I had a chat the other afternoon with Bernie Goldbach about video and digital camcorders. Bernie pointed me in the direction of a camera which he thought cost a few hundred dollars, but it turns out he’d left out a zero!
Since I’m heading off to Sydney in June for a couple of weeks I’d really like to be able to video some of the sights etc., but I’m at a total loss when it comes to choosing the “right” camera.
What am I looking for?
I’m not 100% sure, but I have a few ideas.
It needs to have a reasonable number of inputs / outputs, as I don’t want to be too constrained. I’ll be editing / processing footage on a Mac.
I want to avoid proprietary formats.
Optical zoom is essential. Digital zoom is nice and all, but I know from still cameras that you really need proper optical zoom.
I’m not overly concerned about the storage format, though proprietary is “out”.
Battery life – better would be preferable
Size – smaller is better. Apart from anything else I don’t want to carry extra weight.
In terms of budget.. I’ve no idea how much I want to spend, but ideally below 1000 euro. I’m not interested in getting a “cheap and nasty” camera, as that’s a false economy.
So can anyone make any sane (or insane) recommendations?
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