Camera Choice

[o3jeff]

final review before i send it back unless in find some new info in the next couple of days.
note - i'm a casual photographer. don't know any technical stuff about white balance, aperture, ISO speeds or anything like that. just want a simple point and shoot that produces great results at an affordable price.

general
Price - $230 @ buy.com, free shipping, no tax
size - fits easily in my ski pants leg pocket

CAMERA -
Love it as a straight digital camera (still pictures)
10 mega pixels produced nice looking photos
camera controls pretty straight forward, buttons a bit small on the back but managable
12X zoom is great for capturing things not right next to you.
shutter lag - excellent, i was able to catch some people doing jumps. see them in the air, click the button and not miss the shot

VIDEO -
pros - size and 12x optical zoom

but here's where my problems lay.
camera records HD video and uses a codec called AVCHD. it records high quality video in a very compressed format. the problem is that none of the software i own for editing can read these files. I shot the sundown footage this weekend in AVCHD mode and it was painful to work with the files. I had to use 2 different programs to convert the files so i could finally get them in a format i could edit on my MAC (couldn't get them to my windows PC)

Panasonic recommends NOT using AVCHD if you plan to edit, AVCHD should only be used for direct playback on the TV. They recommend Motion JPEG for recording video that will be edited. This results in a MOV file (apple quicktime format) and only supports 4:3 format. File sizes are huge with MJPEG. I have to use the lowest quality setting to store 1 hour of video on an 8 gig card. The HD option for MJPEG only records 8 minutes of video on the 8 gig card.

You going back to a video camera then?

 

[severine]

I'm really interested in what your opinion is of that Kodak video camera, Jeff. The lack of an optical zoom bothers me, but it's cool that it's waterproof to 10 ft.

 

[gmcunni]

You going back to a video camera then?

i guess so.. this weekend i found i really liked being able to do both video and still pictures. i've been watching a few panasonic camcorders on ebay, the same as i had + a newer model, if i could score one of those at a good price i'd be happy.

in talking with my daughter last night i found she was bummed i was returning the camera. i told her i'd give it another few days of playing with the MJPEG settings to see if i could be happy with it. .MOV files aren't the worst thing in the world to deal with.

 

[o3jeff]

I'm really interested in what your opinion is of that Kodak video camera, Jeff. The lack of an optical zoom bothers me, but it's cool that it's waterproof to 10 ft.

I should have it for this weekend to do some recording after everyone gets loaded up!

 

[severine]

I should have it for this weekend to do some recording after everyone gets loaded up!

I'm going to hide!

 

[EOS]

Photography on the Net is a forum like this for Canon enthusiasts. I got my 10D body used on there for about $200. It's an older prosumer line... but I would recommend the 20D over it (used to have that and it was worth the extra money; the 10D has some issues with non-proprietary lenses and my zoom is a Sigma).

Thank you for that site, severine! There is tons of information over there!
________
Yamaha FZ1

 

[severine]

Thank you for that site, severine! There is tons of information over there!

No problem! It can be a little much, but there are a lot of people who know what they're doing there. Great resource!

 

[gmcunni]

in talking with my daughter last night i found she was bummed i was returning the camera. i told her i'd give it another few days of playing with the MJPEG settings to see if i could be happy with it. .MOV files aren't the worst thing in the world to deal with.

ended up keeping it. still getting used to it.. don't like holding it like a camera (doesn't feel as steady) but got decent video out of it in the non-HD mode.