Lawrence

I'm thinking of buying a DV Video Cam.
Anyone have any good recomendations?

I'm debating on whether to buy the Sony DCR TRV480 for $516.

(It's got the best of old world and new world benefits)

Thoughts?

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Dr.G.

Dave, I have a CanonZR45, which does not have any photo abilitities, just video. It is very iMovie friendly and takes great video. I have a Canon S2 IS for still pics, a Canon 950 printer, so I like Canon products, and they like my Mac.

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nxnw

I think I have the same one, or amybe the next generation. I does take stills but the resolution is so poor they are not useful. Its a nice videocamera, though. i like it much more that its predecessor, a perpetually broken sony 8mm.

The current canon models are better and cheaper, as well. A nice feature mine has is that you can use it to digitize analog video directly into iMovie, which I will do one of these days with the 6 or 7 tapes I managed to make with the Sony.

Dr.G.

nxnw, yes, the current Canon's are cheaper and have more features. However, a year from now, those will be cheaper and have more features than the newest Canon's (or most anything else) today. Still, it does what I want it to do and it does it well. I don't look for all the "bells and whistles", just something that works well.

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Lawrence

Yes...Relativity is a kicker...in't it.
What I really liked about the Sony is the "Nightshot" with infrared feature and the "Steadycam"
I'm not sure about the Canon cameras.

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ArtistSeries

The Sony uses Digital 8 tapes. You'll find that minDV is the format of choice. Unless you have Hi8/8mm you may want to look at that format.

Nightshot is interesting in theory but have a look at the actual output.

Lawrence

I didn't even think about it, I did like the cost factor of the old to new world factor though.
It'll still connect to my Mac...So the media isn't that important...Is it?

I like the idea of shooting to a Media card if I want to too.

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Dr.G.

Dave, I am able to take pictures of the doxies when they are sleeping, with only a 40 watt bulb to illuminate the room.

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Dr.G.
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"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read these books." Mark Twain

ArtistSeries

Sony is the only manufactures selling Digital 8 cameras and they have reduced the models that support it. miniDV is the standard.

I'm not saying that Digital8 is a better format than miniDV (or vice-versa). Legacy playback is a good feature.

CN

The Canon ZR100 and ZR200 have some great features, and the video on them is quite nice (MiniDV, only 1CCD, but 3CCD is out of your price range). I wouldn't advise buying a used MiniDV cam as there are many things that can go wrong with them (heads clogging, tape mechanisms breaking etc.) and an extended service plan (like those offered by Futureshop) might actually be very useful (repairs are expensive on those babies ) The ZR100 occasionally goes on sale for $499 at Futureshop but you might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere (by buying online perhaps).

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