Best (cheap) digital video camera

[loudandproud]

I want a digital camera and im only going to have $200 (which I know is nothing) but that is all i will have and i want to be able to put decent lenght and quality videos on my computer. Any help would be awesome,

PS: pic taking with the thing would be a bonus

 

[IndyMX]

Good luck with that. I paid about $400 for my Digital Cam Corder, and it was about the cheapest I could find at the time. 2 years ago.. But the quality is pretty good.

It's a Sony.

 

[Okiewan]

"cheap" and "good quality" rarely go together. You'll get what you pay for. I'd save some more money.

but... http://reviews.cnet.com/Samsung_SC_D453/4505-6500_7-31292245.html?tag=pdtl-list

 

[ellandoh]

i know its cheap NOT the best but it took most all of the pics in my gallery and the vid of me jumping the dune :cool:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...Price/RSK/00000000/00030000&parentPage=family

you will also need to factor in the price of an SD memory card

 

[loudandproud]

i know its cheap NOT the best but it took most all of the pics in my gallery and the vid of me jumping the dune :cool:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...Price/RSK/00000000/00030000&parentPage=family

you will also need to factor in the price of an SD memory card

that doesnt seem to bad, especially for that price.

 

[ellandoh]

that doesnt seem to bad, especially for that price.

the zoom is basically useless, and those pics are not a whole lot better in the originals as they are on the web.

it gets the job done, barely, but one good thing is its tough as nails, no moving parts, you could actually tape it to your helmet and use it as a helmetcam, drop it in the sand whatever

 

[FruDaddy]

You should look for either digital8 or mini DV, the DVD ones encode in MPG so the ability to edit without quality loss is severely hindered. As far as the zoom, always turn off digital zoom, optical zoom is OK. If you think that you may ever add a helmet cam, find one that has AV input. It will cost a bit more, but I recently had to buy a second camera for the cause. Look to the Circuit city open box deals, or Crutchfield.com in the clearance section for a good price on a decent camera.

 

[loudandproud]

yah that is basically what i am going for. Something beatable. I dont want a $400 camera that im going to be riding with in a backpack busting out and recording friends and stuff only to wreck and mess it up.

 

[FruDaddy]

You should also consider a replacement warantee, Circuit City will gladly sell you a replacement plan at a reasonable price. I was speaking to a saleperson the other day about buying a digital camera for my wife to take to Iraq. Requirements are decent quality, small enough to hide in a pocket, standard batteries, and a price that won't make me cry if it gets busted. She suggested the guarantee and said that it would cover anything that could happen over there.

 

[Octane250F]

Ive got a Fuji Finepix 2 mp that cost me $150 2 years ago. Its been a good camera for me and considering its only 2 mp it takes pretty decent pictures.
You could now go and get pretty much the same camera, only now its a 3 mp for under $200.
Unless you plan on blowing the pictures up to huge size, you dont need anything more than 3 mp.
I went with a Fuji because this show called "Gear Guide" (basically they reviewed all kinda of electronics) that was on the channel Tech TV used to do camera shootouts from time to time and they always spoke highly of the Fujis. I must say that thus far Im very pleased with my Fuji. It has held up well, nothing has broken or failed on it, it takes good quality pics (considering its only 2 mp) and its very easy to use.

 

[ellandoh]

http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=143275

 

[High Lord Gomer]

I have an older version of the Mustek I use as a helmet cam. I velcro it to the side of my helmet.

Right-click and Save-As...it's about 400K. It actually takes video in .ASF format, but I dropped the quality to get the size down in .wmv format.

http://TheMXTrack.com/MustekSample.wmv

 

[trial_07]

This is quite good actually! Interesting...

 

[Moparman1539]

I have an older version of the Mustek I use as a helmet cam. I velcro it to the side of my helmet.

Right-click and Save-As...it's about 400K. It actually takes video in .ASF format, but I dropped the quality to get the size down in .wmv format.

http://TheMXTrack.com/MustekSample.wmv

what video camera is it?

 

[loudandproud]

yah, how much did you pay for that?

 

[High Lord Gomer]

Mine is a Mustek DV4000. You can't even find those anymore. They are now up to 5 and even 8 megapixel cameras and they are around $100 on evilbay. Mine came with only a 32MB card but I upgraded to a 1MB card that will hold an hour and a half or so of video.

With mine (and this is probably still true of the newer ones) when you switch the the highest resolution, you get less frames per second. At 640x480 I only got 8 or 10 fps. At 320x240 I get 30 fps.

Here's a couple more. As you can see, the sun causes glare at times, the camera doesn't adjust too quickly to changing light, and the wind noise is considerable.

http://themxtrack.com/MustekSample2.wmv
http://themxtrack.com/MustekSample3.wmv
http://themxtrack.com/MustekSample4.wmv

The last one is on a trail with the camera pointed downward a little too much. Over 2MB, so right-click and save-as before watching.

 

[loudandproud]

i can deal with that. The last clips riding looks pretty quick, cant tell though, maybe it is because your are down at the ground like u said.

 

[trial_07]

...upgraded to a 1MB card that will hold an hour and a half or so of video...

I guess you meant 1GB? Just to be sure.

Your friend in front of you looks quite fast and at ease! I love his style :cool: Do you have longer videos? That camera holds with velcro?

 

[High Lord Gomer]

i can deal with that. The last clips riding looks pretty quick, cant tell though, maybe it is because your are down at the ground like u said.

It's an illusion...nothing about me that's quick.

I guess you meant 1GB? Just to be sure.

Your friend in front of you looks quite fast and at ease! I love his style Do you have longer videos? That camera holds with velcro?

Oops, you're right...1 GB. I tried a 2GB card, but my old DV4000 couldn't use it.

The guy on the YZF in front of me was Matt Abbott. He's a local A/Pro rider from Atlanta. I just did a search to see what he's been up to and it looks like he finished 8th for the year in the Supermoto Lite class! Send me an email and I'll try to dig up some others, but I have limited bandwidth and can't post too many to the world.

The velco has held through crashes, hard landings, and "at speed" on my FZ1.

 

[trial_07]

Cool stuff! trial_07 @ hotmail.com (without spaces).

 

[friar tuck]

My friend just bought a cam Thanksgiving weekend that saves to SD cards (up to 4GB), and it was only around 120 bucks. The thing is compact, and takes really nice video. I'm trying to get ahold of him to find out exactly what make/model it was. I'm not sure what he's using for hte bullet cam, but I'll find out.