I know it’s confusing so don’t get discouraged by what people call
cameras. “Handy Cam” or “video camera” can mean the same thing.
It might be better to stay with standard definition (SD) and high
definition (HD) “Handycam” is what Sony calls many of their
cameras. The HDR-SR10E is HD even though it’s called a “Handycam”
As you know Adeel, using a SD camera can be a good one for a
beginner. Even if you will someday go to a film print. I gave you
a long list of movies released in the cinemas that were shot SD.
And even more movies shot SD have gone to DVD.
What is most important is a microphone input and manual controls.
Unfortunately the HDR-SR10E doesn’t have a mic input.
I will post my list for you again. Any of the following cameras
will be fine for a beginner.
There are three things that are VERY important when getting a camera:
Three CCD’s or CMOS
Manual controls for the iris, shutter, focus and white balance.
A microphone input.
The JVC GZ-MG505 is in the $800 range. It has a mic input and
records to a 30GB HHD. The downside is the MPEG-2 compression.
This high compression is lower quality than MiniDV and most
editing software don’t work well this this compressed video.
I like the JVC GZ-HD7. I’ve seen these on line for as little as
$1,200. A really nice Fujinon lens makes a huge difference and
full manual controls is important. Three 1/5’ 16:9 progressive
scan CCD’s are pretty impressive for a camera in this price
range. It records directly to a built in 60GB hard drive. It has
manual controls, a mic input and an excellent focus ring which is
surprisingly rare on small cameras.
Both the JVC HD5 and HD6 have a mic input and both record to HDD -
the HD6 can record 1080/60p through HDMI - pretty impressive.
The Panasonic HDC-SD100 uses a 3-CMOS array and records 1920 x
1080 video in the AVCHD format to SD and SDHC memory cards. I
like the ring on the lens that controls zoom, focus, white
balance, shutter speed, and iris and it actually has a viewfinder
in addition to the LCD screen. Very important it has both a mic
and headphone jack. I found it difficult to handle with all the
cables attached (mic, headphones and monitor) but it’s a camera
with all the basics.
Close is the Canon HV20. It records in HDV (1080i) and 24p (60i),
has a mic input and manual controls of white balance and focus
but it uses one 1/2.7” CMOS sensor rather than 3 CCD’s. And it’s
so small the handling is difficult.
The HV30 adds a 30f (Canon’s “frame mode”) in addition to 24p.
The Sony HDR-SR12 has a mic input and a good sized 120GB HDD. It
uses a 1/3” CMOS chip and like the Canon is really small. Because
of the input placement, the mic cable kept getting in my way. The
HR9 (which records to tape) is also a nice, very small, camera
with the essentials. Again the mic input is just below the lens
which is rather poor placement, in my opinion.
Check out any of these cameras to see if they fall in your price range.