New HD Camera, Flash and Viewfinder

[Wade]

Biggest problem I have with all the new cameras is that they don't have a viewfinder. Makes it hard filming on snow, especially for us older guys.

Panasonic-HDC-SD100

Anyone have one. Looks like low light sucks, and there's not a lot of pixels for still shots.

1080p, 24p film-mode
Flash Memory.

 

[bushy]

Whatcha talkin about, that has a viewfinder right on the back. It's LCD and prolly a chitty one as they tend to be nowdays, but it's there and will be what you use when it's real bright. I use Canon HV20 HD that uses DV tape. Really does a great job for what it is and the HD quality is excellent, def need the viewfinder on bright days though. Tape is still a better choice than harddrive or flash mem for pure quality reasons, if not for ease of use. It's also a great storage media that is reliable and lasts longer than any other physical storage.

 

[Wade]

I was remarking at how hard it is to find a HD camera with a viewfinder, like this one has. The writer of the story said you couldn't find one, other than professional camera.

Harddrives don't work well in the cold, so I'm told. Tapes work OK. But, less moving parts should make it more reliable. I've seen some SONY HDR-CX7 footage, and if it's as good as that, then it's plenty good enough.

 

[bushy]

Oh. I've heard some have better LCD visibility in sunlight than others (probably the ones without viewfinders) but the Canon is pretty poor and the viewfinders are kind of an afterthought thing that aren't very comfortable. Yeah, as far as quality goes I'm sure I wouldn't notice the difference, but I've heard the SD footage can be jittery, whatever that means. My plans to "make a movie" are still on hold..., so about all I do is down-grade it and throw it on youtube anyway. HD helmet cam is not an option yet either so that's a drawback to spending the bucks.

 

[Wade]

Oh. I've heard some have better LCD visibility in sunlight than others (probably the ones without viewfinders) but the Canon is pretty poor and the viewfinders are kind of an afterthought thing that aren't very comfortable. Yeah, as far as quality goes I'm sure I wouldn't notice the difference, but I've heard the SD footage can be jittery, whatever that means. My plans to "make a movie" are still on hold..., so about all I do is down-grade it and throw it on youtube anyway. HD helmet cam is not an option yet either so that's a drawback to spending the bucks.

I don't know, these flash based HD cameras are so small, there smaller than the first generation helmet cameras. There's a little panasonic HD (forget the model) that would easily fit on a helmet. The Sony HDR-CX7 suffered from using the LCD screen in the light also, it basically sucked. That's the only reason I haven't bought one.

 

[bushy]

I guess you could mount one on your helmet at that. That could work, I might try that. I'd be careful and use it for getting footage of buddies rippin it up mostly. Kind of a spendy cam to expose to full on riding. The HV20 tape drive seems to do fine in cold temsp. I ran mine at 15 F and it worked OK.