Good sub-$200 video camera?

UEAKCrash

Like the title says, I'm looking for a decent handheld digital video camera under $200. It's main uses will be probably recording outdoors (including holding while I skate), semi-close up talking, and probably live music.

So preferable something that has good sound as well as video (at least 720p). Probably something I can rig up a windscreen for too would be useful. So far this is what I've looked into:

Kodak Zi8 or Kodak Playsport

Flip UltraHD

Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 (I almost don't want to get this based on the lame name alone.)

Other than those I'm lost. Anyone have any experience with these products? Sound is pretty important to me, and that tends to not be mentioned much in reviews.

tardcore

I've heard nothing but good things about the Flip UltraHD. I myself have been wanting to get one.

As for Kodak. I don't buy Kodak. I purchased a Kodak portable DVD player and it died on me 5 months later. I have purchased two Kodak digital cameras and they both broke within the first few weeks of owning them.

Wezoin

While I must admit I'm not really up on the mini-camera market, the Sony Bloggie seems like the best deal. Kodak has questionable build quality with most of their products, and while the UltraHD seems to be popular it only does 720p and is from a company I've otherwise never heard of. The Sony also looks like the more mature/professional of the cameras rather than looking like a child's toy, and it does 1080p.

Sir Carcass

We have a Flip UltraHD and it's pretty nice. The only downsides is the non-optical zoom which doesn't look good and that you have to have pretty good lighting or else it gets a webcam grainy effect. The actual quality it puts out is pretty nice, though. You can also use the software to easily grab frames to use as pictures and they look pretty good as well.

Djeet

The Sony has an optical zoom, which is nice for composing or getting in closer.

My friend has a Flip UltraHD and he really likes it, and the results were quite decent in his usage (brightly lit indoor arena MMA fights with pretty closeup access).

An advantage to these lower end cams is they often make uploading to youtube or somesuch pretty easy through bundled applications.

If sound's important to you then you may want to have a mic input. My cam's onboard mic is likely better then all these and it's pretty shitty IMO.

I'd sell you my canon HF-100 for 2 bills, but I got a baby due so I'm not sure when that could happen. Going used you'll get more bang for your buck, but then you have to deal with buying used electronics.

TheCanMan

We have the Bloggie (and yes, I loathe the name, too), and are pretty happy with it. I was debating between it and the ultraHD, and the optical zoom of the Sony was a major selling point for me as was the pistol-grip style. Also, the Flip uses built-in memory. So you're stuck with 2 hours of film time before having to transfer to off-camera as opposed to just being able to buy a couple memory cards.

So far, the only thing that I'd give it negative marks for is that the battery recharger is a USB connection. Meaning you have to plug it into your computer to charge it.

Wezoin

TheCanMan wrote: »

We have the Bloggie (and yes, I loathe the name, too), and are pretty happy with it. I was debating between it and the ultraHD, and the optical zoom of the Sony was a major selling point for me as was the pistol-grip style. Also, the Flip uses built-in memory. So you're stuck with 2 hours of film time before having to transfer to off-camera as opposed to just being able to buy a couple memory cards.

So far, the only thing that I'd give it negative marks for is that the battery recharger is a USB connection. Meaning you have to plug it into your computer to charge it.

I realise it's a little bit of a pricey option but I use one of these: Kensington Travel Plug w/ USB

I bought it for my trip to the UK to use to plug regular things in but now I just use it as a USB wall adapter for ipods and the like. You might be able to find an even cheaper version somewhere. It's nice not to have to plug things into my computer all the time now though.

UEAKCrash

Thanks for the advice guys. It helps hearing from people who have used the product. The dark light/ grainy effect of the Flip really turns me off of it. One of my main uses will be longboarding with it, and we tend to have to go out during the dusk/ night hours due to traffic. All the best hills seem to be the busiest.

The "pistol grip" of the Bloggie sounds pretty nice as well, especially for my use. Plus I've always had good luck with Sony products. I'll probably end up going with that.

I'm not seeing it anywhere on the specifications, but does it happen to have a separate mic input? If not, how is the internal mic? Decent quality?

Thanks again, guys.

jeffmagic

I got the sony DSC-H20 on ebay for $175. It is like a dslr but more compact. It takes amazing pictures... Like this one:



Finch's World

Peter Beck

Rather than create another thread with the same topic I'll pose my inquiry here.

I'm also looking for a good digital video camera, around 200-300$ range (CAD), primarily for shooting stationary medium to wide shot footage, kinda looking to do a youtube/blink discussion/review series. Not too particular about HD quality, but I know it needs to have an additional mic input so that if the built in mic picks up too much background I could hook in a clip mic, or rig a boom out of a hand-held mic (ah, reminds me of my old AV class days...).

Also it's gotta export into an easy to edit and compile video format and not use any proprietary format (learned my lesson with the Kodak easyshare I foolishly bought during a sale).

Any further suggestions?

DekuStick

Peter Beck wrote: »

Any further suggestions?

Mac or PC?

Important because of your proprietary format concerns. I could recommend you a camera but then you'd find out it exports .MOV which is a pain to convert for use in Windows.

Peter Beck

DekuStick wrote: »

Peter Beck wrote: »

Any further suggestions?

Mac or PC?

PC.