Digital camera and Digital video camera

[brikis98]

I feel like the answer will be no... but is there any camera out there that can take high quality digital photographs and also shoot high quality digital video?

 

[josh6079]

As far as high-quality digital photos, my DMC-LX1 is great. It also can record some clips that are pretty good in quality, but nothing compared to a good digital camcorder. Really though if you want the best of both, you'll probably have to get one for photos and one for videos. If you get something that tries to be good at both, the photos and the videos will end up being medicore instead of one or the other being really good.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: josh6079
As far as high-quality digital photos, my DMC-LX1 is great. It also can record some clips that are pretty good in quality, but nothing compared to a good digital camcorder. Really though if you want the best of both, you'll probably have to get one for photos and one for videos. If you get something that tries to be good at both, the photos and the videos will end up being medicore instead of one or the other being really good.

is that because video cameras and photographic cameras have totally different types of lenses?

 

[gsellis]

They are just radically different. There is some Hitachi or Samsung hybrid that has two lenses and does both, but it is kind of clunky. The Canon HV10 and Panasonic GS500 do 4MP and above stills. But it really is what you want to do with them. If just for the web, stills from a video camera are ok.

This is a pic from a Sony VX2100 3CCD video camera

This is a cropped and reduced pic from a Pani FZ30 still (8mp source)

Same pic zoomed - could not do this with my top end SD video camera