Steve'sDigicams

benfitz · Oct 25, 2005, 5:42 AM

Hello,

I'm looking for a camera for a pretty specific purpose: recording people's skiing, so that i can can show them immediately how they look. Traditionally we've used digital video cameras, which are much more cumbersome and expensive!

The major requirements are:

High qualityvideo recording [/*]
being able to zoom (optically) whilst filming - i've used some decent cameras that only allow a digital zoom whilst filming. [/*]
An optical viewfinder for when it's too glarey [/*]
A large LCD display, preferable >2.5"[/*]

Can anyone suggest any cameras that might meet these criteria?

Regards,

Ben.

VAtechtigger · Oct 25, 2005, 8:45 AM

panasonic FZ30
Fuji 5200
Sanyo C5
Casio z750

The top three are not opticcal viewfinder models. The casio i think does have optical. There are not many that meet all your requirements, but this list is not comprehensive. These all cost near what a MiniDV video cam will cost though. and the top 2 are not much samller if any than my MiniDV camera (plus they have 25x optical zoom and longer record times) You will have to make a trade off.

Caelum · Oct 25, 2005, 10:15 AM

I think ina couple ofyears most digicams will offer solid state highly compressed high quality video utilizingH.264/MPEG-4 AVC(also see Apple's blurb). Today, there are still tradeoffs to make, it seems that the Sanyo C5/6 models might offer the best size/performance ratio, but that's because it's so small

.

kr5 · Oct 25, 2005, 1:14 PM

Kodak's EasyShare V550 meets all of your requirements, including 640x480 VGA video at 30 frames per second, with MPEG-4 compression (at least 1/2 hour of video on a 1 GB SD card), optical zoom while filming (3x zoom), optical viewfinder, and 2.5 inch LCD display with 170 degree viewing angle. The shutter button should be usable with gloved hands. I own one and am satisfied with it so far.

The Casio EX-P505 Pro might also be a good choice for you, because it has a 5X optical zoom that you can use while filming, also uses 640x480 MPEG-4 (with even greater compression than the Kodak), and has nifty "Past shot" and "short video" video modes that can help capture a short scene like a series of linked ski turns. No optical viewfinder on the P505. I second the Casio EX-Z750 as another camera that meets all your requirements.

Oct 25, 2005, 5:42 AM	#1
benfitz Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 1	Hello, I'm looking for a camera for a pretty specific purpose: recording people's skiing, so that i can can show them immediately how they look. Traditionally we've used digital video cameras, which are much more cumbersome and expensive! The major requirements are: High qualityvideo recording [/] being able to zoom (optically) whilst filming - i've used some decent cameras that only allow a digital zoom whilst filming. [/] An optical viewfinder for when it's too glarey [/] A large LCD display, preferable >2.5"[/] Can anyone suggest any cameras that might meet these criteria? Regards, Ben.

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Oct 25, 2005, 8:45 AM	#2
VAtechtigger Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 570	panasonic FZ30 Fuji 5200 Sanyo C5 Casio z750 The top three are not opticcal viewfinder models. The casio i think does have optical. There are not many that meet all your requirements, but this list is not comprehensive. These all cost near what a MiniDV video cam will cost though. and the top 2 are not much samller if any than my MiniDV camera (plus they have 25x optical zoom and longer record times) You will have to make a trade off.

Oct 25, 2005, 10:15 AM	#3
Caelum Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,030	I think ina couple ofyears most digicams will offer solid state highly compressed high quality video utilizingH.264/MPEG-4 AVC(also see Apple's blurb). Today, there are still tradeoffs to make, it seems that the Sanyo C5/6 models might offer the best size/performance ratio, but that's because it's so small .

Oct 25, 2005, 1:14 PM	#4
kr5 Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 9	Kodak's EasyShare V550 meets all of your requirements, including 640x480 VGA video at 30 frames per second, with MPEG-4 compression (at least 1/2 hour of video on a 1 GB SD card), optical zoom while filming (3x zoom), optical viewfinder, and 2.5 inch LCD display with 170 degree viewing angle. The shutter button should be usable with gloved hands. I own one and am satisfied with it so far. The Casio EX-P505 Pro might also be a good choice for you, because it has a 5X optical zoom that you can use while filming, also uses 640x480 MPEG-4 (with even greater compression than the Kodak), and has nifty "Past shot" and "short video" video modes that can help capture a short scene like a series of linked ski turns. No optical viewfinder on the P505. I second the Casio EX-Z750 as another camera that meets all your requirements.