Best camera for live music

Some friends and i have started videoing a new song by local artists once a week. Weve been using the i phone and it sucks. Ive looked at the zoom 3 hd and the flip. I cant spend alot maybe300. Seems like youtube reviews favor the zoom but i put more value on what you guys think. So what do ya'll think is the best option. Oh yeah, its a small room and some outside on the porch. You can checkout the last song at Sandycrosscitylimits channel on youtube.

We have a cheap Kodak Zi8. It's ok for documenting live gigs and producing small video clips . .

POk78ogsobE

It was around 100 bucks. For 300 i would try to get one of the Panasonic or Sony video cams . . full HD and lots of ZOOOOOM . .

Check out a FujiFilm FinePix camera. :wink:

I tested a number of recorders and settled on this:
http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-LS-20M-Video-Audio-Recorder/dp/B004ZKIZWQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331245683&sr=8-1

A bit awkward but the best results for the $$....

imho

the Alesis Videotrack is lacking in video capability (no HD) but is optimized for sound reproduction ... they are under 50 bucks now ... http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-VIDEOTRACK-VideoTrack-Handheld-Recorder/dp/B001GVIXGK/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1331268341&sr=1-1 http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VQcl3c5ML._SL500_AA300_.jpghttp://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21HrYyDD1pL.jpg

Some friends and i have started videoing a new song by local artists once a week. Weve been using the i phone and it sucks. Ive looked at the zoom 3 hd and the flip. I cant spend alot maybe300. Seems like youtube reviews favor the zoom but i put more value on what you guys think. So what do ya'll think is the best option. Oh yeah, its a small room and some outside on the porch. You can checkout the last song at Sandycrosscitylimits channel on youtube.

Looking at your video for "The Talk" points up three things. Cheap video shooters need a lot of light, a tripod or mount or brace of some kind makes any camera work better, and the latest generation of cell phones have HD cams, which would kick your video up a notch.

Everything from the Zoom Q3HD on down is basically a cell phone camera in a different package. No optical zoom, problems with low light, fixed focus.

On the audio side, a very few have audio inputs for a separate mic. But these circuits often have a lot of processing on them in the form of LF rolloff and level management along with distortion.

The Q3HD has audio circuitry about the same as a the H4n, so it's quite clean compared to most cams. The audio input is line level rather than mic level, so you'll need a preamp if you want to feed it a mic signal. And the line level is too sensitive for normal mixer line level out, so you'll need an external attenuator if you want to connect to a mixer.

If you're going to be editing the video (titling, trimming, cropping, panning, color correcting, etc etc) it makes a lot of sense to record the audio separately if you can. It adds a bit of work but it opens up a lot of possibilities.

Fran

We have a cheap Kodak Zi8. It's ok for documenting live gigs and producing small video clips . .
...
It was around 100 bucks. For 300 i would try to get one of the Panasonic or Sony video cams . . full HD and lots of ZOOOOOM . .

What a cool vid. Excellent quality, effective editing, cool performance!

The Zi8 is one of the few pocket camcorders with a mic input and it has been discontinued. It seems to have gotten some kind of cult status, on Ebay new ones are going over $300 these days.

In addition to the the low end video cams you mention, many point and shoot still cameras these days do a very nice job with HD video.

Fran

Check out a FujiFilm FinePix camera. :wink:

This video was shot with a FinePix F30. It's rather old now so I'm sure the newer models are more advanced. This vid was shot at the lowest resolution, what I liked about it is the audio quality. I thought it did a great job using the on camera mic especially picking up the bass clearly, a lot of cameras are lacking in the audio quality.

Giving the old Mustang a workout...

oojTiulBGSY&context

Just buy the best DSLR you can and shoot onto that. People film proper movies these days with those and a bunch of SD cards. Only a week ago I saw someone filming a Bollywood film outside Tate Modern like that. At work we use Sony Z5s, but they are a couple of grand. It's more important that you learn how to light, shoot and edit.

I have the zoom. I love it. Search Tyler Wilson Band on YouTube for some examples.

What a cool vid. Excellent quality, effective editing, cool performance!

The Zi8 is one of the few pocket camcorders with a mic input and it has been discontinued. It seems to have gotten some kind of cult status, on Ebay new ones are going over $300 these days.

In addition to the the low end video cams you mention, many point and shoot still cameras these days do a very nice job with HD video.

Fran

Thank you!
The picture quality is great but the sound from the mic is "pumping" due to the automatic level adjustment. So we record audio with a DAW. Never tried an external mic or line input.