Don't laugh but is there such a thing...

[Booges]

Ok, please don't laugh me off this board but, is there a digital camcorder with a 3 mega pixel or better still shot, a 10X or better optical zoom, a macro focus setting and an underwater housing for under $2000.00? My husband and I have been researching digital cameras for land and sea use but we thought, if we could through in the movie making possibilities, then why not.

By the way, we are currently looking at the Olympus C750 because it has these features, but it doesn't appear that the video quality is very good.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Detonate]

:wacko:

 

[Rick Murchison]

I don't believe there is a camcorder with a 3 megapixel CCD at anywhere near $2K. Yet. Sony has just announced its PC330 3.3 Megapixel camcorder, but without a price.
Rick

 

[pdoege]

I know of no product that can do all that.

That being said, my S45 will take about 4 minutes of 640x480 MJPEG video. However, its primary purpose is as a still camera.

Peter

 

[TheAvatar]

Looking vidcams that double as high quality digital still cams is a waste of time and money. Similarly, looking for digital still cams that are great vidcams is also a waste.

CCDs work for both video and still, but CCDs are built with one function in mind. They can do the other function with little effort, just not very well because:

1. digital still cams do not have the storage capacity, controls, image processing, or buffers to do movies long and right.

2. vidcams do not have the resolution, controls, or image processing to do digital stills in good quality.

The cameras have the other feature because its simple to add on. Just don't expect spectacular results.

You will not find any digital cameras with more than 2.1MP for still (which comes out to 1.9MP usually) and they are all 1CCD cameras (TRV80 for example).

This all being said, let me recommend the two best cameras in the $1600-$2000 range.

Canon GL-2
Sony DSR-PDX10

These miniDV triple CCD high quality cameras. Both are fantastic cameras and are of the quality required to make a successfull low/no budget indepenendent film.

I'll run the features real quick:

Canon GL-2 (runs $1750-$2200 depending on where you shop)
0.25" HAD pixelshift CCDs (410KP/380KP) X 3
1.7MP digital still (1448x1128) using SD or MMC cards
4:3 native
30fps progressive
20X f/1.6-2.9 Canon L zoom (39.5mm-790mm f/8 max)
58mm screwmount filter size
miniDV SP and LP formats
min Lux 6
2.5" 200KP color LCD
400L 180KP color EVF
built in ND filter (good for above water)
39.5oz

Sony DSR-PDX10 ($1600-$2100 depending on where you shop)
0.21" advanced HAD interline transfer CCDs (1070KP/690KP) X 3
1.4MP digital still (1152x864) using memory sticks
16:9 NATIVE *AND* 4:3 NATIVE!
12X f/1.6-2.8 Sony zoom (49-588mm for 4:3) (41-492mm for 16:9 & Digital still) f/8? max
37mm screwmount filter size
miniDV SP and miniDVCAM SP
min Lux 7
3.5" 246KP TFT touchscreen LCD
500L 180KP B&W EVF
33oz with XLR microphone box removed (37oz /w XLR gear)

Contact me for an excel spreadsheet givng a much more detailed comparison.
Otherwise here are the advantages of each camera summarized.

GL2: better low light performance, bigger CCD area, better lens, better manual exposure control, better special features, ND filter, 30p mode, better zebra

PDX10: 16:9 native AND 4:3 native, detatchable XLR audio, DVCAM, better EVF and LCD, smaller and slightly lighter, less expensive

I don't know about housings for either camera.

Both cameras will probably require a wide angle adaptor (expect to pay $125-$200) and maybe some macro diopter filters ($50-$75 for a set).
Both cameras have optical image stabilization and do 540 lines of resolution. I should mention that the DSR-PDX10 is the professionalized and juiced up version of the DCR-TRV950.

WHATEVER YOU GET, MAKE SURE IT IS A miniDV VIDCAM!