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04-17-2004, 09:30 PM
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#1 of 33 
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Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Local Time: 09:14 PM
Local Date: 10-11-2008
Posts: 185
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Anyone Own a Mini-DV Video Camera? How Do You Like It?
I have the 8mm tape video camera. It's good, but it's fairly heavy and the bag that holds it is quite big. And considering they make them much smaller, I'd like to get a Mini-DV video camera. What do people think of them?
Could you also please state the manufactuer (Sony, Panasonic, etc) model #, and around how much it cost you? Thanks guys. I'm trying to find a pretty good one before my trip to Florida.
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04-17-2004, 11:48 PM
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#2 of 33
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Member
Location: Charlotte, NC
Join Date: Dec 2003
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Local Date: 10-11-2008
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I do not personally own one, but I've sold them, my roommate owns one that I've used frequently and I recently borrowed my sister's.
My roommates is a cannon that is incredible, but it costs a lot more than you're probably looking to spend (around $2500) and it's likely bigger than your 8mm camera.
My sister recently bought a Sony DCR-HC20. I was extremely impressed with this camera. It cost around $450 I believe. It's probably about the size of the case for one of your 8mm tapes. Well maybe a little bigger, but not much. I didn't use it a whole lot, but I had no complaints for the time I had it. I think it's a great entry level MiniDV. Sony makes several models higher if you wanted a few more features.
My experience in selling tells me not to go with Panasonic. Now it's been awhile, so things may have changed, but I didn't like the Panny's we sold at all. And I'm honestly a Panasonic guy. I own a tv and dvd player made by Panasonic and am very happy, but I would go with Sony for a camcorder.
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04-17-2004, 11:57 PM
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#3 of 33
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Join Date: Jul 2002
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Thanks. Curious though, why not Panasonic?
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04-18-2004, 12:27 AM
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#4 of 33
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2002
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I bought a Digital8 camera a few years ago over a Mini-DV. Size didn't matter to me and the tapes are cheaper. However, Digital8 has kinda gone away since then.
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04-18-2004, 01:01 AM
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#5 of 33
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Local Time: 02:14 PM
Local Date: 10-11-2008
Posts: 1,377
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I've got a Sony TRV33 and I love it. Got it from B & H (bhphotovideo.com) and couldn't be happier.
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04-18-2004, 01:27 AM
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#6 of 33
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Member
Location: Northern VA
Join Date: Mar 2000
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Local Date: 10-11-2008
Posts: 4,826
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If you wanna do any type of amateur work, even just for fun make sure you buy one with a Mic input jack. I love my JVC but during interviews I did the audio didn't come in well at all.
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04-18-2004, 07:25 AM
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#7 of 33
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Member
Join Date: Nov 1999
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Love my Panasonc GS-70 and bought it from One Call for right around $630 after rebates. The Gs-70 is 3 CCD.
\"The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.\" Muhammed Ali, (Cassius Clay)
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04-18-2004, 08:48 AM
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#8 of 33
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Member
Location: Charlotte, NC
Join Date: Dec 2003
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Quote:
| Thanks. Curious though, why not Panasonic? |
Well, as I said in my earlier post, things may have changed in the past couple years. When I sold them I thought they felt cheaply made. They also had more squared off edges which made it sort of awkward to hold. Additionally, they ran a LOT of SPIFF's (a salesperson incentive where the company pays the salesperson X dollars in addition to commission for each product sold -- this was up to $50 in some cases). While every company runs SPIFFS, I was always concerned about those who constantly ran them on certain products. Panasonic may be perfectly fine though, but if you go in a store and a salesperson starts pushing the Panasonic really hard I'd be a little suspicious.
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04-18-2004, 11:14 AM
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#9 of 33
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I'll second Lelia's reccommendation for B&H Photo-Video. I bought a Panasonic AG-EZ 50 from them last spring for $1200. I have no complaints about performance or features. This is a 3-CCD cam; entry level for the "pro-sumer" line. The lens is not interchangeable, but it is a high quality Leica. 10x optical zoom, and some outrageous digital zoom, which I disable.
The image is astounding, compared to my old Hi8 cam. Everything is razor sharp, too. If I could add anything to the cam, I would like progressive scan and a 16:9 compression lens. (The latter I could probably do if I wanted to spend the extra money.) But for the price, I really have no complaints.
I had already been using Adobe Premiere for editing video captured from analog with the Pinnacle DV-500+. This setup also included DV capture tools, which make transferring DV video a very simple task. Everything is cut and paste, effects and transitions are not difficult, and you can output your whole project to DVD-R.
If you go the DV route, I hear different things about being able to use a DV cam as a "bridge" to get your old analog tapes into the computer. Since I already had a good analog capture, this didn't concern me. I don't remember which ones were good at this and which ones weren't, but most cams do have analog inputs, so you could at least record your 8mm tapes to DV and then capture and edit them.
All around, I say that moving to DV is a good choice.
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04-19-2004, 08:28 AM
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#10 of 33
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Member
Location: Michigan
Join Date: Dec 1998
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Posts: 9,660
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I own a Sony TRV22 (the next step down from Lelia's TRV33). It's a great camcorder. This was an upgrade from a Sony Hi8mm camcorder, and the picture quality is a big improvement. I was never very happy with the color saturation of the Hi8mm. The TRV22 has a Carl Zeiss lens, and does really well in low light conditions. It's very compact/light.
I have recently been dubbing my 8mm, Hi8mm and MiniDV tapes to DVD-R. Watching the different formats back-to-back, I can really appreciate the differences in quality between the formats.
I will also recommend B&H Photo. While I did not purchase the above camcorder there, I have purchased other equipment from them. They have a wide selection of photo equipment, competitive prices and are very reliable.
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