I'm considering getting a digital video camera to take with me when I get deployed with my Army Reserve unit... I have absolutely no experience with these devices, tho, so I am lookign for a little help on where to start looking... Here's a list of things that I would like to be able to do, and other factors...
- Small and lightweight. Needs to be pretty small, like about the size of my hand, so that I can fit it in my cargo pocket.
- Sturdy. Gotta be able to hold up to some real world use and abuse.
- Battery life. I'd like decent life on it. I don't know what is average for this type of device, but I would like to be able to carry it around all day in standby mode, and shoot up to an hour or 90 minutes of footage at various points durign the day.
- Image quality. Here is somewhere I am willing to comprimise. I would like to be able to shoot at better than VHS quality, but don't really need full professional DVD type image. Full frame-rates (30fps) are a must, but resolution can just be 'average' or even slightly less.
- Sound/Mic quality. I need to be able to pic up voices clearly from a decent range, and also shoot outdoors in mild wind without completely losing audio quality.
-Compatibilty. I want to be able to easily import and edit the video from it to a Mac and burn it onto a DVD/SVCD.
- Price. I would like to keep this down to a fairly modest budget. I don't have any problems with getting last generation gear, refubished, etc, in order save a buck. Since I am completely new to this field, I don't know what the dollar amount I should expect to be spending. Is it possible to get a decent camera that fits my desires for under $400?? (I'm guessing no, but again, I know nothing about this!)
Features I would like...
-Nighttime shooting. Either IR or some other sort of light amplification would be really cool/usefull, but not absolutely required.
- Zoom. Only needs to be modest. A few power optical and a little digital on top of that.
What I am going to do with it is basically shoot video of everyone in my unit during our deployment so that I can put together smallish (30minutes or so) 'unit video newsletters' that will be mailed home and copied/distributed to the families of the soldiers. I am also going to archive all the material for the 1+ year we will be gone, and edit it into a full blown DVD w/ menus, etc, for everyone when we get home.
Hope that this wasn't so long that people lose interest halfway through and can't help me!
Thanks in advance,
Rob
- Small and lightweight. Needs to be pretty small, like about the size of my hand, so that I can fit it in my cargo pocket.
- Sturdy. Gotta be able to hold up to some real world use and abuse.
- Battery life. I'd like decent life on it. I don't know what is average for this type of device, but I would like to be able to carry it around all day in standby mode, and shoot up to an hour or 90 minutes of footage at various points durign the day.
- Image quality. Here is somewhere I am willing to comprimise. I would like to be able to shoot at better than VHS quality, but don't really need full professional DVD type image. Full frame-rates (30fps) are a must, but resolution can just be 'average' or even slightly less.
- Sound/Mic quality. I need to be able to pic up voices clearly from a decent range, and also shoot outdoors in mild wind without completely losing audio quality.
-Compatibilty. I want to be able to easily import and edit the video from it to a Mac and burn it onto a DVD/SVCD.
- Price. I would like to keep this down to a fairly modest budget. I don't have any problems with getting last generation gear, refubished, etc, in order save a buck. Since I am completely new to this field, I don't know what the dollar amount I should expect to be spending. Is it possible to get a decent camera that fits my desires for under $400?? (I'm guessing no, but again, I know nothing about this!)
Features I would like...
-Nighttime shooting. Either IR or some other sort of light amplification would be really cool/usefull, but not absolutely required.
- Zoom. Only needs to be modest. A few power optical and a little digital on top of that.
What I am going to do with it is basically shoot video of everyone in my unit during our deployment so that I can put together smallish (30minutes or so) 'unit video newsletters' that will be mailed home and copied/distributed to the families of the soldiers. I am also going to archive all the material for the 1+ year we will be gone, and edit it into a full blown DVD w/ menus, etc, for everyone when we get home.
Hope that this wasn't so long that people lose interest halfway through and can't help me!
Thanks in advance,
Rob
