ian/555

Having just looked at Digital camera's with the good one's being big money. I was thinking that maybe I should just get a Digital cam-corder instead for about the same amount as a decent Camera and so kill two birds at the same time.

Anyone got a good Digi Cam-corder that has the facility to do stills as well. What should I be looking for when viewing them and could anyone recommend a good (cheap) supplier.
Thanks for any advice

Rob B

Hi Ian,

I got a Panasonic last year - in the NV range - can't remember the exact model number but it was about £800. I have been exceptionally pleased with it - the sound and pictures clarity are superb. It has the ability to take stills which are also very good quality - I can send you an example of a digital picture of my car taken with it if you were interested in what resolution to expect.

Whatever you buy, as standard I'd expect at least 20X optical zoom and up to 100X digital zoom, image stabiliser, stereo recording, night view for low light recording. Depending how much you want to spend there are millions of other toys that you can get, but worth asking yourself if you'll need them and if its worth paying the extra. Mine hasn't got a separate multimedia card and this is something that would be useful instead of having to go through the tape to find the stills.

ChrisB

How much are you looking to spend Ian?

Cheers,

Chris.

Carl Harvey

Ian

I have a Sony DCR-PC100E which is a DV Camcorder and also takes stills.

The DV is great fun when you start editing onto a PC.

The stills are stored onto a memory stick and easily downloaded to a PC. The picture quality is adequate for use on your computer or website but a long way behind the top of the range digital cameras.

Mine has a resolution of 1 Megapixel compared to over 4 Megapixel for good digital cameras.

Shop around, I got mine for £350 less than in my local store.

ian/555

Thanks guys I am looking to spend about £700 on a digi cam-corder.
Do Sharp do one of there Viewcam thingys but digital as a large-ish screen to view the image would be nice.

Rob, please (not to big a file though) do mail me the pic, thanks

Being able to upload quickly via usb or memory stick thingie! would be a must.

Thinking now, maybe I should just stick to the throw away camera's!
Oooh my head hurts!

Rob B

Check your mail Ian to see my pride and joy

gregh

Ian,

Get a Firewire card makes getting stills + video onto the PC so much quicker and easy.

I've got a JVC DVL9000, sample stills + video from Adaptec firewire/SCSI card here:

Shaun

Ian,

Get the Pany DS15, its an awesome bit of kit for the money!

Also buy Studio DV....It's what Simon and myself use for the MPEG stuff that goes on here!!!!!

BAD NEWS: These digi-cams are pants for stills though....alright for web publishing,but sh1te if you want to print out up to A4 size!!!!!!!

Shaun.

ian/555

Looks like I will be going for the Panasonic NVDS15B for just under £690 from Comet as they have them in stock.

ian/555

Got my Cam-corder the other day and I also got DV Studio2 free with it as well!

Yet to try it out properly yet but so far so good.