O.T. camcorder rationalization after-the-fact

[vinito]

Hi folks.
Well my ball bowler project worked ot OK for Christmas day
http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?topic=8154.0

But once I dug my camcorder out I discovered that the batteries were not holding charge much. After charging overnight, I only got about 5 minutes of recording before it fizzled out.
I have a history of handing down my old cameras and stuff like that to friends who want them, so that's what I'll be doing here too. I really liked my old Canon camcorder so I'm sticking with that brand. I always liked Canon. They seem to have great quality captures and features that I actually want (like external microphone input) rather than packed with silliness I'll never use. And of course I'll never spend another dime on Sony just because of their Big Brother business model.

Anyway, just today I ordered a Canon VIXIA HF R500 camcorder.(link)

Seemed like a really nice camcorder for a couple hundred bucks. So out with the old digital tape, standard resolution camera and in with the SD card HD version.
So now that I've ordered and paid for the thing, I wonder if anybody else here has any good or bad comments about it.
Every possible target has pros and cons, and of course often the main negative is cost. The next possible steps up I liked were about a thousand smackers more than this one and for what I do it just isn't warranted.

The camera should be at my door in a few days and one of the first "tests" for it is to get a little footage of the ball bowler in action. I'm thinking I probably didn't do too badly on this camera, but if anybody has comments either way I wouldn't mind hearing them.

I can tell you that I really like that all the new cameras are pretty much using zero moving parts for the recording media, which translates to much longer battery life. Plus the connectivity is a no-brainer being saved to SD cards instead of tapes you have to play to transfer to your PC before doing anything else with it. My old camera was firewire which always required some minor hacking to get working since that really never took off. The new cameras have at least gone to USB at least, so that's easier. The SD card thing (plus USB as well) just make it much less painless.

[robm]

I know you said you don't like Sony, however, we bought a Sony Action camera (competitor to Go Pro, better quality in most aspects, but don't advertise as well as GoPro) for AU $300. I use it for all our video recording, and have not used the DSL for video for months now - we alos had a camcorder, but don't use it. The action camera is so small, can fit in your pocket and is great to rip out to video the kids etc, waterproof case is great. See here for a quick vid the other day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFCGPvJIriA

It also came with a flip out screen, so you can use it like a normal camcorder. Obviously nowhere near the manual modes as a camcorder, but so much more portable and robust

[vinito]

Yea I don't mind their products. Actually, they tend to make very well-designed products better than most. Definitely a shame.
It's their business philosophy I don't care for. In my experience, everything I ever bought from Sony (not for over 15 years now since my personal "boycott") you had to be chained down to some kind of proprietary file format, software, DRM, stupid connector or the like when they most certainly did NOT have to make it that way. They apparently don't want you to have the freedom to just own and use their product as you like it, but rather they try to tie you to their line when it could have just been easily fit to one of the several, high-quality, proven universal formats in existence. It's not just their products either. They are extremely heavy-handed with the media and performers, etc. they claim to own.

I used to like Olympus too but they got to where they were making you use their memory cards and such too even though more universal, proven formats existed.

In case they are watching (HA!) this chases customers away, you goofballs! That billion-dollar brand loyalty goes out the window. Just stupid.

Anyway, I experienced the last straw with them on something I bought a long, long time ago and I vowed never to buy anything else with the Sony brand out there. They just sicken me.
So that's why I like Canon. You own their product once they sell it to you and there is quite a bit of hacking and tweaking for their equipment out there which can expand their capabilities if their stuff isn't complex enough for you out of the box. Personally I tend to use just simple settings and just a few built-in adjustments, but it's nice to know the stuff is out there.

So I'm looking forward to playing with my new toy. I bought it with Christmas money by the way, hehe.
The one thing I already forgot to look into is that I would like to be able to mount a wide-angle lens attachment to the thing for a special application (fireworks) and I'll bet I'm stuck with not being able to do so on that. Oh well. My last camera had that fault too and I still did OK with it. You just have to stand back farther.

[vinito]

I've been looking into specs and I found that the previous version of this camera had threads for filters/lenses but it was inexplicably eliminated on this camera. Oh well. Fireworks only happen once a year and I haven't done video the past two years anyway, so that's definitely a non-issue.

Been looking at other models and liking their specs. It's tempting to think about changing course and returning this one to spend more for better specs, but the truth is this camera appears to be a screaming deal for the money. I'd have to spend nearly five times as much to get better specs that would actually make a difference.

I'm kind of thinking I did OK. It will absolutely be much better than my previous camcorder.