Back in 2005, I bought a top of line consumer grade 3CCD Panasonic Mini DV camera - PV-GS65. I used it for college film classes and shot a few projects with it back then. I used it to capture and edit on the old Powermac G5's in college at the time. Now it just sits and never gets any use. I can't even remember the last time I used it. I have since upgraded to a HDC-SD600K camcorder, which I would use before the old Standard def Mini DV anyway. I really want to sell the Mini DV but the only thing that stops me is the possible need of playing or capturing footage from an old tape. I can't imagine ever needing to, but still. Also, I don't have many tapes either. I would say maybe 5 tops. I guess I could transfer the tapes to DVD then maybe get rid of it all. What would you guys do? I noticed this particular camera still goes for around $100-$150 used on eBay. Mine is complete and hardly used.
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Any reason to Keep an old Mini DV Camera or Tapes?
- Thread starter SteelBlueTJ
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I'd transfer the tapes to a HDD (if the footage really is worth keeping) and sell the camera.
If you had a lot of tapes full of precious family memories, than I'd say you should hang on to the camera and the tapes as a back up. But since you only have five tapes, which sound like they only hold some college projects, why bother keeping it?
If you had a lot of tapes full of precious family memories, than I'd say you should hang on to the camera and the tapes as a back up. But since you only have five tapes, which sound like they only hold some college projects, why bother keeping it?
While you may not have a lot of MiniDV tapes yourself, a lot of people do. Years from now, there might be some value in having an old DV cam that can be used to transfer old tapes. You may laugh, but I kept an old Beta VCR from back in the day. Pretty hard to find one these days, but the tapes are still out there sitting in boxes in someone's closet. Point is, the deck itself has no value, but I've had a few clients with old Beta tapes that needed transferring.
There's gold in them there hills! I'd hang on to it...
There's gold in them there hills! I'd hang on to it...
Agreed, if you don't see a need and you have to get rid of it to save storage space, then digitize your tapes and be done with it all.
But if you're not in a storage jam, it may be worth it in the future. Maybe it'll come in handy for other projects. Attach the cable to a computer and use it as a high-quality webcam or record time-lapse video perhaps?
But if you're not in a storage jam, it may be worth it in the future. Maybe it'll come in handy for other projects. Attach the cable to a computer and use it as a high-quality webcam or record time-lapse video perhaps?
What I would do is transfer the tapes to other media and sell the camera before it looses any more value.
I'd actually like to have a good Mini DV. I have an underwater video housing used for scuba diving that takes iLink controlled video cameras. They are getting hard to find. Sorry I don't have $100 to buy yours (quit job to return to grad school) but I'm sure there are others who have some use for a mini DV.
People are all for HD now but there are uses for SD, like for example I'm making an iBook and need a short clip. The clip will play inside a 2 inch window.
The other use I might put a DV cam to is experiments with computer (robot) vision. DV camera are so easy to interface with a computer via firewire. Lots of people are doing this kind of work and using really poor cameras and I suspect some of their problems are because or cheap cameras.
DV cams also make nice webcams for conference calls. So you should find a buyer if your price is right.
I just checked. Amazon.com will give you a $66 gift card for it, they are buying your model camera.
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Hire it out? Anyone can buy one of these for $100, use it and resell it for nearly what they paid. The camera has no value on the rental market. The cost of shipping two ways pretty much kills the "hire it out" deal. The camera's market values is between $80 and $100.
I'd say copy the data into a computer, make a few archive copies, sell the camera and then if some day you get back into serious film making, you will be using a dSLR not a Mini DV.
Exactly...what is the space requirement for such a small device? Not enough to warrant putting yourself SOL or your friends SOL when you need to do a transfer...we haven't thrown away 35mm cameras and telecine machines yet so keep your miniDV camera XD