http://www.camerastore.com.au/Canon+MVX20i-details.htm

??

I have no idea about these things, and there's all sorts of conflicting info on the net. This has MiniDV (Is that a good type of tape?) and it also takes SD memory cards (for stills and video)... And amazingly, you can buy a Sandisk 1GB SD Memory Card for $170.00! How much video could you fit in a gig?

I'm looking at about $1500 maximum.. It would be good if it could take decent stills as well. By decent I mean good enough for happy snaps... The one above does 1632 x 1224, which should be fine. However, I can't seem to find anything on video resolution? I'm assuming it's less?

Any constructive thoughts, opinions and links to useful websites are welcome.

that camera looks alright. look at camerastore.com.au for cameras, they are very cheap. you will find that the video is 720x576 PAL.

My mate just bought a sony for $1200 plus $150 cash back and it is really nice, tiny and does 1024x768 happy snaps. I like sony personally for video cameras but canon and panasonic are just as good.

Check out camerastore they might havea little more info.

Thanks dude. I tihnk I will go with the one above. I'll continue to shop around though, as I'm not buying till February.

Do you know which Sony your friend got? Why do you like Sony?

By the way, that link is from the camerastore.com.au ;)

hehe oops it is. i didn't loo kat the link. I only like sony because it is a personal preferance. no particular reason. When i was looking at cameras a while ago they have the most features in the price range.

but my friend bought Sony Handycam DCR-HC30G (Green)

And he got the green one ...hmmm

but it is a nice camera and has a $150 cash back offer on it.

Yeah, that was the one I was looking at initially, however the Canon seems to have a better quality still capture, and the video appears the same sort of deal. The toch screen LCD seems to be the only selling point, and I fear that breaking at some point in the future.

edit: Never mind...

last edited by Mantra at 17:08:25 29/Dec/04

yea the 2.2mp still is very attractive. the sony only takes crappy tiny pics.

That would change my mind over the sony as well. although the sony is tiny. no bigger than the palm of your hand.

not sure is size is an issue. personally again would not bother me having a camera 2cm larger for the better still pic.

don't forget there are other important features you need like night vision filter thingie, so you can video yourself whacking off in the dark.

i know someone with a canon and the night vision sucks balls.

Make sure you check that out before buying.

I wouldnt bother with taking video onto memory card, thats what the tapes are for. With MiniDV cams video is recorded onto the tapes digitally so if you have firewire you can just plug in and copy video straight from the tapes to your pc. You'd only use the card slot for still pics.

Yeah I noticed that. The quality of the video to card is only 15fps, so it would be lame. I have firewire on my laptop, so it's all good.

Mongie, I've read some reviews of the canon I'm looing at and they reckon the only shortcomings are the wind reduction for the sound (basically a gimmick that doesn't really do anything except make everything sound tinny). Apparently everything else is pretty nifty. It has an LED for night stuff, which I don't really understand. How on earth does an LED light help? It also has a flash for the stills, which I've noticed a lot of other cameras in this price range don't have. I think it can also double as a light for video, but I'm not entirely sure.

By the way, why is firewire better for video? I would think USB 2.0 is better supported and does the same thing?

I dont know if firewire is better just most cams seem to use it. I could be wrong but i'm guessing the LED for night stuff is an infrared LED. I think the way the night vision on these things work is it has an infrared LED that shines invisible light out the front of the camera and in night mode all it picks up is infrared light, so the infrared LED acts as a torch in night mode.

I noticed that if you press buttons on your tv remote control while the camera is in night mode you can see the light from that too like a little torch :) Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

firewire is better because it has its own processor on board. usq rely's on the cpu and what not to do all the processing therefore not guaranteeing 488Mbit where as firewire can almost guarantee 400Mbit (or 800Mbit depending on version).

I noticed that if you press buttons on your tv remote control while the camera is in night mode you can see the light from that too like a little torch :)

Ah, that makes sense. I'll check out the remote thing and let you know.. that would be cool! :)

Thanks Capto.. that makes sense.

Im still trying to sell a JVC GR-DVL 820, if anyone is interested