scg

I'm looking at treating myself to a MiniDV camcorder, for a bit of this and a bit of that, but primarily for sticking in the car to film a good old run in the country in the Scoobs.

Anyone recommend a good one for under £400? I've been thinking of Sony DCR-HC22E or 32E - anyone any experience of these. Also what type of equipment will I need to get a good stable picture and sound?

Any recommendations very welcome.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I'm on my second Sony, I only bought another to upgrade the technology

They are reliable, reasonably priced, easy to use, well specced etc.

Look for steadyshot as a MINIMUM, and super steadyshot if it's available. Also look for Info Lithium batteries.

I've also used Panasonic stuff and had no grouses.

Sorry, I can't comment on taking vids form a car, it's not something I've done, except for hand held stuff on holiday, through a gorge, or something.

Alcazar

pauly

iTrader: (1)

got a jvc gr d260 it's the 1 with the lights on the front for "special night time" filming its got an anti wobble thingy on it (note the technical phrases) its a piece of p!$$ to use and cost £340 so i got a memory card tapes a carry case(so i look a COMPLETE tw*t) and all the leads for £370
with £400 you can get down the pub mate

MBK

Hi SCG, I am using a Sony Handycam DCR-HC19E for exactly this purpose, I think they are about £280ish now. The picture quality is great in the sccob and the sound pick up also seems excellent. At DVD quality the picture is better than WRC in car footage. The sport mode helps to keep the image even steadier but if you are editing on a PC the image is about 1/3rd bigger so if hard drive space is an issue. Ooh and the remote comes in handy for starting and stoping filming. The battery lasts about 60 minutes with the screen open (good for making sure the image is still what you want!) or about 90 closed, more than enough for your average blast!! This camera also has the night time mode too, very useful....

I think the cameras you have mentioned are all USB streaming and firewire etc so playback and editing are easy. If you have Windows XP you don't need any other software for editing unless you are going to get advanced. Burning to DVD is also easy.

As for fixing in the car I have included a few images below on how I have done it with great results. I found the sucker type camera mounts kept falling off!! This is easy and only requires a standard tripod and some string (to prevent any uh hmm vertical movement) to fix. Heavy cameras tend to make the tripod unstable though (my previous JVC mini dv was taller and heavier and not so good for in car stuff).

Have fun filming - this place is good for hosting free videos...http://www.zippyvideos.com/

scg

Cheers MBK, I think it was the video that you stuck on recently that inspired me to invest in a camera!!! Thought I'd like a bit of that!! Nice to know you can get such good pictures with a pretty affordable camera, although it's a shame the cheaper Sony's don't have an external mic option.

When I've got a camera and some footage I'll have to share it with the world.