2009/10/23 Bohuš <bo...@xnet.com>: > At the highest settings, the Zi8 does exhibit some weirdness with > motion. Fine for talking heads, not good for action.
I'm just a talking head so that's fine! >> Any comments on the Zi8 for video blogging? >> Anyone know of any other pocket video cams with an external mic jack >> like the Zi8? >> > > Has a strange issue with the mic jack. If you pull out the plug while > shooting, you get a weird high pitched squeal that doesn't go away til > you cycle the power. Also I haven't gotten the hang of the VU meters > and adjusting the incoming audio. I used the Zi8 on a shoot with a > mixer feeding into it, and I should have gotten pristine audio according > to all the meters, and yet my sound was a little overmodulated. Shouldn't be a problem for me. So the Zi8 has VU meters?, that's awesome, I was going to check for that feature. > One of the things that really gets me with all these pocket cams is that > there is no headphone jack so you can hear what the camera is getting on > its mic jack. I used to tell my students, "you wouldn't shoot withouth > looking through the viewfinder, why record audio without monitoring it?" I only use the VU meter at present with my external mic, and find no need to use headphones at all. >> My current cam is an old Canon Optura60 DV (NTSC), not exactly a >> stand-out performer, so I figure a good pocket cam today will likely >> beat it. >> > > Not really. Your DV cam is 720 x 480 Yeah, but it ultimately gets downsampled to 640x480 (4:3) for uploading to Youtube. > while most pocket cams are 640 x > 480 and an image sensor that probably isn't as good. The Zi8 is either 1920x1080 or 1280x720, that will allow me to render in HD 16:9 on Youtube easily without any down-sampling. > Pocket cams all > have this image lag thing I was referencing above with fast-moving > subjects. The sensor isn't fast enough to keep up with horizontal > moves. Test this by pointing the camera out the side window of a moving > car. You'll see the image shear, making everything look tilted. DV > cameras don't do that. Once again, not a problem for me, I don't move the camera much (tripod 95% of the time), and when I do it's just slow motion stuff. > I'm using pocket cams more and more for my work that doesn't need really > crisp image quality, and the convenience of having a camera with you at > all times can't be beat. But editing on that footage is a bear. It's > compressed so darned far that by the time I've uploaded to Blip, it > looks like I've shot on a VHS camcorder... I've still got to get that > figured out. ;) The indoors Zi8 test videos I've seen on Youtube look pretty darn good to me, better than what I get with my NTSC DV at present for whatever reason. Although the real test is under my actual conditions, so gotta buy it to suck'n'see I guess. I know the Zi8 is going to be far from perfect, but my problem is really don't see any other option around this price point (say <$AU300) for a cam of any type with SD card and external mic support. Thanks for the input. Dave.
