Digicam for multimedia productions

[Ento]

I’m a video and also forum beginner ..a luddite perhaps. Anyway as an entomologist – bugs- I work with vegetable growers in managing their pests. Getting adoption of integrated pest management strategies is proving harder than anticipated. One technique we haven’t used and I’d like to try is to produce visually based material – many of our growers are not very literate and they have little time for field days/training sessions- so we want to try some multimedia materials. To do this I need to get a video camera for shooting mostly in the field –short clips of different techniques, common pests and beneficial insects and to do field interviews of growers who have adopted better management strategies.

I have been recommended to get a high-end home user digicam that has 3CCD, miniDV tapes (editing and if using professional editor then may need Mac compatibility), ability to have an external mic (fields often windy). My visits to camera shops for assistance has been disappointing in the extreme, web browsing of company sites and for reviews, have the recent Choice review has me a bit confused.

I can’t find a current model that fits the requirements.

So it is either try and find an older model in good condition or tradeoff on requirements.

3CCD vs MOS: Reviews of current MOS sensors used by Sony and Panasonic seem good on image quality vs 3CCD.

MiniDV tape vs HDD: MiniDV tape seems better but fewer models are offering it

External mic: Panasonic no longer offers this option for its handicams which seems bizarre to me or are they just so sure of the versatility or quality of their internal mics?, Sony have external mic options but are only using MOS sensors in current models… JVC have a 3CCD and external mic option (GZHD5) but it has a HDD.

And SD versus HD – will be editing for either CDrom/DVDs or downloadable from web so mostly be viewed on computers but some might want to play on TV and can’t assume HD capacity.

So what I thought was the simple part – getting a video camera has proved more complicated and thwart than expected..

Any advice or suggestions gratefully recieved?

[Skyman]

hmm it seems like you have covered all bases. Mini DV is certainly the way to go. I wouldn't think you need to spend the $$ to go HD when most of your clients would never look at it in HD anyway. I wonder if you have looked at any of the "semi proffesional models" sony, canon, jvc and panasonic all have semi pro cameras that will do a great job for what you want and they will give you much better control of your sound (plugging in an external microphone is only half the battle - ideally a lapel microphone or a really good boom will give you the audio you need, but they both cost a lot) while it is in my mind, mac compatibility is a non issue with any camera that has a firewire port (and all mini dv cameras have this) If you are thinking of moving away from tape based cameras have a read of the mini dv vs dvd thread as it explains a bit about how different technologies work. Alas there aren't any good camera shops anymore .... ok that isn't entirely true but they are few and fare between. If you make it to sydney foto riesel is worth a look, also try places that cater to the braodcast video market like videocraft in Artarmon - they don't have much in the way of prosumer cameras but they might be able to point you in the right direction. Oh and a really good video tripod will be a must have.