Digital Camera vs. Digital Camcorder

[travlen]

I would like a camera to take with me snowboarding (smaller the better) and be able to shoot 640 x 480 videos.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

-Travis

 

[imported_Mike]

If you're going for video, get a camcorder. Most of the digital cameras have crappy video and are limited in time.

 

[vegetation]

The only camera that takes good video is the Canon S1. Full 640x480 30fps without time restriction and full use of its 10x zoom lens even while recording. Uses CF memory so you can find large sizes for cheap.

 

[QueBert]

the Sony W1 does 640x480, awesome video quality. Believe it's only limited by your Memory Stick size. The new Fuji S5100 does 640x480 too. And if I'm not mistaken the new Panasonic Lumix also does VGA. A Digital camera isn't going to give you anywhere near the features of a Camcorder for shooting video though. If you're looking for size, the w1 is really small. I'd imagine it would take horribly choppy video if you shot while snow bording *dunno though*

 

[yhelothar]

My friend showed me a VGA video he took with his VERY small and compact SD300. The video quality was stunning! It was DVD quality.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: vegetation
The only camera that takes good video is the Canon S1. Full 640x480 30fps without time restriction and full use of its 10x zoom lens even while recording. Uses CF memory so you can find large sizes for cheap.

I :heart: my S1 IS. One correction though - it's not completely time unrestricted as far as video goes. I believe the limit is 1 hour or 1GB, whichever comes first. At full 640x480 fine (at 30fps), that's just under ten minutes. However, for what I use the camera for, I never need continuous shots of longer than that anyway. I have a 5GB Seagate Microdrive in the camera (4.6GB "actual" capacity), and it serves me much better than a camcorder would (since I tend to shoot pics more than video). 🙂