Recently in equipment Category

At SciCast’s orbiting world headquarters we’re big fans of Canon’s range of video cameras. While we like the Flip range around the £100 mark, we really really like Canon’s flash card, hard drive, and HDV cameras, for three very simple reasons:

1. They’re competitively priced.
2. They’re at least comparable in picture quality to other cameras around the same price.
3. They have microphone input sockets.

That last is key. Really key. Very very key. Built-in microphones are one thing, but being able to plug in a cheap lapel microphone makes a huge difference.

Right now, we’ve a fourth reason to like Canon’s cameras: they’re doing a cashback offer. £50 back on high-definition models like the HF100, and £30 back on the standard-definition FS100.

The offer’s valid until January 12th 2009, and you’ll find honest reviews of these cameras at CamcorderInfo.com. Look, we’ll even point you straight there: HF100, FS100.

We never really went away, we were just quiet for a while. But we’re back now… and if you’re wondering why we’re referring to ourselves in the plural, well, stay tuned — we have exciting announcements.

Well, not that exciting, frankly, so to keep you interested: our current favourite ‘cheap’ camera, the Flip Ultra, has recently had a price cut. it’s down to £80 from Amazon and other suppliers.

These really are terrific little things, and they’re now 20% cheaper than they were last week. Bonus.

“What camera should I buy?” is just about the most common question I get asked by prospective SciCast film-makers. My usual reply is “What have you got already?” — most people, it seems, have a mobile phone that can record video, or a stills camera that has a video mode, or a mate who has a video camera, or there’s something stashed away in the back of the cupboard in school, or…

When people actually want an answer, however, things get trickier. Broadly, you get what you pay for. We’ve some basic notes on the main SciCast site to get you started, but it’s hard to know what you’re actually getting for your money.

Enter the BBC. Springwatch last week featured an excellent story with a pair of teenage brothers who are keen wildlife cameramen. It’s a lovely piece, but it’s also interesting (and useful) since it sets footage from their cameras alongside professional equipment. The brothers are using cheap-and-cheerful Sony miniDV cameras, and the footage from them looks rather flat and blurry, and somewhat purple-edged, next to the shots from the ‘proper’ camera.

But you know what? Once the clips are compressed down to web video quality, it doesn’t make anything like as much difference as you might expect. Having a good eye is more important than having the ‘best’ camera gear.

Don’t believe me? You’ve three more days to catch the film on iPlayer. It starts about 24 minutes in.