What are your thoughts on Digital Camcorders with still shot

[Ryan22]

I'm in the process of planning my honeymoon, and my fiance and I have decided that we would like to buy a camcorder to take with us. The problem is I'm not really sure what I should be looking for. Do the digital Camcorders with a still shot function take quality still photos? I'm not looking to become a professional photographer, but I would like to have decent quality shots. This is the camera I've been concidering:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...tID=vfwKC0.N6yQAAAD0HDMllbTI&ContentItemPage=

Any thoughts or comments? I'm really new at this so no comments will be too basic. I picked the sony basically because my computer, TV and DVD player are all Sony, I figured it would be easyiest to stick with the same brand.

Thanks in advance,

 

[liquid]

Ryan,

Are you specifically looking for miniDV format or are you OK with one as long as it's a digital camcorder? My wife and I just recently picked up a Sony DCRTRV350 Digital8 Handycam® Camcorder. Sony lists it for $499 on both their website and Amazon.com:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSH ... D0ib4llbTD

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... o&n=502394

This camcorder will take digital stills but only to 640x480 which pretty much sucks for any real detail. Personally, I've yet to see a camcorder that will take pictures as good as a good quality digital camera, but they are getting better. It looks like the one you've chosen does take larger shots (something like 1100x800?) but it only comes with an 8 MB memory stick. If you get that camcorder, definitely get a bigger memory stick. It always torques me off that manufacturers bundle insufficient memory stick/compact flash card memory with their products. The digital8's are a little bulkier than the miniDV's, but with the price differential, you could get a less expensive digital camcorder and digital camera for the same price.

I guess the first couple questions to ask are: what do you plan to do with it? Does it's size matter? Do you want digital or analog? What kinds of features are you looking for?

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

I have a Sony DCR-TRV520. It's a great video camera. As a digital camera, it's ok, but if you're looking for nice crisp images you will be dissapointed. I have found that capturing still images from tape works better than just taking a still picture. Here's a sample that I captured off tape and then tweaked it with Corel PhotoPaint8.

Regards

 

[Ryan22]

Hey guys,
Thanks for the responces. I started looking at the MiniDV basically becasue I assumed that it would shoot better quality video and still shots. I have a DVD burner on my computer which also was part of the decision, I figured that the MiniDV would be better quality once burned. I could be wrong, I need an education about this stuff. To be honest I don't even know what questions I should be asking. My fiance has a really nice Nikon camera but it's not digital. I just want to be able to post some pics of my tank and e-mail pictures of vacations to my family, maybe print a few for a photo ablum or something. What is the real difference between digital 8 and MiniDV? If it's just the size of the camera, I'll save the money and go with the digital 8. Do you guys know of any web sites with some basic information that I could read? That would probably be very helpfull to me.

thanks again,

 

[liquid]

IIRC, the only real difference between miniDV and Digital8 was the size of the camera. I think you also were able to acheive better optical zoom with the Digital8 vs the miniDV's. Digital zoom images suck, so you're better off ignoring the digital zoom and focusing on optical zoom capabilities. The higher the optical zoom number, the better your zoom shots will be. Also, both miniDV and Digital8 shoot digital so you'd be able to edit your video with any standard digital editing suite. IIRC, the cassettes required are less expensive for the D8 cameras because you can use analog Hi8 cassettes as they will accept digital information.

A couple of the websites I used when I researched my digital camcorder:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/
http://www.dvspot.com/
http://www.consumerdvreviews.com/
http://www.internetvideomag.com/Product ... eviews.htm

hth

Shane

 

[Ryan22]

Thanks Shane,
I'll check them out this afternoon. Is one megapixel a good sized still shot.

 

[Ryan22]

ok guys I took your advice, kind of anyway. here's what I desided on:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...y&ProductID=pgkKC0.NxYQAAAD0E_INJMQ3&Dept=dcc

and

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...y&ProductID=pgkKC0.NxYQAAAD0E_INJMQ3&Dept=dcc

It was a little more than I planned to spend, but I think I'll be much happier in the end. I read a bunch of reviews about the Digital 8 camcorders, and desided to go with the MiniDV. Apparently there are some problems with alignment if you have to have them repaired, there is a possiblity your old tapes won't play correctly. Also some issues with the sound transfer onto a PC. There were lots of people that seemed unsatified with them becasue of that. So what do you guys think? Did I do ok?

thanks,
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