I cant find any decent reference on t'internet to help me so i have had to research myself and have come up with the Sony DCR-SR32.

Is this any good, and are there any alternatives for about the £325 mark. I looked at the sony DVD range but feel the HDD models would be easier to edit out any bits i dont want and hopefully be a bit more future proof!

All help would be gratefully accepted

Top forum by the way

Jon

Alan Mills · #2 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 02:42 PM

Sorry to disapoint but if you intend to edit then go for a MiniDV (tape) camcorder. HDD and DVD models record in a compressed format which is actually tough to edit.

Something elsxe to remember is to pretty much ignore completely all the fancy things that vendors like to claim camcorders can do. Fancy transitions, 600x zoom, titles etc. All nonsense I'm afraid. Never use a digital zoom . Optical zoom is the only thing to consider and if the camera does not have alimitter so that digital zoom can be turned off then I personally wouldn't look at it. Transitions and titles and other effects like sepia are much better in the editting stage on a PC or MAC.

Hope this is of help. Good luck with the baby.

jonnyboy73 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 02:45 PM

Ok,

so what would you recommend!!!!

Thanks for the help

Jon

Alan Mills · #4 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 03:46 PM

I haven't bought a new camera for a couple of years so not up to speed on what's good at the minute.

The point I want to make though is that 'family' level camcorders will likely have a lot of features that you just shouldn't use and to get a miniDV camera rather than HDD or DVD if you want to edit.

After that, it's all good so it's mostly down to personal choice. Do you want widescreen?, manual controls? socket for external microphone? etc etc

Oh, one more thing. They tend to come with USB leads and disks of s/w. Don't use either. Make sure you connect a miniDV camcorder to a PC or MAC using a firewire lead which you may have to buy seperately. If you don't have a firewire port on your PC then get one. If you ever connect a miniDV camcorder to a PC via a USB lead to transfer video then you're already doing it wrong.