800k pixel DV camera - enough?

[Matty2Phatty]

Consumer gear isn't quite my forte' but here is my understanding of it... anybody feel free to correct me.

I'll talk about resolutions here in Australia, which is the PAL format, though if you're in the USA it would be NTSC. The resolution is slightly different but the concept is the same.

Standard Definition televisions all screen at 720x576. Even the old Digi8 handycams played at that resolution. If you buy a miniDV camera you're going to be taking footage at exactly the same resolution, the image will just look a bit better.

There's some argument now about whether it's a good idea to purchase a DV camera now that standard definition is slowly being phased out, and High Definition televisions are slowly becoming more common. High Def consumer cameras are not my area of expertise and so i won't comment on what's good and bad about them, but the general thought is that it's a good idea to get High Def to capture your family moments, since that's the format everybody will have soon.

[Integrity]

Well the question is : Is 800k pixel miniDV cam enough to do such a job? I mean - what's the difference between 800k pixel and 2MPix when I'd like to make a DVD and play it on my ordinary TV at home? Is it enough to have only 800k pixels or do I need more / much more?

I have neither experiences, nor idea how does it work, but as far as I know, ordinary TVs have something as 750 x 600 pixels, is that true?

Yes 800k pixels is enough, for DV. There can be a bunch of different reason why a 2 MP is better than 800k, but some use the extra pixels so they can put in a less expensive electronic stabilization feature instead of an optical one, as well as get better color reproduction due to the an advantage of having more photosites per pixel to make better use of the bayer filter.

Televisions do not really have a true digital resolution, but the standard is 720x480 for NTSC DV (more definitive 720x486, if I remember correctly I think it's 711x486, but just ignore the differences because most programs will take care of all of this for you).

[ZaKKoS]

Most important thing (more than the number of pixels): The physical stuffs.
Check the lenses: they have to be (reasonably) large
Check the optical zoom: the digital zoom is just a toy
Check the ccd: the bigger the better, the more there are the better it is.
Check the accessories: consumer cameras have always a weak wide lens think about buying a converter. A tripod may be useful.

[jbo]

keep in mind, that no matter what internal resolution the camera says it has, if it's dv, it will only be putting about 400k of those pixels on the tape (unless it's hdv, but that's a whole other issue). resolution isn't really a very important thing to look for with a dv camera, since they are, in fact, all the same resolution (well... NTSC and PAL are a bit different). if you are working with pal dv, you are going to have footage that's 720x576, which if you do the math, is 414,720 pixels.

[besign]

Okay, thank you very much. It was a bunch of help :) I'll check the other parameters of the few I've picked up before as the ones I could probably buy, compare them and then decide.

The stuff I'm looking for isn't anything special. Just an ordinary cam with a reasonable price.

[edited]
I've actually fallen in love with this one : Canon DM-MVX30i http://www.czechcomputer.cz/czc/products.nsf/v/38132DC179FA134BC1256EF90061DF61/$file/28788s.jpg

[mookid2005]

I bought sony 800k camera a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't expecting too much from it as I already use XL1's with 3ccd's. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, while still a little noisy it was fine in low-light conditions and ideal for journaling and test-shots, which is was i got it for.
If you want a consumer grade camera just to muck about on, I'd say go for it!

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