What are the best 3 camcorders?

[Divehorr]

What are the best all around camcorders? 3 different price ranges say $300 to $500***$500 to $700***$700 to $1200.

Good to great picture quality, Digital or HD
All should be good in low light
All should have good battery time
All should be downloadable to pc
All should not be too complicated
All should be a major brand so that housings are readily available.
With so many camcorders to choose from I don't know what to look for. Just need some ideas.

Do you shop for the camera first then the housing or housing then camera?

Any help will be appreciated....Thanks

Ken

 

[mobula]

Wrong question

First of all you have to define what you would like to have and how much money your are willing to spend.

 

[BDSC]

how much money your are willing to spend.

I agree. Knowing this will go a long way in answering your question.

When I first started doing video in May of 2008, I bought what I call a used starter unit consisting of a TopDawg housing with lights and a Sony DCR-HC32 camcorder. I paid a total of $1000 for the set-up. I have used this on three trips now and have been very pleased with the results. But a system like this has limitations with not being able to do MWB or a flip color correction filter. But like I said, I am pleased with the results and when I and my friends watch one of my trip videos they say that looks great.

But then I come on a site like this and start watching videos where people are shooting in HD with top of the line camcorders and housings with all the bells and whistles and you say, "Holy ****! I didn't know it could look like that!" And believe me it's a night and day difference between what they shoot and what I shoot. But $1000 for them might just be the price of a lens for their housing. In the end they are going to spend thousands of dollars for what they are using.

I guess my point is, like in most things, you're going to get what you pay for when it comes to shooting UW video. I'm in the process now of looking to upgrade to HD with a housing that will do it all and I know I'll be out quite a few thousand when I'm finished with purchasing things. That's the problem with getting into stuff like this. The bug bites you and you get the upgrade fevor and we all know there is only one way to cure it.

So you really do need to decide what your budget would be. A really nice HD camcorder could easily run $800 to $1200 dollars but the price of the housing that camcorder could be used in may be anywhere from maybe $1000 to $4000 and up up up! Then the price of lights could potentially add $1000's more.

I personally think it is more important to find a camcorder first and then a housing for it but understand that you'd probably need to stick with the major brands like Sony, Canon, and JVC etc. to find good housings.

You should also look at used systems. You can find some really incredible deals on sites such as this and wetpixel.com where people get the bug and trade up from what is a very nice system to something top of the line and you can save thousands by doing so.

BDSC

 

[robint]

What are the best all around camcorders? 3 different price ranges say $300 to $500***$500 to $700***$700 to $1200.

Good to great picture quality, Digital or HD
All should be good in low light
All should have good battery time
All should be downloadable to pc
All should not be too complicated
All should be a major brand so that housings are readily available.
With so many camcorders to choose from I don't know what to look for. Just need some ideas.

Do you shop for the camera first then the housing or housing then camera?

Any help will be appreciated....Thanks

Ken

This is a tough question to answer...... here is my 2 cents.
1. $300-500.....none. I don't think there are any camcorders out there that meet your requirements. Plus, who wants to spend $300 on a camcorder then have to spend $800+ on a housing for it? Also, you can't really get a good HD camcorder for that price and it would be silly, IMHO, to go SD right now.

2. $500-700...there are a few Canon HD camcorders camcorders that will meet this, like the Canon HF-100, HF-10, or HF-11 which all run around $700 right now, they use an Ikelite housings ($800) and I am sure there are Equinox housings. Only issue with them is they are all flash drive, which isn't large, and so need to be downloaded to your computer often. Sony HC-7 and SR-11 are other options but a bit more $ and also hard to find as Sony has newer models out.

3. $700-1200.... lots and lots of HD choices. Best? You are going to get lots of debate about that. Canon and Sony are the front runners and each company has several models out there right now in that price range.

robin
Canon HG-21, no housing yet

 

[Divehorr]

Thanks for info...It is a tough question....For example..I go to the Best Buy site, look up Sony camcorders...there are 36. $199 to $2000. Think I found a few that may meet dive criteria, then go to Equinox housings and only find 1 or 2 on the compatable list, but not the ones I picked. Then go to the Ikelite site and find a few more compatable, but I'm not fond of multiple "o-ring" seals as they can be a potential weak point and can be more maintenance. ((I flooded two cameras due to O-ring fails)) I'm leaning towards electronic controls. But like you said I have a hard time spending several hundres dollars on a camera then several thousands on a housing. JUst trying to find something in the middle of the road... good but not spectacular. Not making HBO movies just have some friends over to watch TV.
Ken

 

[robint]

Thanks for info...It is a tough question....For example..I go to the Best Buy site, look up Sony camcorders...there are 36. $199 to $2000. Think I found a few that may meet dive criteria, then go to Equinox housings and only find 1 or 2 on the compatable list, but not the ones I picked. Then go to the Ikelite site and find a few more compatable, but I'm not fond of multiple "o-ring" seals as they can be a potential weak point and can be more maintenance. ((I flooded two cameras due to O-ring fails)) I'm leaning towards electronic controls. But like you said I have a hard time spending several hundres dollars on a camera then several thousands on a housing. JUst trying to find something in the middle of the road... good but not spectacular. Not making HBO movies just have some friends over to watch TV.
Ken

I think you are looking at the wrong website to get information regarding a good "underwater" video camera. What they consider good "low light" means the camcorder has a setting for low light. This is NOT for underwater video usage. It is a very, very low quality rendering, used best for kid's birthday party/blowing out candles on a cake in the dark. Again....... don't look at the specs according to what is said on a retail electronics website. They don't know underwater anything.

If you want to pick out a camcorder for underwater video, check out what others are using here, go to the websites like: Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros and Wetpixel.com :: Underwater Photography and Videography and H2O Photo Pros - Home ...... there are plenty out there. Those are websites by people who shoot underwater, know what specs you need, and will give you lots of help in choosing.

Then, once you come up with a few choices, go to the electronics website of your choice to buy.

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

The way I generally suggest starting is figuring out what your budget is, for the whole package. Then you can price out camera and housing combos that fit this budget. There are a ton of options. From an IKe/JVC package for approximately $1500, to Sony/Canon cameras with an Ike or Equinox housing, pushing you in the 2k plus range...and then upwards.

Here are a some of my favorite packages, from low to high (pricing is approximate depending on what you find the camera for):

Sony HC9 and Equinox Housing approx $1600
Sony SR 12/LM Stingray housing: $2400
Sony XR 500/520 and Stingray Plus housing: $3200+
Sony XR 500/Seatool housing: $4899
Canon HF S10/Bluefin housing: $4999

XR500/520 or Canon HF S10, Gates Housing, Standard Port (pricing not released yet for housings)

Those are systems I would look at and recommend. Again, finding your overall budget and then designing packages within that budget is where I always start with our clients.

 

[lemon]

From the research that i've done there really aren't any great low-light cameras in the sub $1200 price range. The new panasonic might be the closest to this, but it doesn't seem to have any housings at the moment (that i'm aware of). HF100 and Sony 520 will get you so-so low-light performance (camcorderinfo.com) with the Sony slightly better.

Regardless, if you are shooting without lights at depth you are going to see a fair amount of noise in your image using these cameras. I think a common mistake is people believe that because the camera is "HD", their camera will produce images similar to what we see on HD TV channels. This just isn't the case. In bright well-lit conditions, the top of the line consumer cameras make really nice images, but their performance drops off pretty steeply in low-lux environments.

To get GOOD low-light, it seems you would need an EX-1 or something comparable. Unfortunate, but probably true.

 

[Equinox Housings]

We can customize a housing to any consumer hand held that you decide on. Mike has listed one of our more popular housings with the HC9. No matter the model we make a housing for it. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[TheBigPhillyFish]

If your new to underwater video and limited in your budget, you may want to look a last year model camera and something like an Ikelite housing. If you have a few more pennies to spend and want a little more then go with an Equinox housing. But if you want a nice long lasting set-up go with one of the flash drive camera's and say a Gates, Amphibico or L&M housing. And as long as the housing comes with a decent filter your good for at least 60 feet depending where your diving. You can always pick up lights at a later date.

Good Luck and let us know how you make out.