Anyone ditch their camera for a video camera?

[Powder River]

A good friend of mine from the trail last year took almost exclusively video, I think from a regular digital camera. He then had enough footage to put together some really memorable and amazing movies, set to music and posted on facebook. I have 2,000+ pictures and plan a slideshow project of my own, but I don't think I'll be able to match the impact of those videos simply because they have simple, everyday scenes from the trail.

So that got me thinking of carrying an actual video camera. Has anyone done this, and what are your experiences? I think one problem is people get intimidated by video cameras. But I found this (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-Vixia-HF11-Camcorder-Review-35436.htm), which is one of the high end ones for 15 ounces, so you could definitely walk away with some truly quality footage.

[Jayboflavin04]

find someone with a flip video camcorder. They are pretty resonably prices, and from what I here take some decent footage. Just an option.

[dla]

A good friend of mine from the trail last year took almost exclusively video, I think from a regular digital camera. He then had enough footage to put together some really memorable and amazing movies, set to music and posted on facebook. I have 2,000+ pictures and plan a slideshow project of my own, but I don't think I'll be able to match the impact of those videos simply because they have simple, everyday scenes from the trail.

So that got me thinking of carrying an actual video camera. Has anyone done this, and what are your experiences? I think one problem is people get intimidated by video cameras. But I found this (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-Vixia-HF11-Camcorder-Review-35436.htm), which is one of the high end ones for 15 ounces, so you could definitely walk away with some truly quality footage.

My son uses http://www.aiptek.com/ an HDV21X for low-end HD recording. I say "low-end" because the camera lacks image stabilization and the low-light capability is mediocre. But it is $500 less than what you are looking at from Cannon. It works just fine and produces some nice memories.

Personally I think that HD cams are in their infancy and I would wait a bit before spending a big bucket of money. By the way, be aware that not all SDHC cards are created equal and that the Aiptek cam requires a pretty fast card to keep up.

[brooklynkayak]

This is what I use.
It takes good, not professional, pictures, video and is waterproof.
Most cameras in this price range don't do good with distant objects as they only have 3x zoom. This camera has 5x zoom.
I find most of my outdoor shots are distant so I want the zoom. The waterproof aspect is really important.

Home many shots did you miss because of weather?

How many cameras have you killed because of water damage?

Spare batteries and memory cards are light and cheap. Maybe do a whole thru-hike without need to recharge or upload files.

http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-VPC-E1-Waterproof-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B000QSNQ9S

[joshua5878]

I am packing a small digital camera and putting my camcorder in our bounce box... No the way, a way..

[brooklynkayak]

PS The old version is only $180 at this time:
http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-VPC-E2-Digital-Camcorder-Camera/dp/B001DQRBSY/ref=dp_cp_ob_p_title_0

These are great for outdoor activities, the older one as well.

[Skidsteer]

My son uses http://www.aiptek.com/ an HDV21X for low-end HD recording. I say "low-end" because the camera lacks image stabilization and the low-light capability is mediocre. But it is $500 less than what you are looking at from Cannon. It works just fine and produces some nice memories.

Personally I think that HD cams are in their infancy and I would wait a bit before spending a big bucket of money. By the way, be aware that not all SDHC cards are created equal and that the Aiptek cam requires a pretty fast card to keep up.

The Aiptek products are a decent compromise between video, photo, and price. I started using this one (http://www.aiptek.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=HDV21X&Category_Code=HDC&Store_Code=AS) last Summer.

It takes 8 MP photos:

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/6/7/7/9/albert_mt._noc_to_dick_s_creek_july_2008_050_thumb .jpg (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=26280&c=favorites)

And HD video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5oY1ZBWDuE).

Very low light is tough but I like that there are separate buttons for photo and video.

The price is right and it does the job. Mine weighs 7.2 ounces.

[ChinMusic]

This is what I use.
It takes good, not professional, pictures, video and is waterproof.
Most cameras in this price range don't do good with distant objects as they only have 3x zoom. This camera has 5x zoom.
I find most of my outdoor shots are distant so I want the zoom. The waterproof aspect is really important.

Home many shots did you miss because of weather?

How many cameras have you killed because of water damage?

Spare batteries and memory cards are light and cheap. Maybe do a whole thru-hike without need to recharge or upload files.

http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-VPC-E1-Waterproof-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B000QSNQ9S

Thanks for the link. If I were doing a thru this year, I would def consider this item.

[sticks&stones]

I carried a video camera on my first thru hike in 96, got 30 hours of digital footage over the 8 months i was out there, destroyed 3 video cameras in the process. It sits in a box untouched to this day. If you carry a vid cam with a hard drive and 16.9 you can upload vids to youtube in HD widescreen for free.

[streakerofAT]

i did

[Franco]

A word of warning here, The Canon HF 11 is good enough for a keen amateur, the other cameras mentioned in the thread are good enogh (obviously) for their users but would not satisfy someone that is into photography a bit more than just wanting to record the event.
Of course if you end up living a camera at home because you are afraid of damaging it , at that point any camera that you take is better.
Some thoughts on the Sanyo :
http://lighthiker.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/sanyo-who/ (http://lighthiker.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/sanyo-who/)
Franco

[Wise Old Owl]

Hey just do it!

[ChinMusic]

A word of warning here, The Canon HF 11 is good enough for a keen amateur, the other cameras mentioned in the thread are good enogh (obviously) for their users but would not satisfy someone that is into photography a bit more than just wanting to record the event.
Of course if you end up living a camera at home because you are afraid of damaging it , at that point any camera that you take is better.
Some thoughts on the Sanyo :
http://lighthiker.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/sanyo-who/ (http://lighthiker.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/sanyo-who/)
Franco

I do sports photography as a hobby. I have lots of equipment I would NEVER take simply because it is to heavy. I will take my Canon Mark II N for a trip to Glacier or Alaska as I view this kind of trip as a photo-trip.

For a thru, no way. This would not be the time to take my "good stuff", not because the stuff is too good, but because it is just too heavy.

The idea of a video/still at under 8oz that is waterproof gets my interest. Granted that this will NOT be National Geographic quality but you will get the shots you want/need.

[Tipi Walter]

Vids are great on a backpacking trip and I've been using my low quality Sony Cybershot for stuff, but most of the time a still fotog is needed and required on places like Trail Journals and other online venues. Since I have a dial-up service, posting vids is nigh impossible w/o a long wait and so I vote for still shots, at least until I can come up with a better system. Stills can be easily inserted into trip reports and tell a quick concise story w/o the waiting for video. Here on Whiteblaze when I post a trip report there doesn't even seem to be a way to post vids, so I'll stick with still shots.

I've thought about having a head-mounted video camera while backpacking, just press a button and keep walking. I know nothing about video cameras, but my Sony won't tolerate movement while filming--jerky as heck. Perhaps the hand-helds are better. Much better?

[Franco]

Still cameras and jerky images.
The brief version of an explanation is that still cameras use a much more aggressive compression ( less information/detail) than dedicated video cameras.
This is rapidly changing with the introduction of cheaper high capacity flash memory cards, IE 8GB...
Generally speaking the type of lens/sensor and ergonomics used on a dedicated video camera are better suited to capturing a moving image (video) conversely are not that good at grabbing stills.
Up to a point the larger the file per minute, the more information you have and the higher the image quality will be.
(As it is when you drop the file size on your still camera).
For quality video whilst moving, I would recommend a video camera with an optical stabiliser and with the lens set at the widest point ( a wide converter will help here)
Next , a video camera with a digital stabiliser (you need to do some research here because with some of them you are better of not using the DS) and maybe more practical for most, you could look at a lipstick/helmet type camera like the Elmo SUV or the cheaper but usable Hero camera.
You can get pretty good clips from still cameras like the Pana LX3 if you do not zoom , pan very slowly and don't move.
Franco

[Tennessee Viking]

The Flipo and Aiptek are not worth getting unless you are looking for something cheap for some really short video shooting.

The main problem with video cameras right now is that they are bulky and fragile. Have at most 1hr battery life with the included battery. Some are still on Firewire connections which isn't easy to find at a hostel or library.

The HardDrive camcorders seem to be the better choice with no tapes. DVDs and DV tapes you will have to send home after you fill them up.

[brooklynkayak]

The Flipo and Aiptek are not worth getting unless you are looking for something cheap for some really short video shooting.

The main problem with video cameras right now is that they are bulky and fragile. Have at most 1hr battery life with the included battery. Some are still on Firewire connections which isn't easy to find at a hostel or library.

The HardDrive camcorders seem to be the better choice with no tapes. DVDs and DV tapes you will have to send home after you fill them up.

I agree, the Sanyo that I mention earlier allows over an hour of video on each card and the cards are cheap. The photo quality is high res. and the waterproof factor means your not going to kill it if you dump your pack in the river. It is reasonably light and small.

I have used mine under water many times and have dropped it several times from 4 to 6 feet and it is still going strong. It's not perfect, but price, durability, waterproofness, 5x lens, high res snapshots, size, weight and reasonable video quality, makes it my camera of choice.

If you go to my blog you can see it's under water performance.

[Wags]

i actually thought about this while i was out this weekend.

"hmm it would be pretty cool to just keep a video trail journal - maybe record 30 seconds of thoughts at the end of the day or do a little shot during lunch"

i think it's a great idea, but i'll just wait 5 years for technology to surpass itself 15 times over and handheld video cameras will be cheap and good

[Miner]

I started carrying a Canon HF100 camcorder this past year (same thing as a HF10 with no internal memory and slightly below the HF11 in video quality). But I didn't carry it instead of my Canon G9 camera, but with it since the photos taken with the HF100 aren't nearly as detailed (<3Megapixel in size). But it took good enough photos for most people's need. I carried both since I still had a baseweight on all my trips of under 13lbs and I was testing the whole camcorder concept in preperation for a thru-hike as I wasn't sure I wanted to go that route. I waterproof stuff sack to carry it off a shoulder strap (with a velcro top) so it would be at the ready easily. I kept some large ziplocks to put it in, incase of a hard rain/river ford as extra insurance. I was pretty pleased with how it worked out for me.

However, for my thru-hike I will be upgrading to Canon's New HF S10/100 camcorders that are due out next month. With its 8MegPixel sensor for photos, I will be leaving the camera behind this year and just taking the camcorder (assuming the picture quality is as good as what I'm expecting).

[Miner]

I waterproof stuff sack to carry it off a shoulder strap (with a velcro top) so it would be at the ready easily. I have no idea how that got so messed up. I was trying to say that I made a waterproof stuff sack that had a few small pieces of velcro to close the top up. I carried it attached to my right shoulder strap via 2 elastic loops sewn into the sack and a saftey pin to keep it from sliding down. The small size of the camcorder and its 14oz weight allowed it to ride there comfortably. If you don't carry a camera/camcorder where you can get to it easily, you should just leave it at home since you will miss most shots that you want.

[ynos]

If you're not sure which one is best, checking out the Camcorder Ratings (http://www.smartratings.com/photography/camcorders) might be worthwhile. The expert reviews are very helpful in getting acquainted about certain products. Many found it cool.