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Mini DV Cams, this is what I need.

markjones05

markjones05

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 15, 2003
935
0
Brooklyn, NY
I don't know if this bothers anyone else or if it's just me, but it seems as though I can't find a mini dv cam that suits my needs. I am a film student so I dont really need or can afford a professional 3 ccd camera. But I dont want or need to pay the extra money for all the crap that comes along with a consumer mini dv cam. Like the digital camera stills with 2 megapixles. Why dont they take that crap off and up the ccds? I want a bare bones 2 ccd minimum (preferably 3) manual control camera with a good lense. Is there any camera that exists like this? I really think there shouldn't be such a huge gap from consumer to pro cams. They need a cam to bridge the gap in the amatuer category. Aspiring film makers unite and let me know what you think. If anyone knows of a camera that fits my needs or something similar please let me know.
 
I have sorta the oposite problem. I'm a still artist who dabbles with video. Why get a camcorder that has 2mp stills while I have a perfectly good 4mp at home. Out of what I know, most of it's limited anyway, the best camcorder for professionals is made by Cannon. Of course their camcorders run into 3ccd and are followed by an equal price (usually $2000-$4000). However, I found that Sony makes pretty decent consumer camcorders. However, they lack primarily in manual settings and usually support 1 or less ccd. Personally I have a Sony D8 from early 1999 which has served me well.
I found some links which may be of use to you.

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-abztv5KTkS0/ProdGroup.asp?g=53700

http://news.sel.sony.com/digitalimages/album?album_id=134245
 
Re: Mini DV Cams, this is what I need.

1. cameras only come in 1 and 3 CCD configuratins. No such thing as a 2 chip camera.

2. By manual control do you mean stuff like iris and white balance or like manual/mechanical lens controls (iris, zoom, focus, etc.,). Or do you mean both? If you are looking for manual controls but not a manual/mechanical lens that isn't too hard to find. But the cheapest camera w/a "real" lens is the Canon XL-1 (plus the cost of the manual lens).

3. The 3 chip panasonic will give better color and possibly better low-light shooting than a similarly<sp?> price 1 chip camera but the CCD's are so small that a comparible 1 chip camera, which probably have a 1/4" CCD, would yield a higher quality image.

I know things might have changed, but last summer I was looking to buy the best 1 chip camera and, IMO, it was the Canon Optura 100 MC (this model has sense been replaced by the 200MC).

Anyway, what is your budget? And if you are going to be a filmmaker you should pony up for something you'll be happy with (probably a low-end 3 chip camera). You might as well get in debt now 'cause that is how you are going to spend a good portion of your career. ;)


Lethal
 
Re: Re: Mini DV Cams, this is what I need.

Originally posted by LethalWolfe
1. cameras only come in 1 and 3 CCD configuratins. No such thing as a 2 chip camera.

2. By manual control do you mean stuff like iris and white balance or like manual/mechanical lens controls (iris, zoom, focus, etc.,). Or do you mean both? If you are looking for manual controls but not a manual/mechanical lens that isn't too hard to find. But the cheapest camera w/a "real" lens is the Canon XL-1 (plus the cost of the manual lens).

3. The 3 chip panasonic will give better color and possibly better low-light shooting than a similarly<sp?> price 1 chip camera but the CCD's are so small that a comparible 1 chip camera, which probably have a 1/4" CCD, would yield a higher quality image.

I know things might have changed, but last summer I was looking to buy the best 1 chip camera and, IMO, it was the Canon Optura 100 MC (this model has sense been replaced by the 200MC).

Anyway, what is your budget? And if you are going to be a filmmaker you should pony up for something you'll be happy with (probably a low-end 3 chip camera). You might as well get in debt now 'cause that is how you are going to spend a good portion of your career. ;)


Lethal
Click to expand...


Thanks for your advice Lethal. I wasn't sure about the 2 ccd cams I only know that ive seen cams now with like 1.5 cdds and im not sure weather im reading it wrong or what because I think that would kinda defeat the purpouse. Anyway i have thought about spending the extra money now, but then by the time I greaduate and actually get on my way there will probably, nay, definately be a better camera available for cheaper. So what I was really trying to find out was weather there was a barebones pro cam for cheap without all the extras. I guess not, so I think I am going to get a decent consumer product. One of sonys trv's has a carl ziess lense i think it's the 38. Or maybe the optura 200mc. Thanks for the help everybody.
 
Re: Re: Re: Mini DV Cams, this is what I need.

You probably saw a camera advertised w/a 1.5 megapixel CCD and just mis-read it as a 1.5 CCD. :)

Good luck w/the camera hunting and film making.


Lethal
 
more on this

LethalWolfe said:
You probably saw a camera advertised w/a 1.5 megapixel CCD and just mis-read it as a 1.5 CCD. :)

Good luck w/the camera hunting and film making.


Lethal
Click to expand...
Hey Lethal
I want to buy a mini dv I am totally new to it. I borrowed one but my MAC ibook said "firewire only" How can I use the mid range cameras with usb?
Bruce
 
brucelieb said:
Hey Lethal
I want to buy a mini dv I am totally new to it. I borrowed one but my MAC ibook said "firewire only" How can I use the mid range cameras with usb?
Bruce
Click to expand...
Why would you want to buy a camera that does not work with your computer? Why would you want to buy a camera that does not work with other video equipment?
 
brucelieb said:
I want to buy a mini dv I am totally new to it. I borrowed one but my MAC ibook said "firewire only" How can I use the mid range cameras with usb?
Click to expand...
DV camcorders connect to computers via fw. It's usually a mini port (4 pin), but cables (4 pin to 6 pin) are cheap if you don't have one. Most of them connect via USB as well, but that's just to transfer photos. There are some cheap cameras that use an MPEG compression that are USB only. These tend to be crappy. Don't use those.

I am in a similar boat. I've been looking for an upgrade to my old camcorder so I can do some "real" stuff, but nothing quite fits. The new prosumer Sony HD one is nice, but only 1 CCD and bottom loading tapes. Ugh. Has some other issues too. None of them seem to have very good battery life either. They all seem to want to make you buy the high end stuff to do anything good, and just cram in a bunch of stuff a videographer wouldn't care about into their high end consumer lines to make them look nice. Like multimegapixel cameras. Must haves for me are top loading tapes, microphone inputs, and hot shoes with some manual controls.

I've been looking at eBay, but B&HPhotoVideo are good for accessories and new stuff.
 
I bought the Panasonic PV-GS150, it's a 3 CCD miniDV camcorder. It has 2MP stills, although I have a 9MP Fujifilm digi cam for that. The picture quality is great, including lower light shots. I paid 530 for the camcorder, which is a lot cheaper than any other brands 3 CCD camcorder.
 
hcuar said:
I bought the Panasonic PV-GS150, it's a 3 CCD miniDV camcorder. It has 2MP stills, although I have a 9MP Fujifilm digi cam for that. The picture quality is great, including lower light shots. I paid 530 for the camcorder, which is a lot cheaper than any other brands 3 CCD camcorder.
Click to expand...
:eek: That's an awesome deal. Mine's a Sony one with Single CCD, that was worth about $1300AU(~$850US) when we got it <year ago. It's about 0.6 (or is it 0.3) MP. Oh well, it was only cos dad did upgrading at his work and the people he bought some things from gave him a freebie :cool:
 
markjones05 said:
Thanks for your advice Lethal. I wasn't sure about the 2 ccd cams I only know that ive seen cams now with like 1.5 cdds and im not sure weather im reading it wrong or what because I think that would kinda defeat the purpouse.
Click to expand...

1 CCD cameras use a single CCD chip to pick up all three colors (red, green and blue). 3 CCD cameras use one CCD for each color. That's why there is no such thing as a 2 CCD camera.
 
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