Best Camcorder on Ice

[icejunky]

hey guys, Im  in the market for a camcorder to take out on the ice...Im seeing some pretty sweet videos here and wondered what everyone was using and that they think is a must have in a camcorder...I have been looking at the HD camcorders but was told I would need an external harddirve as well ...whats your thoughts

[icejunky]

anyone, anyone..come on guys I see a ton of videos, what are you using to make them?

[ULTRAlite]

Next purchase is going to be a Sony Mini Dv with the Carl Zeiss lens.  They take immaculate pictures so I'm gonna try the camcorder.  Just been using the video feature on my point and click Olympus Stylus SW.

[wedkarz]

if you're looking at doing any video editing on your computer at all, go for a Mini DV camera. i've got a buddy that has made award winning videos and he told me mini DV is the way to go for most amateur videographers

[tjm]

pretty much any cam and editing software combo will do...unless you're truly looking for 'professional' results then you're into a whole new can of worms... ...

[Ed_r]

Not sure of the make , but a guy I used to fish with ( I moved away) had a camcorder that had a remote mounted lens. So the recorder portion could bein your pocket, and the lens portion could be attached to a hat or baseball cap. Was pretty neat for making single person vids so you can have 2 hands free.

Just an FYI I have the Panasonic SDR-H40, while its not HD it is a hard drive camcorder. I used it this summer to take vids of my son pitching and they had GREAT detail when I showed them on my 42" LCD tv. I'm sure an HD camcorder would be incredible, but after i saw the video I wasn't really left deflated that I didn't get an HD camcorder, was pretty satisfied with it.

Would like to get a cheap one to take out fishing, cuz I'm sure the wife would throw a fit if I took this one out fishing.lol

[ALASKANSS]

sony is tough to beat,only problem is they have to many models to pick from,wait a minute, ill go get mine
ok im back,its a sony handycam dcr-dvd108,this one was not to expensive close to entry level,400.00 i think,anyway it works well.

[Ed_r]

Here is a link tho the hat cam. Looks like it uses your camcorder. Pretty neat.http://www.actionsportscam.com/hands%20free.htm

[Muskymod]

I also use the Panasonic HDD 40.....it's a great unit and unlike Sony's comparable unit, it has image stabilization....I haven't used this recorder on the ice yet, but I did test it last month......If your looking to produce award winning videos, the editing software is equally important.

http://www.billyclubusa.com/pl.html

[pjwatson05]

I use a sony high def, HDR-SR5, it has a 40 gig hard drive, carl zesis lense and it's tough to beat for the price.  Check out ebay, you can get brand new ones for a really good deal.  I have used mine to video tape bowhunts and several other things, it works great.  http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665089060

As far as editing software you can't beat pinnacle studio plus, this resolves all the other issues that other editing software has, just make sure to get the Plus or Ultimate version, the standard version does not edit HD video the other 2 do.
http://pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+Family/

There is a reason over 90% of the action sports use Sony cams, they are by far the best. There are some good rivials made by diffrent companies, but overall Sony blows everyone out of the water.

My camera shoots Standard or High Defenition.  Here's a video of one of my hunts in the Lowest setting on Standard Defenition.  It has image stabilization and every feature that a professional grade camera does.  Only the cheapest camers from sony don't have image stabilization. 

Also invest in a tripod, they are an awsome thing to have.  Have the camera on pointed where you want it and use the remote to turn it on and record, don't have to move at all.  8)

[ctfishermanct]

nice

[jbird68]

I picked up a JVC HDD camera with 30GB of memory at Wal Mart for $250. I got it on Black Friday. I didn't want to mess with tapes or DVD for media. I wanted to be able to edit my videos to cut and paste parts I didn't want to keep. So far it works great. I will post something when I get done editing my next video. The software isn't that bad either. It has an option to save as a wen streaming video, but it really pixelated the video. I found a program on the net where I can convert it to a flash video file, which made the file size smaller and still had decent image quality.

[Doug D]

I shoot video for a white water rafting company off and on. We use cheap mini-dv camera's in the $500 range. We use cheap because of the abuse they go through. I have used sony, panasonic and jvc. I like the sony the best. It fit the best in my hand and was easiest to operate.  They all shoot good clear video. We used to edit on a system where the video would go from the camera to a mixer to a titlemaker to a recording deck by the time the video went through everything it would be a bit grainy. We now use a computer to edit and the picture is crystal clear. We also show the video's with a projector on the wall so it gets blown up roughly 8-10' wide by 4-5' tall and it is still nice and clear. When its cold the batteries do not last long at all so you might want to consider buying  a bigger battery then the one supplied.

[hankthecrank]

I use a Sony DCR-HC52, using Windows Movie Maker, I have created some nice,IMO videos, here is one of them: