Friday, January 11, 2008

Camcorder Help!

We are looking into purchasing a camcorder in the next few weeks and have no clue where to start! Any advice on what to look for or what to steer clear of? Specific camera recommendations would be appreciated as well!

Thanks!

3 comments:

Wade said...

Hey A,

Since this is one of the few pregnancy related questions I can actually provide valuable, first hand input on, let me say . . . spend your money instead on a really good digital camera that can take videos.

The short answer to your question is that you can never go wrong with a Sony Handycam.

But having said that . . .

Although we have a Handycam, aside from video I took at the hospital when Tate was born (I took a ton of video when they placed Tate under the warmer just after he was born) and video of Tate's first birthday, literally all our videos have been taken using our digital camera (Sony Cyber-shot).

And the reasons are:

(1) The far majority of videos you'll be taking the first few years are short little 1-2 minute videos that are much easier to take with your digital camera instead of hauling out your camcorder (which by the time you power it up and find new tape, the moment you wanted to record will have already passed). It's just easier to use the video function on your super-nice digital camera that will more than likely be sitting right next to you anyway.

(2) Downloading and watching on your computer all the short little videos you'll be taking is much easier when they are taken with a digital camera. It has to do with how the video is stored on a digital camera vs. on a camcorder.

You'll definitely want a camcorder for those longer videos (hospital, parties, baby dedications, etc.) and any video with a lot of movement or taken from a distance but spend your money on getting a really good digital camera and a reasonably priced camcorder.

The videos of Tate in the ball pit and Tate screaming and Tate "dancing" were taken with our digital camera. Obviously we could have gotten better video quality with a camcorder but for these purposes the digital camera did just fine.

Sorry if I gave a long winded rambling answer to your question but stuff like this tend to bring out the nerdy pocket protector in me!

Shannon said...

I ditto everything Wade said. We use our digital camera sooooo much more than the video camera. We also have a Sony Cyber-shot and love it.

Audra Laney said...

Wow! Thanks for your comments Wade and Shannon. I never even thought about what you said, Wade, about not having time to grab the camcorder to "catch the moment." We just bought a new Kodak camera with videoing last summer. Now that I think of it, I've never even tried the video part out. Guess I should do that! Thanks for the input.

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