camera recommendations

[Fish-or-man?]

Well, turns out shooting fishing videos is pretty fun and rewarding!

By the end of the year, I would like to upgrade from my 2007 mini-VHS tape sony handycam to something digital that shoots real HD. Regardless of whether you shoot fishing videos or not (but obviosuly I'd love to hear from Mike and OneShot!), what kind of camera to do use, and do you like it?

I like the handycam, so my initial throught is to just upgrade to the 1080p HD handycam. Largely due to affordability!

[natetreat]

There are some really cool all terrain cameras that are waterproof and shock proof. http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMC-TS2 ... B00395YA40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's what I picked up. I like it a lot, it shoot 1080 and you can shove it under the water without it dying!

[Mike Carey]

well, our set up is a go-pro for underwater/wet shots and for everything else we use Canon Vixia HF10 with a boof attachment to improve the sound. The go-pro takes nice footage but the waterproof cover totally kills the sound. I imagine if you take it out of the cover for non-wet shots it would be acceptable, but not great. Maybe oneshot has more experience with the go-pro.

I would not worry about built in memory, in fact, my recommendation is to get minimal built in memory. The camcorder will be cheaper. I would then buy several 8gb SD cards which will allow you to swap and shot, definately the way to go IMO.

For internet footage I think any HD camcorder will do the job. Long as you aren't planning on making DVDs or going TV on us.

[The Quadfather]

I recently bought the GoPro Hero2. While I"m still a total novice with it, I can tell you to not be completely taken back because of audio concerns. Yes, the waterproof case does suck in regards to quality audio. But it kicks butt underwater. How much sound collection to you really want underwater?

They make a "Skeleton case" that is virtually the same, except it has small holes that allow for access to the incoming ports, audio mic, etc. There is a pretty cool Sony Mic that you can get, see link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZbIbJcZ_0s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am ordering one as soon as I hit the send button on this post.

The Skeleton case will protect the camera while in active use, but using the Sony mic makes quite a better differance in Audio, from what I can hear on the link video.
I too am looking forward to hearing Oneshot's ideas. He uses a the GoPro and I believe, The Contour camera I think.

[oneshot]

1st. do not buy a steady pic cam to do video. buy a VIDEO cam that has still image capability.
2nd. most decent HD cams have an external mic plugin.. for what you do, you will benefit from a external mic. ( i am ghetto, wish i had this setup)
3rd. start out with something not to expensive, I have broken a bunch of cameras learning how to care for them or dropping them in snow, water etc.. or smashing them crashing my snowboard or snowmobile.. there are a ton of 1080 cams out there for the regular consumer to start out with,on the cheaper side..GoPro

right now, all i use is 1 older 960HD GoPro, i shoot in 720 and 1 ContourHD ROAM http://contour.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I use them both at the same time for multiple angles, A LOT! however, I am starting to care more about Audio these days and this setup is terrible for audio, but i think i might pick up asmall mic for the gopro and use the open case more. what is cool though is having one or a couple of these along with a decent handheld HD cam to get multiple angles., just use the audio from your handheld.

also, having a cam that does 60fps is super nice too.. i broke mine.. :( haha..

if i wasn't buying another snowmobile, just bought a boat, etc... i'd buy a more pro HD cam and mic setup, next yr!!!

feel free to pm me for any other tips or edit questions

[Mike Carey]

I think we agree, having two camcorders is a nice luxury. The Go-Pro for us is always set to go under water fast for that unexpected bonus footage. And the Canon is geared up for the quality interview type stuff.

BTW, here is a link to the boom I was talking about. It's a little pricey but worth every penny in audio improvement:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-2591B002-Di ... im_sbs_p_1

Last year we bought remote clip on mics as an option . You can hear it in work on the video I did with Uncle Wes:

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/WatchVideoHD.aspx?id=149

It wasn't the best to say the least. Static and loss of signal if we didn't have direct line of site. And totally useless to clip on another person and try to do an interview. They would sound great but the interviewer lost audio bad. So unless you are doing everything solo I would stay away from the clip on mics. The boom works amazingly well.

I rember it was just 3-4 years ago that YouTube started allowing HD video and HD camcorders dropped in price. Technology is advancing amazingly fast as always.

[Fish-or-man?]

Thanks a ton everyone! Very helpful and thorough responses-- more than I could of hoped for! I'll defininitely be re-reading this thread as I save up some money, and ask for advice if I'm in a fog.