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OT: looking for cheap Sony camcorders
The AV department at the college I work for wants to buy several new camcorders to replace the old miniDV models.
Because of the way our place works, they have to stick with Sony as a brand.
They also insist that they don’t want tape-based models any more.
These camcorders are for general student usage as the Journalism program has four PD-170s for their use.Because I end up having to edit a lot of the material that the the students shoot, I’m looking for recommendations for something that will plug into Vegas directly, either with a USB cable or a card reader and transfer the footage as it was shot, scene by scene.
The Sony SR47 (they already have one and I don’t like it) they’re considering is $500 Canadian and that’s the price point they’ve established.
Does something like this exist that will not cause me to pull to my hair out when it comes time to edit?
Any and all answers greatly appreciated. -
7 Replies
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Hi Mike.
>>The Sony SR47 (they already have one and I don’t like it) they’re considering is $500 Canadian and that’s the price point they’ve established.
I wish I could help, but my camcorders are Canon.
I thought that when it came to editing, AVCHD was AVCHD was AVCHD. Just for my edification, may I please ask what it is about the SR47 that you don’t like, with regards to editing?
Norman
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Norman, the one and only time I used the camera, iI had to hook it up with the audio/video jacks as I couldn’t figure out how to get the media off the hard drive.
AFter reading up on it, it seems that I needed to install something called Motion Picture Browser to be able to get the files off the hrad drive properly.
All I want is a camcorder that I can plug into Vegas, easily grab the files and satrt editing.
I guess that’s too much to ask in this day and age 🙁 -
>>All I want is a camcorder that I can plug into Vegas, easily grab the files and satrt editing.
I guess that’s too much to ask in this day and age 🙁Mike, this should not be. I grab the files off of my flash-based Canon HF S10 all the time. Usually I record to the flash card, and plug that into a USB card reader; but I can also connect the camera with a USB cable, and copy and paste the files in Windows Explorer.
Can you test a Sony brand Flash-media based camera, such as this one?
Is that still in your price range?
Norman Willis
http://www.nazareneisrael.org
servant@nazareneisrael.org -
Mike,
At $399 USD the SR47 looks like a great little camera. MPEG2 edits easily in Vegas and doesn’t take up lots of hard disc space. I have my son shoot with MPEG2 on my Sony HDR-CX12 all the time and it looks great. He’s just foolin’ around making little movies and it’s great for that. I have him shoot in MPEG2 mode because his laptop can’t handle AVCHD and I’m not ready to buy him a new laptop;. 😉 What I like about my CX12 is that is has zebras and a fair amount of manual control so I can still teach him the basics of using the camera in manual mode without letting him near my HVR-Z1U. lol.
> the one and only time I used the camera, iI had to hook it up with the audio/video jacks as I couldn’t figure out how to get the media off the hard drive.
When you plug the camera into your PC via a USB cable it will show up as an external hard drive. Just drag and drop the files into your hard drive and you’re done. My CX12 came with a docking station and the dock has a USB connector. If I turn the CX12 on while docked, the LCD menu with give me an option to connect to the computer via USB.
If you have Vegas Pro 9.0 then it’s even easier using the new Device Explorer. Go to View | Device Explorer (Ctrl+Alt+7) you’ll see your camera come up as a drive (at least my CX12 does) and then all of the clips are shown in the browser window with a preview and some info (clip name, date, and size). Just click on a clip to see it play in the trimmer. Select the ones you want to keep and choose Import Selected Clips. They will be copied to your hard drive and added to the media pool. It’s as simple as that.
Vegas Pro 9.0 makes it easier than ever to work tapeless. Forget about the Picture Motion Browser, it’s not needed with Vegas Pro 9.0. I love the tapeless workflow with my CX12. I think you’re gonna like the SR47 once you understand the tapeless workflow. I believe it will be a great camera for students who just need to casually use video.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
John, thanks VERY much for the help.
Armed with your knowledge and advice, I’ll grab the existing SR47 tomorrow and play with it for awhile to get a handle on how it works.
I haven’t gotten around to installing V9 Pro on the work machines yet but now sounds like a good time to do it 🙂 -
> I’ll grab the existing SR47 tomorrow and play with it for awhile to get a handle on how it works.
Find out if it has a docking station. If it does, don’t forget to grab that too. On my CX12 the docking station is the only way to connect it to the computer via USB. There is no USB port on the camera itself. That’s the only draw-back but it’s a critical piece of information when trying to figure out how to get the video off of the hard disk drive! 😉
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Find out if it has a docking station. If it does, don’t forget to grab that too.
John, I think it did but, when I went to grab it today, it was signed out for the weekend 🙁
I’m on 2 weeks vacation after today so I won’t get a chance to try your suggestions until I get back.
I will let you know what I find out.
Thanks again for all your help on this matter as it’s greatly appreciated.
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