movies on a still camera

[ShoalDiverSA]

I have a Samsung Digimax V4 which I recently took out to the Red Sea. Got a load of brilliant movie clips. I have a 256MB card and it allows me to take a continuous movie clip up to the max of the memory chip, on this card I can get 30 minutes of video without any probs, its great!

I have the same setup as you. I have enjoyed taking video clips and I am impressed with the results. The video clip is a strange size at 288x208 pixels for the V4 and more standard at 320x240 pixels for the V3 (go figure). But the clips that this camera takes (with audio) are more than good enough for our purposes. We needed the video function mainly for taking clips of our daughter (and the one on the way) as she grows up.

The nice thing about the clip mode is that it is easier for capturing the grandeur of diving than still photos. I took a lot of photos on the Produce wreck, but none of them gave the true scale of the wreck and the sheer volumes of marine life better than the clip I took on the same dive. It's great for showing to your non-diving friends!

I can't recall the frame rate - I think it is 20fps, but I stand to be corrected. Regardless of specs, it is good enough. If you are serious about video, get a video camera. If it is a nice to have, a digital stills camera should do the job well enough.

Now I wish I had taken a clip of the Decorator Crab I saw on the Shoal on Saturday night - the photos look like seaweed!

Cheers,

Andrew