I just bought a Sony - Handycam Camcorder DCR-SR40. It was sort of spur of the moment thing, I got it from best buy for $525. So, what's the word on it? Pretty good camera? Is is pretty easy to transfer the video from camcorder to HDD ? Approx how long does it take to transfer video to HDD, say if you recorded 1 hour ?
Read this and decide for yourself: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Sony-DCR-SR40-Camcorder-Review.htm Transfer to your PC is very easy and very fast. You should be able to transfer one hour within a minute. But once you have the video on your PC and you wnat to edit it, you will find out the disadvantage of a hard drive camcorder. Many video editing prorgams are not ablt to work with MPEG video and you will have to convert to AVI formats.
I use this camera for the most basic of basics -- attach it to a tripod with a big infrared spotlight and leave it running in Nightshot mode outside kiwi burrows (nocturnal bird in NZ) to record behaviour for research. I've had to make a plastic box to cover it with in case it rains, but it's great as long as you're not trying to do anything fancy. I only have two problems -- no viewfinder (I don't always like to use the LCD screen), and the hard disk once ate some data up out of the middle of a sequence of film: the middle of the file just disappeared. Still haven't figured out what happened! Haven't found anyone else it's happened to either, so prob not a common fault with the camera.
recorded my first video a few days ago. imported about 1.5 GB of video in just 1-2 mins via USB. fired up windows movie maker - and got stopped dead in my tracks - it wouldn't accept the video format...sooo, I had to rely on using imagemixer software that came with the camcorder...which I don't necessarily like too much. I have 10 days left to return this camera. I'm going to do 2-3 more 1 hour recordings to test quality and also to find another software that can let me edit the video the way I like...if I don't find it..I may end up returning it for a regular tape camcorder.
As I wrote: editing MPEG material is a problem. If you are planning to do a whole lote of editing (more than just cut and paste scenes) I would reommennd to seriously consider to go to miniDV.
What's the difference in video Quality between my HDD camcorder and a miniDV (tape?) camcorder? Also, they now have the miniDVD camcorders. Are they all about the same in terms of picture quality?
DVD and HDD both use MPEG compression, so basically the quality is the same. Nevertheless, different models may offer different settings and therefor the quality can differ. MiniDV all use DV compression. This is a lower compression level and offers therefor better quality. Because DV is an agreed standard with a fixed compression ratio, there is no differnece between one miniDV camcorder and the other in terms of quality level determined by the compression. (Of coures factors like optics, the CCD and other camcorder specifics do result in different video quality).
I have a MiniDV camera and an HDD camera. I got the miniDV one first and wanted to order a second from the same supplier only to be told Sony is no longer manufacturing them - only making HDD and DVD now. I talked to three different suppliers who all told me the same thing, but I'm still finding it hard to believe. Does anyone know anything about this? I prefer the MiniDV one- it's more reliable in my experience and the tapes are an immediate back-up: if you have your film on the tape, your computer hard-disk and a DVD you need three points of failure before you can lose your footage.
Sony no longer manufacturing minDV camcorders? Ridiculous...this is simply not true. Your suppliers are apparently unreliable sources of information. At the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show held in January this year Sony launched several new miniDV models. Give your suppliers this URL: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/newsitems/sony_dcr-hc27_37_45_47news.html And by the way: a very good backup strategy. That is exactly what I am doing. And tape is actually the most reliable one of these three...
I got this around Christmas and I love it. The only thing I don't like is the lack of the accessory mount on top, built in lenses cover, and its not great with low light situations. Its manageable for low light, but its defiantly not the best. Night shot is nice, only its expensive to find a infrared spot light, and my attempts at making one where stifled by the lack of good parabolic lenses on the market. Transfers quick, great size for the way I use it, great sound pick up, and great video. Wish it had a high speed mode, but I doubt I'll find that on any digital camcorder. Also wish it had that accessory port. Other than that, I love it. As far as editing, I use premier pro... and it works great. I just need to go get that bigger battery.
I use this one: http://www.batmanagement.com/Ordering/irlight/irlight.html I carry a sealed 12V battery in my backpack to power it - it's a little bit heavy but not too bad (about 5- 7 kilos). But I guess it's really about what you want to use your nightshot for - I use it to get research footage of nocturnal wildlife for my job. You may not need to be so hardcore! The lack of a hotshoe on this camera is a real pain because you cannot just attach Sony's little IR lamp on top.
I'm going to try to make the "unique" spotlight work... 12v 36 led array + 10dollar spot light... I think I need to sad down the tips of the leds so that they get more focused by the parabolic dish... step 2 is to get a new dish that I didn't mangle while enlarging the hole... but for now it works. I don't do anything nearly productive enough with it to justify more than 50 dollars... but I'll check those out if I ever need one, looked like a great IR spotlight
