Digital camera VS. Digital Camcorder?

[de8212]

I have been in the market for a digital camera for far too long. I just can't make up my mind if I want a 300.00 one or an 800.00 one or something in between. I was glancing through the best buy ads and I see that didgital camcorders have better specs (ie 10x or 20x optical zoom) than most of the digital cameras (3x or 4x optical). And the camcorders can also take still pics. Also the prices are only about 499.00 or so.
Am I missing something here or wouldn't it be better to get a camcorder? The only disadvantage I can thin kof would be the size but I'm not too worried about that.
I just want people's opinions, I don't want to go to dprevew and read reviews all day long. I've done that.
What's your take on this?
de

 

[Boogak]

If I'm not mistaken, most of the digital camcorders in the market currently only take low res still pix (less than 1.3 megapixel I think). If you want quality still pictures, stick with a true digital camera.

 

[perlmonger]

de8212,

I also had been looking for a digital camera for quite some time. I didn't really have the $800+ dollars to spend on a "good" digital camera and I wanted a video camera as well. So I ended up buying a JVC GRDVL 815-U video camera that will take digital stills. I bought the JVC because it had the highest resolution CCD in the price range I wanted to spend. (I bought it online for around $520 USD) The JVC I bought had the 680,000 pixel CCD whereas most others in this price range and higher had only 480,000 pixel CCD's. There is also a JVC model that has a 1+ megapixel CCD but it lacks many of the features I wanted in a video camera. I knew going in that the digital stills would be pretty low quality because of the low CCD resolution, but it works pretty good for e-mail or web type pics.
The images are not high enough in resolution to be much good for anything else however. Even for web shots and email I still have to use Photoshop to clean them up a little. All in all, I'm happy with the camera for my purposes. I will eventually be getting a "good" digital still camera, but this unit is great for capturing a quick still pic of the kids to email to grandma etc.. For Video, I am very happy with this camera, It has many features and takes beautiful video. I guess it just depends on what you expect from the still images. I don't think there is a video/still unit out there at any price that takes stills as well as a moderately priced digital still camera.

Hope this helps.

 

[SomeGuy03]

I agree with Boogak. The camcorders dont take high res pics like digital cameras.

We got a Canon Powershot G4 for XMAS, it's pretty cool. Can make 30 second videos with it, then hook it right up to my USB and have the movie on my computer within a few mintues from when I started shooting it.

 

[John P]

Basically a high end digital camera can take low res video and a medium/high end digital camcorder can take low res stills.

Unless you are a professional I would recommend first getting a $500-$700 mini-dv digital camcorder and some editing/burning software with a firewire card so you can edit and burn your own videos. You still have the option of capturing stills from the video or using the photo feature of the camcorder, although they will be low quality. For example I spent $660 on a Canon ZR30MC, $79 on Studio DV and $29 on Pinnacle Express and I can capture/edit videos and burn them as SVCD's. (An SVCD is similar to a DVD with menus and all but only holds 35 minutes of video). I use the still capture feature on the camcorder to get pictures to use for the SVCD menu background and the CD label.

Then take $300-$400 and get yourself a decent digital camera with 2-3X optical zoom.

Then you can do it all!! Have fun.....