Whats a good camcorder for skateboarding?

Question

cheap price

fisheye lens compatibility

good quality

able to put on the computer

Answer 1

Well, cheap and good are always at odds... and then, what do you mean by "cheap". For me, a cheap video camera would be anything under $500, based on the cost of those I own... some others might think my $2500 camcorder was cheap.

But anyway, some guidelines. If you're just shooting off-board, any old digital camcorder will do the job, and let you transfer video to the computer (crunch it down for YouTube, etc). If you want to do some helmet-cam shots, you're probably better off avoiding optical image stabilization, and definitely stay away from Hard Disc Drive and DVD camcorders... they don't take bumps well all the time.

Your best bet might be a flash-memory based camcorder, since there are few moving parts. Any "serious" camcorder will have a filter thread, usually 37mm on a camcorder -- this is where you usually attach accessory lenses, like wide angles or fish-eyes.

Most camcorders these days will give you roughly DVD quality video. Tape-based are currently delivering slightly better quality, but you have to "play" the tape into the PC using Firewire. Flash-based let you run a high-speed file transfer from your camcorder over USB, or drop a flash card into a reader on your PC (my laptop has an SD reader; I use this all the time to transfer photos and videos from my pocket camera and pocket audio recorder).

If I were you, I would check out the Canon FS-100. This uses SD or SDHC memory cards, and runs around $350. This is for Standard Definition video, not hi-def, but it's fine for making DVDs or most on-line video. Should be rugged, and with excellent picture quality.

Watch out for cheap Chinese flash-based, like those from Apitek and others. These are often promising great things for $100 or so, but their quality is pretty bad.

Answer 2

Sony DCR-Vx 2100