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Thread: Camcorder recommendations?

  1. #1
    Native dave budd's Avatar
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    Camcorder recommendations?

    I've finallay submitted to the 21st century and have got myself on Facetwit, so now it's about time I got onto Youtube too. So far there are a couple of vids there that have been taken of me at shows by various people, but I would like to put some vids up myself

    So, me being a technical ludite. Can anybod suggest a camcorder that will be simple enough for a monkey like me to operate (and then process the footage!) for as close to the cheap end of £150? (needn't be new if somebody has something to sell on )

    Really don't know what I need to look for in a camera. Image stabilising will be a must as I'm planing to use it alot for filming forgework and the like, though I'll get a tripod

    Any advice and general pointers are very welcome!

    thanks folks



    Wasn't sure the best place to post this, so it's gone here :P
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  2. #2
    Samuel Hearne happybonzo's Avatar
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    The Argos clearance shop on Ebay might save you a bit of money. Mrs B. got a Samsung camcorder for £50 and it seems every bit as good as my very expensive Canon

    http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Argos-Outle...8016&f=0&_nkw=
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  3. #3
    Wanderer
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    Most of the cheap camcorders have no place to plug in a microphone, and that can limit how useful it is for youtube tutorial. Cheap ones also don’t deal with wind noise very well. A few have no internal memory so you have to buy a plug in card or drive. Most are lacking in even basic remote control. And nearly all suffer from hiss.
    Taking that into account you have to ask yourself is it worth spending maybe £50 more to get one that has a few more functions.

  4. #4
    NaturalBushcraft Founder Ashley Cawley's Avatar
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    I can recommend the JVC Everio range, I've bought & used them personally and at work.

    I'd go for something that's got a good quality picture (quite often you can actually search YouTube for example footage recorded on a model of camera your looking at, search for the model and word "test" on the end and people upload test footage so you can get an idea). You've also got to take into account that sometimes people can choose the wrong encoding setting when uploading to YouTube so if it looks absolutely pants it could be the persons fault, so checkout the specs also.

    I'd recommend a camera that records to an SD Card (as oppose a hard-drive that spins and is easily damaged). Large SD Cards are relatively cheap now but remember you'll probably have to buy one to go with your camera.

    Also as pointed out an external mic can make the difference between great videos and bad ones - most cheap cameras don't have a port to accept an external microphone, some do, you can pickup a cheap lapel mic for around £10-£15 which does a much better job than the one built into the camera (it stops problems from wind noise and other noises drowning out your speech).

    I also know my way round the editing software given out with JVC's cameras (PowerDirector).. if you did end up going that route I'd be able to give you a few pointers in the right direction as to the right settings to encode with for YouTube.
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  5. #5
    NaturalBushcraft Founder Ashley Cawley's Avatar
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    Yeah, you might want to look at spending £150-£200 overall if you can.

    Forgot to mention if you get a camera that doesn't have a port to accept an additional external microphone - that's not the end of the world as it is still posible to use a external mic (it's just more of a pain in the ass!)... I use a separate Digital Dictaphone, plug the lapel mic in there and record my audio separately (but at the same time) as I shoot my video, then I match up the separate audio stream with the video in the editing software - this can be a royal pain in the backside when you have multiple scenes and are cutting up the footage all the time because you have to match up the audio/video exactly - but it is my work-around for having a low-end camera with no mic port - and it works
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  6. #6
    NaturalBushcraft Founder Ashley Cawley's Avatar
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    Thumbs up

    Talking about videos!.. I just checked the video I did on you at the RV Dave and it's had nearly 20,000 views to date ...



    That's amazing considering the River Cottage Web Team did a short video on you and it's been on YouTube a couple of years longer and it's only had 555 views! lol.

    The power of NaturalBushcraft.co.uk When you start producing your own hopefully you'll share them on here, I can push traffic their way
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  7. #7
    Moderator & Poshcrafter™ Martin's Avatar
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    Have a look at the Flip camcorders. I did my Dartmoor Solo Videos on one and the quality is superb. True one handed operation and totally point and shoot. No controls except on/off and simple zoom.



    Martin
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  8. #8
    Native Realearner's Avatar
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    Interesting thread, I have been thinking about getting a small video camera so will be watching and reading developments, thanks Dave

  9. #9
    Samuel Hearne happybonzo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tadpole View Post
    Most of the cheap camcorders have no place to plug in a microphone, and that can limit how useful it is for youtube tutorial. Cheap ones also don’t deal with wind noise very well. A few have no internal memory so you have to buy a plug in card or drive. Most are lacking in even basic remote control. And nearly all suffer from hiss.
    Taking that into account you have to ask yourself is it worth spending maybe £50 more to get one that has a few more functions.
    I should maybe have qualified that better: For what Mrs B wanted the little c/corder is fine
    But as you rightly point out, if you want to present tutorials and the like then it is better to find that does have a decent remote control, the provision to take a clip mike and possibly even noise suppressing software built in
    You've mentioned getting a tripod; from my own experience I would say that this something spending money on as they tend to be more robust and will last better.
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  10. #10
    Native LandRoverMatt's Avatar
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    got a Panasonic HM-TA1, one of them cameras with the usb inserts that slides out. fairly good I around £100 and heres one of my videos using this camera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq_Dd8fnjy8
    bacon on the fire

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