Sony Hd Camcorders Professional
Camcorders compatible with Macintosh?
I really need something digital that will record onto a SD memory card or something similar. Movie making is a big hobby for me and hopefully one day a profession, so I need something professional looking or HD. I am going to upgrade to iMovie 09 soon, but it also needs to work with iMovie 04. Nothing too expensive though, (like a $2,000 camera.) I was thinking about the Sony HDR-CX100 but my past experiences with Sony have been less then pleasurable. Plus some people say the quality is awful. Any suggestions?
One other thing, I normally load my video clips through iPhoto and then edit them with iMovie. (I am currently using a Canon PowerShot SD550 and it works fine but I would really like some better quality.)
MiniDV tape is digital. The “DV” = Digital video. The DV and HDV format continues to be the choice of the pros (Sony HVR series; Canon XLH and XH series; JVC GY series; even the Panasonics that use P2 memory cards record to DV and HDV format). Of the currently used consumer digital formats, DV and HDV are the least compressed data streams. MiniDV tape also continues to be the least expensive $ per gigabyte of storage. A single regular, ~$3, miniDV tape (I use Sony Premium tapes from Fry’s in 8-packs at ~$25 – the tapes are cheaper in quantity at tapestockonline) holds up to 60 minutes of standard definition video which translates to 14 gig of computer hard drive space – or 63 minutes of 1080 HDV format video which turns into about 44 gig of computer hard drive space.
Hard disc drive and flash memory camcorders save to the very high compressed MPEG2 (standard def) or AVCHD (MTS) hi def video. When video is compressed, video data is discarded. The firs step to editing = decompression – in this case “guessing” what data needs to be replaced.
If you are currently working with iMovie04, you can deal ONLY with standard definition video – in the case of miniDV tape, any camcorder can record to DV or HDV – you pick the option in the camcorder. As well, if you record in HDV, the camcorder can typically do the downsample conversion to DV widescreen for you. iMovieHD 05 was the first version that could deal with HDV with the Apple Intermediate codec manually installed from the system discs.
iMovie ’09 can deal with DV, HDV
iMovie ’09 can deal with the highly compressed MPEG2 standard def files from flash memory and HDD cams after conversion using StreamClip.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
AVCHD files… if iMovie ’09 is running on an Intel-chip based Mac.
Suggested camcorders:
Canon HV30 or HV40. Sony HDR-HC9.
Canon HF series; Sony HDR-CX series.
With the known problems hard disc drive camcorders have, I do not recommend them.
Any camcorder with a 1/8″ mic jack is not considered “professional”… looking or otherwise. Pro-grade camcorders use XLR audio-in jacks. Also, true pro-grade camcorders have lenses larger that 60mm in diameter and imaging chips 1/3″ or larger.
HVR-A1U Test-July 24
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Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 10 Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC10E $13.92 Transcend 16GB Class 10 SDHC Flash Memory Card (TS16GSDHC10E) – Frustration Free Package Certified Frustration-Free Packaging has certified this product’s packaging is Frustration-Free. A Frustration-Free Package is easy-to-open and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic ‘clamshell’ casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It is exactly the same as a traditionally packaged … |
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SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB, SDHC, UHS-1 Flash Memory Card SDSDXPA-032G-X46,Black $84.89 UHS-I… |
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NEEWER® 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel Digital Camera / Camcorder Video Light, LED Light for Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Panasonic,SONY, Samsung and Olympus Digital SLR Cameras $36.76 This super lightweight 160-piece-LED video light can be used in video taking. either for lights setup or supplement, the light intensity can be changed to offer professional effects. Specification: Input: DC 7.2V~8.4V |