MiniDV Camcorder : Sony vs Canon

[SingSing]

I would like to get some idea about these two make of Digital Camcorder.

How is the picture compared ?
What are rthe short coming on certain models ?
How long is the transfer take ?

Are their software win98 or win2k compatible,
and are they any good ?

[WMCollins]

Videomaker (www.videomaker.com) has an excellent article on video cameras in its current issue. This article may answer your first two questions.

Transfer (capture?) time is second for second.

[jtor]

...what models are you looking at (from both sony and canon)?

I was in the same boat recently, when I decided to shelf my old Hi8 (sony) camcorder, in favor of miniDV.

It'll be tough, as the models I compared had their pros and cons...bottomline, it'll depend on what you need (and what you want to do).

[Tommy]

It all depends on what you want. Besides which camcorders are you looking at? Both canon and sony have high and low ends. I also looked at sony, canon, and panasonic. At the end it was either a panasonic or sony. I like canon, I have a canon hi-8 but for dv they just didn't cut it. I ended up with the sony, cause if the camera's easy to transport i'll use it more.

Well anyway....follow the link. Its not very organized but it has several reviews and prices. If your going to mail order the thing, read the reviews about the merchants.

http://www.ecoustics.com/Home/Home_Video/Camcorders/Camcorder_Reviews/

[David4Real]

don't count Cannon out on minidv..I used my uncle's last weekend..he has the lowend z"something-yada"20...I know it's the low cause the next 2 are 25 & 30 is the one they always advertise...I hooked it up to Premiere 6.0 & it recognized the camera pretty fast...and the video quality seemed rather sharp..(I do like sony's model slightly better) YET..you get more for your buck(umm..sorry..currency) with Cannon for a moderate price than the more expensive sony models.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: David4Real on 2001-10-16 15:18:28 ]</font>

[SingSing]

I am tired of video capture my home video, and
the color/sharpness loss caused by cature.

I was then attracted to mpeg videocam ( sharp and hitachi)
but they are expensive and lack of picture quality.

I used a panasonic DV for a few days, but the picture is
not that sharp.

I was thinking about a canon ZR30mc ( list for for $610 ).
Sony has many model and I would like to find a model with
go optics and just 2.5" LCD ( cut down power drain )...

But these dv still need to download AVI then MPEG conversion.

[Tommy]

Hmmm Yes, you would have to convert to mpeg if that is what you want your end product to be. I wouldn't buy any of the camcorders that record directly to mpeg as they seem to suck (or so say the reviews). The upper end sonys come with good optics, Carl Zeiss lenses to be specific. However most minidv camera that i've seen come with pretty good optics.

Good luck

[jtor]

[quote]
...But these dv still need to download AVI then MPEG conversion.

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but quality is better if you do AVI->MPEG. And besides, it's a whole lot easier dealing with DV AVIs, as compared to the old analog capture...like night and day!!!
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[SingSing]

No matter which camcorder I get.
I need to use software to download the dv files.

I saw quite a few posting that some firewire card/software
down laod the dv as quicktime, and there are problem.

What iEE1394 card and sofware is sony and canon used or recommending ?

[jtor]

[quote]
What iEE1394 card and sofware is sony and canon used or recommending ?

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You can start looking at:

http://www.firewire-1394.com

Some of them might have a link to camcorder compatibility, so you might want to check that out first, and see if there's a known problem for the card and camcorder combination.

Also check videoguys, and/or pcvideomaker to see if there are reviews available.

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[SingSing]

Went down to Bestuy on Friday.
The Canon has a great video quality and
much easier to handle than the Sony.

End of Serach.