Camcorder help

Willow

With the birth of our first child coming up, my wife and I are looking in to getting a camera. What should I be looking for? I know nothing about them, we'd be looking at about 500$ give or take....... Built in HD? Flash card? I don't want one with built in GPS type just a decent one that will last and make good home movies.

Thanks in advance.

TNRabbit

Sony has some GREAT HD hard drive models.

mystik610

My canon T2i has replaced my sony HD camcorder for video.

SLR's are growing in popularity for their video capability (ie they shot an episode of House and parts of Iron Man 2 on a Canon 5D). They're a little trickier to use, but the quality is great once you get a hang of the exposure controls.

Willow

I'm not that interested in getting an SLR for that purpose, it would probably end up over the 500$ range.

cokewithvanilla

mystik610 wrote: »

My canon T2i has replaced my sony HD camcorder for video.

SLR's are growing in popularity for their video capability (ie they shot an episode of House and parts of Iron Man 2 on a Canon 5D). They're a little trickier to use, but the quality is great once you get a hang of the exposure controls.

I have been considering updating my SLR with one that records video. What are the difficulties of video with an slr? I heard something about not being able to auto focus while recording on some canon models... this was a while ago, I could be wrong.

How about recording in dim light? My biggest issue with SLRs is that getting a fast lens is really expensive. Many point and shoot cameras have f1.2 lenses (or close), and handle low light situations well. Although the lenses aren't the same quality, it does save the noise of a high ISO.

mystik610

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

I have been considering updating my SLR with one that records video. What are the difficulties of video with an slr? I heard something about not being able to auto focus while recording on some canon models... this was a while ago, I could be wrong.

How about recording in dim light? My biggest issue with SLRs is that getting a fast lens is really expensive. Many point and shoot cameras have f1.2 lenses (or close), and handle low light situations well. Although the lenses aren't the same quality, it does save the noise of a high ISO.

On my T2i I'd say the primary difficulty is the lack of reliable auto-focus, which isn't that big of a deal if you're a regular SLR user and are comfortable with a focus ring. The lack of a pop-out LCD screen, and the weight of the camera when shooting for extended periods can also be difficult...particularly if you're shooting with a heavy lens that shifts the camera's center of gravity forward.

Low light performance on the T2i varies by lens (obviously), but generally the T2i has better low light performance than my camcorder. I've got a 50mm 1.8 that I use for video (<$100) pretty often, and it handles low light situations very well. A low aperture lens goes a long way, but just like shooting stills, aperture is only one piece of the equation....I'd imagine f1.8 at ISO800 on an SLR's image sensor would perform a lot better than f1.2 at ISO800 on a smaller point and shoot's image sensor.

A buddy of mine sent this to me the other day...shot on the new T3i:

http://vimeo.com/19793031

mystik610

Willow wrote: »

I'm not that interested in getting an SLR for that purpose, it would probably end up over the 500$ range.

I'm sure if you hunt, you'll be able to find the T1i or even the T2i around that price. Cameras are like receivers....an incrementally upgraded model is released each year...and each year the outgoing models are heavily discounted.

Willow

We are looking at the Canon Vixia HF M30. We are able to get 220$ off as it is last year's model. From what I have read the only big downfall is the batt. life is short. (I will buy an extended batt. off Ebay). Anyone have any feedback on this one? online reviews are very good...