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KLR600
World Chat Champion



Joined: 15 Mar 2005
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PostPosted: 20:47 - 21 Nov 2007    Post subject: Video cameras Reply with quote
Does anyone know if there is a "universal" measure for image quality for digital video cameras? Sort of like megapixels for digital cameras.

I just started working at Currys and being around all those electricals has made me want to empty my wallet Sad I've always fancied a decent video camera but I have no idea what makes a good camera. One of the sales people at work said that the higher the optical zoom the better the image quality but there's a camera in work for £160 that has a 34x optical zoom but £500 only buys you a camera that has 40x optical zoom so I'm totally confused by it all.

I'd be using it for mountainbiking a lot so I'd want a camera that won't ghost all the footage when you slow it down. A good low-light setting would be useful aswell as I'd like to try and make some music videos.
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Burnside
Spanner Monkey



Joined: 29 Sep 2007
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PostPosted: 21:04 - 21 Nov 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Check out Which and the Gadget show sites for camcorder reviews, although you need to subsribe to Which if you want to view their 'best buys' etc.

I've got the Sony DCR109e, its a cracking wee camera that takes 8cm dvds - picture quality & sound are very good Thumbs Up
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_Will_
World Chat Champion



Joined: 16 Jan 2006
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PostPosted: 21:46 - 21 Nov 2007    Post subject: Re: Video cameras Reply with quote
KLR600 wrote:
A good low-light setting would be useful aswell as I'd like to try and make some porn videos.


No need to sugarcoat it, we're not judgemental here Wink
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G
The Voice of Reason



Joined: 02 Feb 2002
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PostPosted: 20:42 - 28 Nov 2007    Post subject: Re: Video cameras Reply with quote
KLR600 wrote:
Does anyone know if there is a "universal" measure for image quality for digital video cameras? Sort of like megapixels for digital cameras

A rather late reply (had this window open for ages)...

First off, I can see how you got a job at Currys Razz.

Megapixels does not directly relate to quality. I've got a camera that claims 11mp, yet hasn't got a very good lens and takes a lot worse quality pics than my 3mp one set to a <1mp resolution.

The imaging device (CCD/CMOS) and the lens will have the most effect on image quality.

So, there is not a specific section you can look at that will tell you how good a still or video camera will be.

A good optical zoom does help, but at 34x your hand is probably going to be far too wobbly anyway. Given two cameras that cost the same, if one had no optical zoom and the other had 34x, the probablity would be the one with none had better image quality as they could have made a simpler lens that works better at that ratio, rather than trying to make a complex lens with lots of moving parts that works ok across a wide range.

I'm not sure there's a 'do everything' camera. For helmet-style footage, I'm currently liking the idea of a POV 1 bullet camera system.

However at the moment they are very expensive and aren't that flexible for other uses.

If you want to record on-bike then you'll need AV-in and a bullet camera. I don't like how complex such setups get, but that aren't really many good cheap alternatives at the moment.
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The last post was made 18 years, 324 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful?
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