Tag: Camcorder
CES 2010: Final Thoughts
The Consumer Electronics show, the behemoth of tech, the Valhalla of gadgetry, has come and gone for yet another year. But this time, rather than arriving with a bang, it slinked into sight with something more like a whimper. CES…
CES 2010: Day 3 Round-Up
Another day, another Tech Digest CES 2010 round-up. Fancy Tweeting hands-free in your car or controlling your PC by breathing? Check today's top stories below and find out how. Twitter coming to Ford cars The digital equivalent of drink-driving? Motorola…
CES 2010: Day 2 Round-Up
It may have gotten off to a dull start thanks to the lacklustre showing from Microsoft, but CES 2010 today threw up some really nice surprises. Keep an eye out for the Light Blue Optic's Light Touch here in today's…
JVC pocket camera shoots HD Video
JVC has launched its first pocket flash memory camera, the new PICSIO GC-FM1. Combining true eight-megapixel stills and 1080p Full HD video it also offers image stabilisation for minimising camera shake, even when the 4X digital zoom is used, JVC claims.
Videos are recorded in the widely-used MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format and stored as .MOV files for easy sharing without the need for time-consuming and potentially damaging conversion. Storage is on SD/SDHC memory cards. To suit individual shooting situations, PICSIO provides four video and still recording modes.
About the size of a mobile phone the PICSIO is available in three colours – Black Ice, Blue Steel and Purple Passion and comes with a funky-looking geometric pattern and jewel-like appearance.
JVC confirms HD Everio GZ-HM400 camcorder for US market
The new model packs 32 Gigabytes of internal memory – which can be supplemented by SD/DDHC cards, features a 1/2.33-inch 10.3-megapixel CMOS sensor with Bayer Array RGB Color Filter, is capable of delivering nine-megapixel still images and can output video of 1920 x 1080 Full HD.
Sony launches flagship HD Handycam CX520VE camcorder
The secret to any imaging hardware is in the holy trinity of the lens, the sensor and the processor, and Sony has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the Handycam CX520VE to make it a winner in all three areas.
The Exmor R CMOS sensor has backlighting technology to improve camera resolution at low light levels plus the fact that its a CMOS in the first place speaks for itself. The glassware is the same as you’ll find in the top Sony Alpha DSLRs – the G lens – and it contains ED glass elements which keep the light as crisp and the images as high contrast as possible. And all the number crunching’s taken care of by the BIONZ processor. All good so far.
On top of basics you get 12x optical zoom, 12-megapixel stills, auto geo-tagging, face detection, smile-shot and a touch sensitive 3-inch LCD. Perhaps the best feature, though, is the Optical SteadyShot ‘Active Mode’ which is touted as the first three-way camera steady function. Sony says that it reduces camera shake by 10x and is designed even to smooth out the effects of walking along while shooting. Very curious to see how well that works.
The CX520VE gives you 25 hours of LP recording on its 64GB internal HDD and there’s also a CX505VE 32GB HDD model if you’re happy with 12. Either way, there’s space for one of Sony’s silly memory sticks to expand your storage, if you need.
They record in 5.1 surround, they’re capable of burning onto discs without the use of a computer and generally sound like the kind of camcorder that everyone will hate you for having. They’re out in August and I’ll get you prices as soon as I have them.
Check out our Top 10 HD camcorders you can actually afford here
10 full HD camcorders you can actually afford
Consumer camcorder technology has come on in leaps and bounds in the past couple of years, as evidenced by the number of high definition models we’ve reviewed on Tech Digest.
All that technology doesn’t necessarily come cheap, though. Is it possible to get full HD on a fairly modest (sub-£500) budget?
Here are ten 1080p-capable camcorders that offer you a way in to high definition film-making.
Click on the image below to start the tour.
Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 – SHINY VIDEO REVIEW
Tech Digest’s Dan Sung puts the new Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 through its paces and comes out thoroughly impressed. Part of Sanyo’s Dual Range, the Xacti is designed to take great video and stills while not compromising on portability.
A choice of auto-focuses, face-following, 720p playback, a 12 megapixel sensor and a 1600 ISO, it’s certainly a well-specced little blighter, but no audio output? I mean come on. If you’re looking for a step up from your Flip HD or Kodak Zi6, this is certainly a good place to start.
JVC launches Everio X super slo-mo hybrid camcorder
In an industry where, suddenly, if you can’t record full HD and take stills with a CMOS sensor, you’re not in the game, JVC has still managed to pull out an impressive camcorder in the shape of the Everio X.
The X, or GZ-X900 as it’s also known, offers 9-megapixel pictures and 1080p HD at a weight of 298g but, most interesting of all, it features video capture at up to 500fps. That translates as 10x super slow motion speeds. It’ll be like watching the Tornado Camera in your own home movies.
It’s out in June complete with 5x zoom Minolta glassware, an HDMI 1.3 port and will record onto SDHC. Prices to follow.
JVC HD40 & HD30 Preview:
SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: Flip MinoHD – 720p recording and under 100g
Let’s make this simple. If you like the original Flip Mino, you’re going to ache for the MinoHD. Same kettle of bananas, only this time with 720/30p video recording instead of boring old VGA. Want to know what that looks like? Press play on the box below…
There’s only a couple of real issues with what is one of the best camcorders I’ve held in my hands. The first is that it’s mono sound recording. Not much you can do there if you want to keep the weight down. The second is the price.
Now, £169.99 isn’t that expensive but it is a) around double what you’d pay for the VGA Mino and b) a little bit more than other Full HD camcorders to be hitting the shelves very soon.
Doubtless the Flip MinoHD will still do well. The battery lasts a lifetime, the 4GB/60mins recording memory is ace and I’ll be very sad when it’s time to send mine back.
Flip
