Cheap Digital Video cameras - recommendations?

[Andy_T]

Hi,

after taking some 30-second 320/200 pixel videos with my G2, I've come to like the feature a lot ... but not it's limitations (30 seconds, low res, dark picture).

Does anyone know a digital videocamera that
- is lightweight and compact
- supports something like 640*400 resolution
- can take up to 5 mins of reording, preferrably on CF cards
- is inexpensive (

[swalsh]

Sounds like you need a Fuji S602, or its recently announced successor, the S7000. It's Fuji's top of the line prosumer digicam. I was choosing between the S602 and the G3 when getting my latest digicam, and the Fuji's video capabilities were one of the strongest factors in its favor. It shoots at 640x480 with sound, and the length of clips is only limited by the size of your storage. Since it accepts a microdrive, you can record quite a bit with it.

Realistically, I don't think you can get a standalone DV cam for under $200, and I don't know of any that record on CF. Even the Digital8 models (as opposed to MiniDV) still go for more than that.

[Andy_T]

Hi,

thanks for the answer.

Really, the need arised from using the G2 for making these (mini) videos...

I've been looking into cheap CF type digicams (Aiptek and so on) since, but most likely I'll rather go for a real digicam using digital8 or micro MV with a DV out option.

If you compare these to the video stream from the G2 and don't need to have the latest model, then there should be a lot of alternatives in the 300 $ range. I'm eyeing some auctions for Sony TRV 140 units on eBay...

Any suggestions for this?

Regards,
Andy