New advice on camcorder/camera combo choices? High quality pics are priority.Video (new baby) is key too!?!?

Question

I know this question has been asked/answered but are there NEW models that should be considered? What's the BEST (light-weight, preferably) camcorder that I can get great photos from? And vice-versa, what's the best camera that takes fairly long (really good) videos?

Answer 1

Don't use flash light directly ,it damages babies vision.Use bounce flash or use available light.For High quality pictures you will need SLR.

Wish you a Happy & SAFE parenting.

Answer 2

You really need to decide which one you want: camcoder or still camera. While each sort has modes that mimic the other, it's pretty rare to find one that does the other's job as well.

I got myself a Panasonic DMC-TZ5 early this year, which is not bad. Of course, my goal was a pocket camera for when I didn't really want to bring along my DSLR or my HDV camcorders, and I can report without question, the TZ5 is not as good a still camera as my Canon DSLR, and it's not as good a video camera as either HDV (Sony and Canon).

However, for a point and shoot, it's a pretty good still camera... 9Mpixel shots, very clever auto exposure modes, optical image stabilization, support for big SDHC memory cards, and 10:1 zoom extended well into wide angle.

For video, it does 1280x720 in AVC format... that's not "full" high definition, but it does qualify as HD. There's more artifacting that you would see in HDV, but it's generally better than standard definition video. Because of the AVC compression, you can record something like 16 minutes of video... that's up to 2GB clips. Of course, you can put multiple such clips on a large memory card (I have an 8GB card in there now, it should work at least up to 32GB). Sound on this, like most still cameras, is mono-only, and through a tiny microphone... not too good. This is one of the few still cameras that's fully functional in video mode... zoom still zooms, autofocus still autofocuses (though unfortunately, it still works like still camera autofocus, it does more quick seeks than a camcorder ought to when recording).

I took my small Canon HV10 camcorder on a 2-week backpacking trip last summer, and used it as a still camera as well. At 3Mpixel, the stills were decent enough when printed to 4x6 snapshot photos, but they're be all but worthless enlarged much more.

A few companies have tried to make a true still/video hybrid. Canon delivered the TX1 a few years ago, which was basically a still camera with video mode that looked like a camcorder, but didn't really excel at either function.

Casio has had a few larger "EVF" type still cameras with supposedly excellent video modes. I have no first-hand experience with these, but they're probably worth looking at. Some of these have stereo mics and at least decent sound quality (I'm kind of an audio snob... I'm not happy with any in-camera mic, but I think it's suggested these rival the built-in mics on most camcorders).

Their latest is the EX-F1, which might be the first to do both well... and at about a grand, it ought to. This looks like an "EVF" camera... same shape as a DSLR, but with both electronic viewfinder and back-panel LCD. This is a 6Mpixel still camera, not terribly impressive by today's standards, but fine for most uses. But it can also record full 1080i or 720p video... possibly the only still camera to do full 1080i today, in AVCHD format. And then there's the crazy stuff... this one can do lower resolutions at 300fps, 600fps, and 1200fps.. that's super slow motion that, until this model, didn't exist outside of expensive specialized gear.

Again, I haven't used this personally, but if I were looking for an "all-in-one" that actually did the all-in-one thing well, I would have to look into this model.

Avoid Aiptek, Mustek, and other cheap Chinese "all in one" cameras, which at best seem to succeed at delivering both bad video and bad stills. At least those from reputable companies manage to do at least one of these things well.