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Date Posted: 19:59:50 06/15/03 Sun
Author: Will
Subject: Camera
In reply to: Dave Gilson 's message, "okay..." on 04:04:32 06/15/03 Sun

Right, I've not long since bought a DV camera, so I can help you out a bit here. Obviously, it depends how much you want to spend, I'm guessing you want to go for the budget end of things. I got myself one of these from Amazon, and I've been extremely happy with it so far. Unfortunately, they don't make 'em any more, so you they're a bit tricky to find. (Mine cost just under £400, incidentally). So, there's a few things to consider when looking.

Basically, you need a PC with a Firewire port. Some more modern motherboards have them built in, modern Macs do to. If yours doesn't, you can pick up an internal card for about £20. There are USB2.0 models out there (I think) but DV / Firewire is the standard. The second thing to consider is whether the camera itself has DV in/out or just DV out. If it's out only, you can copy footage from your camera to your PC, but not vice versa. With in/out it works both ways. This might not seem all that important, but high quality video fills up space VERY quickly, and DV tapes are pretty cheap. So, if you get a DV in/out camera, you can film your stuff, edit it on your PC then dump it back to the camera for storage. This is also useful if you want to put your stuff onto VHS or watch it on a TV, as you don't need to faff about with a capture card in your PC. Plus, DV being digital, the transfer is lossless.

Unfortunately, DV in/out is quite a bit more expensive, due to stupid tax laws (I believe). I managed to get mine (the DS30) for the same price as the out only DS29.

Also, don't neccesarily go for the cheapest you can find. Cheaper makes tend to have much lower picture quality. There's a LOT of forums and stuff that'll tell you about this kinda thing in more detail.

I personally tend to not use any of the fancy special effects on the camera (I prefer to add stuff later on the PC) so I wouldn't worry too much about those. Also, digital zoom is more or less useless after about 20x, as the picture looks like you're filming through a sock and wobbles like a weeble. Really expensive models tend ot have no digital zoom.

Extras that are useful could be: an accessory shoe (for external mic, lights etc, although I don't miss not having one) and a memory card for still photos, although again I don't really miss that.

Finally, you also want to consider all the extra stuff you'll need on top of the camera. You'll definitely want a few tapes and a bag or case (I got my hard case from Jessops) and probably a firewire card and a spare battery as well. (The standard ones don't last that long). You might want a tripod, a microphone... It all depends what you want to do, and it adds up pretty quick.

If you want any more advice feel free to ask me, but I'm far from an expert! Also, I have some Firewire cables (that cost about £15 new) that you can have for cheap if you need one. Good luck!

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