Camcorders

I'll level with you lads; I'm looking for a camcorder but have no idea what I should be going for.
Anybody have one they would recommend? The priorities are:

1- As close to free as possible
2- Good audio recording quality. The images can look like shit, I just need it to pick up voice and music clearly.

Can you explain your intentions with this camera

a) for my now peaked curiosity

b) and so we can better help decide which model is right for you

I picked up a decent priced Canon a few months ago, and it carried out the job of filming my first short film very well. It's a no-frills Firewire DVcam, but it was easy to use.

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/5125721/Canon-MD205-Mini-DV-Digital-Camcorder/Product.html

Regarding audio - I'd reccomend an external mic. Chat to Major though, he is more clued up on this topic than I am.

Seany C wrote:Can you explain your intentions with this camera

a) for my now peaked curiosity

b) and so we can better help decide which model is right for you

I thought you'd have guessed, it's for my soon-to-be-up-on-Youtube-hopefully faux gangsta raps.

"Though I'm not a boatful fella man, I gotta say
I beat a pussy 'til she call the RSPCA
I chase skirt, pursue shorts, and hunt down jeans
Get 'em wetter than unfortunate low-lying areas of New Orleans
I got dishes on tap, and they tell me "Just holla, boss"
Come over looking good, all made up like the holocaust
By which of course I mean that dem bitches are fine
And those numbers of Jews weren't even alive at the time"

And so on.

a + rep if I ever saw one

Personally, I'd never touch a camcorder myself. They generally have poor audio recording capabilities and have far too many automated functions to achieve film like images. But, seeing you need something cheap, I'll outline some of basics.

HD or not HD?

HD sounds great on paper. Better image quality which will look squeaky clean on most television sets. And for the most part HD is pretty great, but don't go thinking that a camcorder will give you anything that looks like "real" HD. For an example of what an HD camera worth £6000 can do add me on Facebook and watch Fem Steg. It's a small step up, but not a revolution, even at that price.

Also, there's a major problem with HD for the average consumer. Todays computers are not quite up to speed when it comes to HD editing and most struggle to even export the stuff, let alone edit it. Unless your PC is very recent and powerful consider avoiding HD. It can cause headaches, trust me.

As for sound, you'll never have great audio on a camcorder, mainly because most won't let you adjust the ingoing max and cause high noises to escalate over 0 DB distorting your audio. If you find any that support external microphones go for them, anything is better than the built in stuff. You'll get little clarity and absolutely no bass.

I've gotta dash, but I'll give you some more advice later.

Kaptain Kaviar wrote:Personally, I'd never touch a camcorder myself. They generally have poor audio recording capabilities and have far too many automated functions to achieve film like images. But, seeing you need something cheap, I'll outline some of basics.

HD or not HD?

HD sounds great on paper. Better image quality which will look squeaky clean on most television sets. And for the most part HD is pretty great, but don't go thinking that a camcorder will give you anything that looks like "real" HD. For an example of what an HD camera worth £6000 can do add me on Facebook and watch Fem Steg. It's a small step up, but not a revolution, even at that price.

Also, there's a major problem with HD for the average consumer. Todays computers are not quite up to speed when it comes to HD editing and most struggle to even export the stuff, let alone edit it. Unless your PC is very recent and powerful consider avoiding HD. It can cause headaches, trust me.

As for sound, you'll never have great audio on a camcorder, mainly because most won't let you adjust the ingoing max and cause high noises to escalate over 0 DB distorting your audio. If you find any that support external microphones go for them, anything is better than the built in stuff. You'll get little clarity and absolutely no bass.

I've gotta dash, but I'll give you some more advice later.

Cheers.
HD gets a large "hells no" from me, I have no interest in video quality, never the amount which necessitates High Definition.
What's the alternative to a camcorder? My guess is it'll be out of my price range regardless; this is just a small personal project which I don't want to require a massive outlay. Let me reiterate: quality isn't a massive deal, I just want people to be able to hear what's going on with a measure of clarity.
Finally, is it easy to sync up an external mic with a camcorder?

If you get anything above a basic and cheaply avaliable camcorder the sound improvement will be lost on youtube anyway. My stepdad got a HD camcorder (not true HD obviously) for 80 quid from Aldis. Even that's overqualified for youtube. A webcam +decent microphone would be a lot cheaper if you're intending to do it bedroom style like a lot of these comedy rap hobbyists.

Well, yeah, if you can hear me like you can hear Bo Burnham I'm satisfied.

Have you heard The Lonely Island album bob?

If I hear 'I'm On A Boat' one more god damn time!

No. What's that?

Think: pisstake.

lmao I got tired of hearing that one after a while too, but I cracked up when I first heard it.

Bob - it's a comedy album (mostly rap songs) with T-Pain and a bunch of other artists featuring on it. It's very funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBCrsaet-2Q

You could always buy a dirt cheap camera of any sort, and then buy a seperate audio recorder. Then simply slap the audio dub over your original recording and hey presto! Great sound and a decent image for Youtube.