From: Brook Hinton (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Jul 24 2006 - 10:21:04 PDT
The only ultra-budget one-chips I've found with at least some usable manual
control, mic jack, and manual audio control are the Canon Optura 400 and
500. Focus is difficult (esp. w/no focus ring), but these at least make an
attempt to be usable as a mini-field camera that someone serious could use.
I have also been tempted by the little Sony HDV, but I still prefer DV to
HDV. maybe I'm overly sensitive to artifacts, but I shudder to think about
the further blocking and such that will happen once it's transcoded, edited,
then recompressed to even HD-DVD, let alone a standard def DVD. Resolution
isn't everything. But my hatred of mpeg2 in any form borders on the
irrational.
The Sony will shoot DV as well though. i have a vague memory that it - or
maybe it was a similar model - has no mic jack. IME Sony's consumer mic
preamps make them unusable anyway. Canon's are a little bit better but still
hissy.
The Panasonic GS250 was indeed the deal of the decade but they are really
hard to find at a reasonable price.
Brook
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Brook Hinton
film/video/audio art
www.brookhinton.com
studio blog/vlog: www.brookhinton.com/temporalab
brookhinton.com/tracegarden
brookhinton.com/thepublicrecord
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.