I have a £500 for a DV cam with DV-in and need it to work well in low light
and general conditions and be good at focusing at close range too. It will
be used to record various classroom based & workshop activities. Can anyone
recommend a model which might fit this description please?

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:36:20 +0100, "Simon"
wrote:

I have a £500 for a DV cam with DV-in and need it to work well in low light
and general conditions and be good at focusing at close range too. It will
be used to record various classroom based & workshop activities. Can anyone
recommend a model which might fit this description please?


The current crop of sony Cams are pretty good.

Something like a TRV250......which has DV in............can be had for
less than £500.

Although I would say you should try and stretch yourself to a
TRV355.........you get quite a few extra useful features including
analogue inputs, and ability to play back old Hi8 format tapes etc.

Very useful thanks, the TRV355 is under £500 at Amazon!
"Paul" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:36:20 +0100, "Simon"
wrote:

I have a £500 for a DV cam with DV-in and need it to work well in low
light
and general conditions and be good at focusing at close range too. It
will
be used to record various classroom based & workshop activities. Can
anyone
recommend a model which might fit this description please?


The current crop of sony Cams are pretty good.

Something like a TRV250......which has DV in............can be had for
less than £500.

Although I would say you should try and stretch yourself to a
TRV355.........you get quite a few extra useful features including
analogue inputs, and ability to play back old Hi8 format tapes etc.

"Simon" wrote in message
...
I have a £500 for a DV cam with DV-in and need it to work well in low
light
and general conditions and be good at focusing at close range too. It
will
be used to record various classroom based & workshop activities. Can
anyone
recommend a model which might fit this description please?



IMO taking into consideration you last two line above, try and make sure the
chosen camera has the ability to be focused manually.

In message , Simon
writes
I have a £500 for a DV cam with DV-in and need it to work well in low light
and general conditions and be good at focusing at close range too. It will
be used to record various classroom based & workshop activities. Can anyone
recommend a model which might fit this description please?

I'm not going to recommend a particular model, but you should be aware
that with *all* domestic camcorders the image quality deteriorates in
low light conditions - even within the manufacturer's figures.

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

In message , Paul
writes
On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:36:20 +0100, "Simon"
wrote:

I have a £500 for a DV cam with DV-in and need it to work well in low light
and general conditions and be good at focusing at close range too. It will
be used to record various classroom based & workshop activities. Can anyone
recommend a model which might fit this description please?


The current crop of sony Cams are pretty good.

Something like a TRV250......which has DV in............can be had for
less than £500.

Although I would say you should try and stretch yourself to a
TRV355.........you get quite a few extra useful features including
analogue inputs, and ability to play back old Hi8 format tapes etc.

Personally, I'd be reluctant to go the Digital8 route, since Sony seem
to be easing themselves out of that marketplace, and they are the *only*
manufacturer who support it. I have also heard reports that the latest
Digital8 models won't play Hi8 tapes that have been recorded in Hi8.

As they used to say about IBM, "50 million people can't be wrong" :-)

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

In message , SkiJumpToes
writes
On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 23:56:45 +0100, Tony Morgan
Typedy Typed:

Snipped.

Yes, you can get terrible grainy images even when filming indoors
during daylight, i have found that turning off the Anti-shake features
on my Sony improve this, i dont know why or how but it can make a
difference..

I suspect it's because the "steady-shot" facility requires an "edge" to
work on. With the low-contrast/grainy picture the edges aren't very well
defined - so the camcorder's signal processor has to start hunting
around - which obviously make things worse.

In low light its also a good idea to use manual focus/balance etc for
the same reason.

The weather at the moment is great for filming everyone should be out
right now filming anything they find hehe.

Too true... I feel quite sorry for those poor sods who have to work with
weather like this :-)

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

"SkiJumpToes" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 11:08:17 +0100, Tony Morgan
Typedy Typed:

In low light its also a good idea to use manual focus/balance etc for
the same reason.

Ive always used Auto Focus, there's too much skill involved in using
manual for my liking.. And its a pain to get a still image while
having ur hand wrapped around the front of the cam

Zoom in tight, focus, pull out until you have the shot size / type you want.
Simple... :~)


..At least if you've got fat Burgerking(tm) fingers like me it is


Buy a bigger camera ! :~)

Zoom in tight, focus, pull out until you have the shot size / type you want.
Simple... :~)

And, if you're lucky, the focus survives the zoom.....:-)

"Jerry." wrote in message
...

"Laurence Payne" wrote in
message
...
Zoom in tight, focus, pull out until you have the shot size / type
you
want.
Simple... :~)

And, if you're lucky, the focus survives the zoom.....:-)

In manual focus it will. Honest !

Only because you use a decent camera Jerry. 'Zoom' lenses fitted to
lesser cameras are often only vari-focus lenses. If the AF is good
enough why need they be otherwise? ;-)
--
Malcolm