I am interested in buying a used Digital8 handycam instead of a new or used
miniDV camera.

Points I have noted a

Pros: 60minute recording, x25 optical zoom (I would use to x8), DV in/out,
Firewire with S-video pass-through.

Cons: much heavier, B&W low res optical viewfinder, 2.5" (small?) lcd
viewfinder, is it an obsolete format?

Beemer

In message , Beemer
writes
I am interested in buying a used Digital8 handycam instead of a new or used
miniDV camera.

Points I have noted a

Pros: 60minute recording, x25 optical zoom (I would use to x8), DV in/out,
Firewire with S-video pass-through.

Cons: much heavier, B&W low res optical viewfinder, 2.5" (small?) lcd
viewfinder, is it an obsolete format?

Only one manufacturer produces Digital8 camcorders. Hitachi used to sell
a badged Sony, but I think its been discontinued.

MiniDV provides 60 minute recording (1h 30min in LP).

Anything more than 5x zoom needs a tripod mounted camcorder to give
reasonable shots. And (though it's a generalisation), the higher-power
zoom optics are usually inferior in resolution than lower-power zooms.

Some Digital8 camcorders do not have DV-in, and many miniDV camcorders
do have DV-in.

Firewire is the standard for all consumer digital camcorders. All
current DV-in camcorders AFAIK provide analogue pass-through.

Most consumer digital camcorders come with 2.5" viewfinders. If you want
3.5" you're going to have to go for one of the top-end digital
camcorders which are larger in size (though IMHO that is a good thing).

AFAICS the only reason for going Digital8 instead of miniDV is if you've
got a broken Digital8 camcorder with a lot of Digital8 tapes containing
video you want to recover.

--
Tony Morgan
http://www.camcord.info

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:01:38 GMT, "Beemer" wrote:

I am interested in buying a used Digital8 handycam instead of a new or used
miniDV camera.

Points I have noted a

Pros: 60minute recording, x25 optical zoom (I would use to x8), DV in/out,
Firewire with S-video pass-through.

Cons: much heavier, B&W low res optical viewfinder, 2.5" (small?) lcd
viewfinder, is it an obsolete format?


All your pros are the same as dv :-) The only one that might count
is that it should be considerably cheaper than a comparable dv camera,
as the format is indeed obsolete.

"Laurence Payne" wrote in
message news
On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:01:38 GMT, "Beemer"
wrote:

I am interested in buying a used Digital8 handycam instead of a
new or used
miniDV camera.

snipped


All your pros are the same as dv :-) The only one that might
count
is that it should be considerably cheaper than a comparable dv
camera,
as the format is indeed obsolete.

Indeed, in fact there is probably more mileage left in the Hi8 format
than the Digital8 format...!