mrjman
Member
Ok... I'm going to buy my own equiptment over the summer and I wanted some suggestions on what I should do. I'm not sure which ones better but my options are Get a mini dv tape camcorder, Get a hard drive USB 2.0 camcorder, or get a miniDVD disc camcorder. Any suggestions on which one to shoot for just let me know.
by the way, I have a Windows XP with firewire and USB and I have the editing software Sony Vegas.
Bowman15
Member
I use a minDV camcorder and I am greatly pleased with it. I don't have an expensive camera. Mine cost around 400. I was looking at a hard disk camcorder but then found my Sony DCR-HC38 which is a miniDV camcorder with the same features as the hard disk camcorder but for much cheaper. It works great. I have no problem getting video on to sony vegas through a firewire. About the miniDVD. The little bit of research I did said that the video quality of a miniDVD was not quite as good as the miniDV. It also doesn't have nearly as much recording time. Please correct me if I am wrong. I love my miniDV camcorder though. It does exactly what I need. Plus it didn't cost an arm and leg. What I plan on videoing is pretty rough on camcorders. :)
I would definitely go with a 3CCD MiniDV camcorder. They can range in price from $300 to $6000. I have done several of my professional productions using a consumer MiniDV Camcorder as my b-roll camera, and sometimes as my main camera. Small 3CCD cameras like the Panasonic PV-GS300 can have beautiful image quality. The big thing you loose in a cheaper ($300-800) camera is professional audio inputs and controls. But if you're a beginner and still learning, then its great. Hope this helps.
Jeremy
