Which compatible HAndycam / camcorder format to go for in India ?

[Venky]

My wedding anniversary is approaching and I am planning to gift a camcorder to my ruly but I am confused as to which compatible format with handycam should I go for , in India.

My budget is 35K rupees at the most , but that does not means that I have to shell out all of it on this handycam .I am willing to shell it out provided I feel convinced that I will be getting my BEST value for money .

What I primarily want from my handycam is - Maximum Optical zoom ie nothing less than 20X ,USB Streaming for editing with a decent viewable picture.By that I mean I am not looking for state of the art video quality .Just want to use it for family vacations and occasions.

Also I am only interested in a Sony Handycam which I ONLY want to use for video and not for steady shots .

So that was what I want and here is what is confusing me -

What are the advantages that a Sony MiniDV format has over the Sony Digital 8 format ?

What are the things that can be done ONLY with a MiniDV that cant be done with a Digital 8 and also viceversa, when both the handycams have a USB streaming .

IS the picture quality of a Digital 8 handycam inferior to that of the MiniDV , provided both the D8 and miniDV have the same lenses and configurations .To me it seems that it's the same as on both these tapes the format for recording is Digital 8 only .

What is the maximum pixel resolution theoritically supported by both D8 and MiniDV ?

If a handycam has Gross 1.7MegaPixels and effective 1MegaPixel , what does that means ? WHat does this means Gross 540 K , Effective 400K.What do the rest do , sit and lay eggs or volunteer turn by turn , so that nobody gets tired or overworked.

Can a handycam really record beyond 350K pixels ? IS pixek count above 350K really usable for video recording , when what our TV supports is only 350K .

How much difference in performance ( video quality ) would be NOTICEABLE between a 12X and a 20 X Optical zoom handycamera.Would it be really significant or just unnis(19) - bees(20) kaa farak hoga ?





All I know is that MiniDV is smaller and compact and hence the size of the handycam is comparitively smaller.A little bit of bulky size is something I can easily do with .

With my limited knowledge , it seems to me that a Sony Digital 8 Camera suits my needs well and also comes for around 19k only . There is another one in D8 which is coming for 28k and the only additional feature it has is - Touch Panel Function w /Active Menu .

What I wanna know is that is a Touch Panel functionaliy really worth going for at the cost of ten thousand rupees , when the rest of the features are the same ?


Another front that confuses me is that these days everybody is going for miniDV , as it's considered to be the latest thing ( if we discard the dvd format) .Now the MIniDV model of the same configuration which is avaliable in my budget is costing around 30K.Now this MiniDv model has the same optical zoom ( 20 X) and the only difference is that it also has a Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar lens ( whatever the fuck that means) and it has slightly more pixel count at 800k/400k.

IS this increased pixel count , (in the miniDV model accompanied with a carl Zeiss Vario Tessar lens ) from 540k/350k to 800k/400k , really capable of giving astonishing results worth ten thousand rupees ?

I can afford this but the question that I am unable to answer is , whether a Carl Zeiss , a MiniDV , unusable pixelcount really worth it at roughly twice the price?I am saying unusable pixel count as I wont be using my handycam, for steadyshots ( have a far superior digital camera for that) and the video which we see on TV is just 350K , anything above that is useless for video shooting .

It surely must have been a pain going through this verbal Dast , but I was confused like hell while searching for the answers to the above queries that at last I had to unwillingly bombard you , once again .

I will be greatly thankful to you all if you can answer my queries and suggest me some sites for additional info or say FAQ's on handycams .

Regards

[echarcha]

It all boils down to what you really want or expect from a video camera?
Do you expect to do a lot of editing and create home movies? Do you want a big zoom or do you want ability to snap hig resolution still photos also with this camera?

I have a simple SONY camcorder with MiniDV format tape. At the time of buying we were looking for something functional with decent features and within a range of 300 to 400 dollars max. Price and simple features were our criteria.

You could buy a very expensive one with a host of features. I dont think we needed a camcorder which also had ability to take still phots at 4 megapixels. Our camcorder has a simple 1 or 2 megapixel still camera function. I dont know the advantage of Mini DV over Hi8 but it was the latest available then and we went with it. Cassette is also small and easy to carry. Picture quality is very very good.

I suggest you do some research and look at epinions.com also before buying such expensive equipment.

[Venky]

I have clearly listed what I want from my handycam , in my post above.

No I wont be doing any heavy editing with it , just a little bit that too for the heck of it .Picture quality shaandaar honi chaayeah with lots of optical zoom.

Also I have clearly mentioned above I wont be using it for stills as I have a far superior 8.1 Mega Pixel digital camera for the same.

My criteria is more or less like your only , just am confused ki jub 19 k may ek decent cheez mil rahee hai toh dus hazaar jyada phookne may koi sense bunti hai kyaa , just because it's latest .

Thanks for the site , will go through it now but I am very interested in getting my queries above answered for the sake of obtaining knowledge also .

[echarcha]

I have clearly listed what I want from my handycam , in my post above.

No I wont be doing any heavy editing with it , just a little bit that too for the heck of it .Picture quality shaandaar honi chaayeah with lots of optical zoom.

Also I have clearly mentioned above I wont be using it for stills as I have a far superior 8.1 Mega Pixel digital camera for the same.

My criteria is more or less like your only , just am confused ki jub 19 k may ek decent cheez mil rahee hai toh dus hazaar jyada phookne may koi sense bunti hai kyaa , just because it's latest .

Thanks for the site , will go through it now but I am very interested in getting my queries above answered for the sake of obtaining knowledge also .

Sir.. I know you posted your requirements. And again I will say that I am no expert in this area. I could not read your entire post as it was full of details which I do know much of. For me PRICE and decent enough features was the criteria. One thing I sort of know is that you might have to buy a separate zoom lens for the 20x optical zoom you wish for. I have usually seen 3x or 5x optical zooms on regular cameras. The price also goes up for more optical zoom.

I think others on the board who know more about this can help. My camera is about 2 years old and I really have not kept updated with latest cameras out there.

[Dynamite]

What are the advantages that a Sony MiniDV format has over the Sony Digital 8 format ?

--MiniDV is the industry standard where as Digital8 is properitery of Sony.

What are the things that can be done ONLY with a MiniDV that cant be done with a Digital 8 and also viceversa, when both the handycams have a USB streaming .

--Digital8 or MiniDV doesnot matter at all, MiniDV is easily available compared to Digital8 tapes.

IS the picture quality of a Digital 8 handycam inferior to that of the MiniDV , provided both the D8 and miniDV have the same lenses and configurations .To me it seems that it's the same as on both these tapes the format for recording is Digital 8 only .
--The picture quality is the same.

What is the maximum pixel resolution theoritically supported by both D8 and MiniDV ?

--It does not depend on the tape , rather it depends on the system type like NTSC or PAL, PAL has got more pixels.

How much difference in performance ( video quality ) would be NOTICEABLE between a 12X and a 20 X Optical zoom handycamera.Would it be really significant or just unnis(19) - bees(20) kaa farak hoga ?

In optical zoom, it will not matter because, the pixel size remains the same irrespective of the optical zoom.

[YedaAnna]

Mereko to handycam ka hee koi use hai ki nahi sure nahi hai. The last time I shot sthg with my cam was like a year ago :D I like stills better.

[echarcha]

Mereko to handycam ka hee koi use hai ki nahi sure nahi hai. The last time I shot sthg with my cam was like a year ago :D I like stills better.

Youa re right.. We used to capture many moments before in the camcorder, and now we hardly use it. Past tapes have not been viewed for ages now. This is exactly what happens just like your wedding video. Initially you watch it several times then you just dont get to it.

I prefer stills because they can be seen anytime without having to connect wires to your TV and all that. :)

[dirty]

I have a smsung Mini DV handycam. Bought it from costco for $400. Take it to INdia . Nahin pasand aaya to Costco will even take back your wife if they sold her :D.

[BadnaamGaandu]

Go here for reviews of all sorts:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

The forum is at this URL:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/

[brahmchari]

I had purchased a SONY DCR-TRV 340 2 years ago. It has 10x Digital and 25x OPTICAL ZOOM. Highly satisfied with this one. But would recommend a camera with Firewire port (if you need to connect to a pc).