Best movie mode on compact camera?
Zen Cohen
EX-Z750, Kodak V550, Canon SD400, haven't tried the Sony DSC-M1 yet) and am
not that impressed with any enough to replace my year-old Sony DSC-P100. Are
there any others worth considering? Ideally it would have MPEG4, optical
zoom while in movie mode, good low light capability, large LCD, and
small/easy to handle. Thanks.
Randy Berbaum
: I've tried a number of ultracompact cams with VGA 30 fps movie mode
Unfortunately movie mode on P&S cameras is more of a gimick for the
not-too-picky, not ment to be a replacement for a dedicated video camera.
Just as a snapshot mode on a digital camcorder is not likely to give much
competition to my DSLR. Until the day that they make a camcorder that has
replaceable optics, and 6+mp resolution in still shot mode, it is unlikely
that a true combination unit will be practical. They are getting closer
and closer to an all in one machine, but not yet.
JMHO
Randy
==========
Randy Berbaum
Champaign, IL
per
stabilization and can zoom smothly and silently while filming.
Size is the problem, but it should be interesting enough for a comparison of
what is possible with the current state of art.
"Zen Cohen" <atu...@hotmail.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:V0aSe.223067$gL1.1...@tornado.texas.rr.com...
gru...@mailinator.com
> Unfortunately movie mode on P&S cameras is more of a gimick for the
> not-too-picky, not ment to be a replacement for a dedicated video camera.
> Just as a snapshot mode on a digital camcorder is not likely to give much
> competition to my DSLR. Until the day that they make a camcorder that has
> replaceable optics, and 6+mp resolution in still shot mode, it is unlikely
> that a true combination unit will be practical. They are getting closer
> and closer to an all in one machine, but not yet.
good still images.
Lin Chung
I have been searching round for the same thing!
Up to yesterday, the best MPEG-4 is from Sanyo C4 and C5. Yes, dual purpose
or 'hybrid' cameras. Download the sample clips from their reviews in
Steve's Digicam site. Be prepared for a surprise!! They are like coming
from a miniDV.
We are talking about pocket sized cameras......OK, palm sized. Canon S2 IS
is good but is too bulky for me. So, further search found a well regarded
one, Casio Z750. But.... The pool with the sprinkler looked like water
falling on black *ink*! Also the same unreal image was painfully obvious in
that clip where there are swans (?ducks) sauntering about. It appeared to
be consistent with the plastiky look in some of its still pictures. On the
other hand, P505 from the same stable looks much better, but the colours are
just too saturated, and worst of all, the skin tone of the Japanese model is
far too yellow! However, the clip on the two penguins is superb, maybe
because there is hardly any red/yellow in there. That from Samsung i5 on a
scene in a backyard is also superb. Here, it has the benefit of the Zoran
COACH signal processor (V700 has it too, but oddly it is absolutely dire --
all Samsung models from V700 on have this Camera On A CHip processor). All
the above mentioned are MPEG-4 except the Canon S2 IS's, which is Motion
JPEG. Now, I have yet to find a Motion JPEG satisfactory, they make my eyes
ache with all those flickering ('choppy'), except Sony P150, Fuji E550 (just
OK), Panasonic LX-1, and of course the bulky Canon.
The acceptable MPEG-4 in pocketable cameras for me form the *ones I have
examined* are: Casio P505, Samsung i5. Until, that is, I came across the
clips from the two Sanyo's. Still photos from these two are also very good,
not de-noised to the extent that details are erased. When one examinines
the still photos, it is at once obvious which one is superior. Compare
these photos to those from Canon S70, e.g. the rack of canoes on the beach
(same scene from the two on steves-digicam.com), which look like all the
different colours in the photo are *painted* in acrylic paints -- totally
unacceptable.
Just before then, my attention was drawn to JVC GZ-MC500. Its (MPEG-2)
colours, sharpness are good, and its still photos (up to 5MB) are very
good.....alright, maybe a tad too saturated and sharpened. It has one
advantage over the Sanyos, videos shot indoor in the evening with just one
60W light in the room are acceptable (just), in where the Sanyos
are "dreadful" as one user described.
All the clips mentioned can be located, using the search engine, on
steves-digicam.com, the respective forums on dpreviews.com, or
dcresource.com.
--
Lin Chung
[Replace "the Water Margin" with "ntlworld" for e-mail].
.
Lin Chung
> Zen Cohen wrote:
> I have been searching round for the same thing!
> colours, sharpness are good, and its still photos (up to 5MB) are very
> good.....alright, maybe a tad too saturated and sharpened. It has one
> advantage over the Sanyos, videos shot indoor in the evening with just one
> 60W light in the room are acceptable (just), in where the Sanyos are
> "dreadful" as one user described.
So as to arrive at a more natural conclusion, I should have added:
Alas, C4 is selling, together with a 1GB SD card, for £230, and the MC500?
£800.
Zen Cohen
"Lin Chung" <lin....@the.Water.Margin.com> wrote in message
news:yCmSe.2505$7p1....@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
....
>
> I have been searching round for the same thing!
>
> Up to yesterday, the best MPEG-4 is from Sanyo C4 and C5. Yes, dual
> purpose
> or 'hybrid' cameras. Download the sample clips from their reviews in
> Steve's Digicam site. Be prepared for a surprise!! They are like coming
> from a miniDV.
Thanks to those who replied and especially Lin Chung. After reading your
comments and Steve's review, I am seriously considering the C5.
Clark Martin
"Zen Cohen" <atu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
I was impressed with my Konica Minolta Z5. It does 640x480 at 30fps.
Up to 30 continuous minutes with a 2Gb SD card. Mind you this is in
comparison to my Olympus D490Z which did 15s max at 320x240. The sound
is pretty good considering it's from a little condenser mic behind a
tiny hole.
--
Clark Martin
Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting
"I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway"
bj...@scn.org
> Unfortunately movie mode on P&S cameras is more of a gimick for the
> not-too-picky, not ment to be a replacement for a dedicated video camera.
But the current video cameras use out of date technologies. E.g.:
Flat panel TV are becoming more pupolar than CRT. Flat panel works
better with progressive signal. But most current video cameras still
shoot interlaced
only.
Flash memory are becoming larger capacity and higher speed. But most
current video cameras still use mechanical tape.
DV does not use motion compression. Even very simple motion compression
can result in lower bit rate and better picture quality. But most
current video cameras do not use MPEG.
Computer processors are becoming faster. Image sensor resolution is
increasing. But most current video cameras can not shoot high
resolution video, not beyond 640x480 (or 720x480 anamorphic), not to
mention 1280x960.
...
> They are getting closer and closer to an all in one machine, but not yet.
I don't want an all in one, but a video camera that uses new
technology. If they don't make it that way, then I have to look at
digital cameras that have video capability.