Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic - Advice

princesszelda · Joined: 21 Oct 2009 Posts: 579 Location: London, UK

Hi everyone,

My 13 year old daughter has saved up £350 to buy her first camcoder. She plans to make short films and edit them with iMovie (on a Mac) and Final Cut.

She wants to buy something that is relatively simple to use, but has scope to grow with her as she gets more experience. I know all parents say this, but she is a fast learner. She has already made short films at school.

Any ideas would be appreciated :D

pichunter · Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 6:51 am

I still like the Canon HV30, there is a successor called the HV40, but the HV30 might still be available at a lower cost.

It is a tape based system, so the tapes if you use them one time will be a storage system also.

If on the other hand she would like something off the wall like the Lomography stuff here is a cute new video camera with a "cult" following amongst younger people.

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?itemdescription=true&itemCount=10&startValue=1&selectedProductColor=&sortby=&id=17197864&parentid=A_MEDIA_CAMERAS&sortProperties=+subCategoryPosition,+product.marketingPriority,-product.startDate&navCount=36&navAction=poppushpush&color=&pushId=A_MEDIA_CAMERAS&popId=APARTMENT_MEDIA&prepushId=

princesszelda · Joined: 21 Oct 2009 Posts: 579 Location: London, UK

Thanks Pichunter. I have absolutely no knowledge of this kinda thing, so please excuse my complete and utter ignorance.

If it's a tape-based system, how does one upload onto the computer? : /

I'll check out the link - thank u :D

pichunter · Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:16 pm

It's ok, video is a whole different beast to still photography.

The Canon HV30 uses mini DV tapes, which are universally available. Normally you would use a firewire cable from the camera to the computer along with a video editing program. The video editing program "sees" your camera connected to the computer and the editing software lets you download the footage to your hard drive.

Firewire is also known or labeled on your computer as IEEE-1394 a video camera has a four pin firewire outlet and a desktop computer has a six pin, there are cables readily available.

Look at Adobe Premiere Elements 8 software, around a $100.00

princesszelda · Joined: 21 Oct 2009 Posts: 579 Location: London, UK

Thanks Pichunter, that makes more sense now.

I shall pass on your good advice to my daughter. :D

koi88 · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:33 pm

princesszelda · Joined: 21 Oct 2009 Posts: 579 Location: London, UK

franckreporter · Joined: 27 Sep 2008 Posts: 189 Location: Italia