Can some one point to me a good camcorder with a HUGE zoom under $2k?

Question

Or just a good camera to shoot football games from the press box with? I don't need to record on to tape, it's going to be ran through a switcher for broadcast. Maybe a great camera with a lot of lens options? Widescreen or HD would be nice also.

Answer 1

//////////

try Pansonic or Sony

Answer 2

Most consumer camcorders can record in 4:3 or 16:9.

The Canon ZR family all do at least 40x zoom. They are all standard definition. They can all do 4:3 or 16:9. You did not tell us which switcher you will be using - the low-end ones will use composite (RCA or BNC) connectors. That means analog - which means it really does not matter if the camcorder can do HD.

If the video switcher is a decent one, it will do DV or firewire connection from the camera.

http://firestore.com/solutions/catalog.a...

In order to take advantage of high definition, the switcher needs to be designed/built to handle that

http://firestore.com/solutions/catalog.a...

When you move into HD camcorders, the entry level are the Canon HV20, HV30, Sony HDR-HC7 and HC9. They are all in the less than 15x optical zoom. You can add a tele lens, but typically, this is only 2x more - so still less than the 40x of the Canon ZR cams.

The next step up for high definition will be a big one... Sony HDR-FX1, FX7, Canon XHA1. The reason I am staying with miniDV tape cams is because they all do DV/firewire/IEEE1394a - which is what you need for the HD switcher. The hard drive and flash memory cams typically do not do firewire, so it would be analog (composite - no HD) only from them into the switcher.

How do the folks on TV do it? They generally use broadcast cameras - not camcorders.

http://www.usa.canon.com/html/industrial...

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadca...

http://www.ikegami.com/br/products/sdtv/...

and the trailer is FULL of high-end switching, recording gear - generally in the millions of $... and audio is picked up separately - no connection to the broadcast cameras... There are some cameras used for on-field interviews

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadca...

but they typically do not store anything locally in the camera...