# Good Video/Still Camera?



## Fishly (Jan 8, 2010)

I might be getting a digital camera for my birthday/christmas present this year, but I'm not sure whether I want a still camera, a video camera, or a combination camera. And I know nothing about cameras or photography, so I don't know what to ask for. Since so many of you seem to have great pictures, I was hoping you could make some recommendations.

I mostly want to take pictures/videos of my aquariums, the sky (usually at dusk/dawn), DIY tutorials (which usually need detail shots), and my dogs. One thing I know I don't want is the kind of camera that waits a second to take a picture after you press the button. The budget is probably around $200, maybe more if I chip in (up to $400 total).

So, any suggestions? I think a combination camera would be best, but is there one that wouldn't be a sacrifice of quality for quantity?


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## eser21 (Apr 19, 2011)

well for that sort of price you are looking at a compact.. as im in rip off britain you can certainly get them cheaper in the states.
i read a lot of tech mags and find the best way to buy something is go back 6-8 issues (months) and pick up there best buys and recommended's (great product, reduced price)
Sothe best camera i really have hand on experience with is the panasonic lumix tz8, this was a best in class in January, a friend bought it and is extremely happy. Good lens, powerful zoom, well set out and great pictures. It was £177 ($250?) in jan so can prob get it cheaper now.
Id steer clear of sony cameras, while they still take good pictures you pay a lot for the name and very rarely do you see great sony reviews...
Finding a camera for that money you will have to sacrifice something and as a rule it will be 1080p video, dont focus on pixels too much as unless you are printing in more than A3 then you wont be able to see the difference, better to have less pixels and a better processor/ sensor. 
Now some people will say squeeze your budget a little but doing this normally means that you end up compromising the overall quality because by squeezing you end up with the worst of the next level camera, and in all honesty you are most likely to use the video on youtube or such like and the difference in 720 or 1080 is negligible unless viewed on a large screen.
If i was to buy a new camera it would be this one or definitely one of the panasonic range. They consistently deliver great cameras or possibly a nikon.
If you want to spend some time researching a good start is go on flea bay and buy a 6 month old digital photography magazine... never buy new releases as invariably they have issues that are rectified after a few months... that goes for most tech..
good luck


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

Newegg usually has some great sales for good cameras if you manage to catch them....however they're usually sold out within a few hours of the sale release, so catching them is the only hard part. If you check your email frequently, just subscribe to their ads.


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## dodohead (Jan 11, 2010)

for your budget, i'd get a regular pocket camera. some of them have 720p or 1080p video now! thats pretty neat. plus it has macro capability for close up pictures

frames per second might be lacking though, typically they're about 1 pic per second or less, and depending on if you use flash or not. 

i saw a nifty canon pocket camera at the store.. i forgot the model number but its... something 300.... it has 1080p video and costs about $250


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## dwc13 (Dec 15, 2010)

I've limited my comments to a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and Digicam, given your price points. 

There will be tradeoffs when using a single device to take both still and video images because the underlying technologies, despite ongoing efforts to converge, are still different. Optical zoom on a typical DVR is at least 18x and often 24x, 30x, or more while shooting at least 30fps (even at higher resolutions such as 1080p, if device is capable). Digicams typically have 4x, 5x, or in some cases advertised 10x/12x optical zoom but when shooting video, especially fast-moving subjects, the electronics often cannot adjust quickly (or quietly) enough. In addition, many Digicams will not shoot video at 30fps+ at higher resolutions (1080p, 720p), meaning the video quality is inferior to that from a DVR. The flip side is a decent Digicam will allow you much, much greater flexibility to "fine tune" a still shot (ISO, white balance, "shutter" speed, etc.) than you could do with a DVR. Finally, as far as audio quality is concerned, the mic in a DVR is vastly superior to anything a Digicam has.

The question to you is what are you going to take more of (now and in the future) -- still images or video? And what is more important quality-wise -- still images or video? Note that it is far more time consuming to edit video @30fps (or higher) than a still image, given the sheer number of video frames that might have to be processed. If you're not completely satisified with the still image from a Digicam, you can easily post-process the single image using Photoshop/Photoshop Elements or other appropriate software. If you shoot a 2 minute video at 15fps, that's a lot of frames (@1,800) to look at and possibly correct.


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