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May 8th, 2006, 08:56 AM
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#1 |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 26
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Digital still camera with the best movie mode capability
I was looking at the Canon S2 IS awhile ago. It can do 640 X 480 @30FPS. The size of the movie is only limited by the size of the SD card on that model. Now Canon has the S3 IS, still the same 640 X 480 @30FPS, but max movie size is 1GB. I wonder why they changed that? My question is which digital still camera with big lens has the best movie mode capability?
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May 8th, 2006, 09:50 AM
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#2 |
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New Boot
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 20
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I think you'll find all the Canon's have the 1 gig max rec limit, inc the S2.
The Canon A620 camera has a superb movie mode, however there is no way to lock the exposure. If you can live without that you'll be very happy. With a 4 gig SD card you'll get around 32 mins recording time. I went with the S80 in the end, it has more manual controls and an XGA movie mode, alas only 15 fps. I plan on shooting a music video with it later this month. |
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May 8th, 2006, 01:43 PM
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#3 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Ventura, California, USA
Posts: 751
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With some cameras you can zoom in/out during recording, while others lock out any focal length changes. That's well worth looking into.
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May 9th, 2006, 09:27 AM
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#4 | |
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May 9th, 2006, 09:31 AM
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#5 | |
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Regular Crew
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May 9th, 2006, 11:52 AM
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#6 | |
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Trustee
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Boise, Idaho
Posts: 1,997
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Canon S1-is
Quote:
First off, the S1-is has an optically stabalized lense. This is a great advantage to non-trip filming. Secondly is the 30fps. Unless footage is slowed down you will like the quality of video smoothness. Resolution. 640x480. A little bit smaller than the standard MiniDV of 720x480, but this only adds two small black bars on the side of the picture. Battery life: Very very good. I can go through 300-400 pictures (no flash) on a single set of 4 high mAmp batteries (I use >=2200mAmp rechargables). A single pack of batteries might run you $20, but I have used the same pack dozens of times, saving many dollars over the constant purchasing of throwaway E2 batteries. Zoom while recording. This was the single most important feature I considered when looking at still photo cams that also do video. Few other cameras have this feature and I consider it vital in order for the video functionality to be remotely usefull. With out it any camera with video is nearly useless in dynamic / changing filming. The S2-IS is no doubt even better in most regards. Bigger zoom is one of them. Have you considered the S3-is? Not too many upgrades when compared to the S2, but significant upgrades (still photo only) when compared to the S1. Regarding their video functionality, nothing has changed sincethe S1 so I would expect them to perform about the same. Check out <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/">this site</A> for some good reviews of all digital still cameras including the very valuable side-by-side comparison of features / specs. jason |
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May 9th, 2006, 11:56 AM
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#7 | |
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Trustee
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Boise, Idaho
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15fps
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jason |
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May 9th, 2006, 06:04 PM
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#8 |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Madrid, Spain.
Posts: 31
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Sanyo Xacti
I think Sanyo has the most versatile option for digital still/video cameras. I think the best choices are the C6 (6MP/640x480 30fps) and the HD1 (5MP/1280x720 30fps, 640x480 60fps).
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May 9th, 2006, 08:55 PM
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#9 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 223
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Panasonic has a 16:9 stills camera with movie mode limited to the capacity of the card. Don't know about sound capabilities...
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0507/05..._lx1.asp#specs |
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May 9th, 2006, 08:56 PM
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#10 |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Jun 2005
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The Canon S2 IS has a 1/2.5 inch CCD. Does that mean even in video mode it has good DOF vs. high end prosumer video cameras which has smaller 1/3 inch CCDs.
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May 9th, 2006, 08:58 PM
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#11 | |
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Regular Crew
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May 10th, 2006, 02:18 AM
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#12 |
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New Boot
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: London, UK.
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Stephen - No matter what digital still camera you choose, the key requirement is the mjpeg data rate. The Canons rec around 1.8 mb/sec, which is currently the best on the market, I would say go with the new S3 IS.
For those interested in editing the canon movies on FCP, get a free utility called "Divxdoctor 2" - this will convert the AVI to a MOV without losing quality, it's superb! Jason - the S80 does 640x480 30 fps also - I'll most likely use this mode to shoot the video. |
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May 10th, 2006, 02:18 AM
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#13 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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The Panasonic LX1 it doesn't seem to allow you to zoom during filming. A sample file can be found towards the bottom of this page:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/pa...ew/index.shtml |
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May 10th, 2006, 04:00 AM
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#14 |
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Trustee
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Suwanee, GA
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I am looking at the Panasonic DMC-FZ30. It has OIS and is supposed to zoom in and out while recording (and a caution was mentioned to zoom slowly when I found a review at Steve's Digi-cam). Steve's list it as 1300+seconds with 2GB card.
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May 10th, 2006, 08:50 AM
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#15 | |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 26
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Quote:
I need some baseline reference, what's the data rate for regular DV and HDV? And what about something like the Samsung SC-X210L? http://www.samsung.com/Products/Camc...C_X210LXAA.asp or what Carlos mentioned, the HD1? |
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