Advice on Video Cameras

I'm looking to get a compact digital video camera to take on my hunting and fishing trips. I don't know much about video cameras, but I know a little about still cameras.

I want something compact with a good optical zoom. I'm not interested in Digital zoom simply because it does more distortion than I want.

I was looking online this morning and ran across a Canon FS100 for $300 with an 8GB card. I just started looking, so I would like some insight to what you guys have, and anything that I should steer away from.

Same one I am looking at :beer:

I like the fact that it has huge optical zoom. And for the price....You can beat on it and not feel bad.

Yeah, I've been eying this same camera for a couple of months now. I like the fact that it's digital with much fewer moving parts. As Jim said, the zoom is great too, not to mention it also takes still shots (although the reviews say the stills aren't so great). I would be interested in what others thinks as well. Anyone found anything they like better?

G3_Guy said:

Anyone found anything they like better?

Click to expand...

Yes I have, but the price goes up 3 fold. [-X

I was looking on consumer reports, and none of the cameras they tested really had "good" results... the highest score was like 65 out of 100. I couldn't match up one camera that had good quality with any other feature that I really wanted.

I looked at wal-marts website and there was a camera on there (can't remember the model or make) but the women who used them seemed to like them alot.

I really want to get it so that I can video me reeling the fish in, and doing video documentation sort of like a fishing log. I hate when I catch a fish to record the time, what I bait I was using, water temp, outside weather, location, etc... this way I could video everything - the catch plus all the details, then just buy another external hard drive to store. The camera we are talking about saves all the clips as individual files also.

One thing I don't really like about it is the reviews I've read says the software that comes with it pretty much sucks. They say you have to rename the file to be able to play it on Windows XP.... I've never fooled with video, so it will be a whole new learning curve.

Well guys, I finally pulled the trigger and let Uncle Sam pay for the new video camera. I ordered the Canon FS100 yesterday with an 8gig card for around $280. It should be here by Friday. Hopefully it will be as good as hundreds of reviews I read. If you're still considering it, the cheapest I have found it is on the B&H Photo website... link below. I'll let you know how it works once it gets here and I have had some time to play.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...2699B001AA_FS_100_Flash_Memory_Camcorder.html

That looks like a sweet camera! Good luck with it! 8)

I received the Camera as advertised on 03/26 and so far all I can say is awesome! The camera is so small it will fit in your jean pocket. I took it to the soccer field on Saturday and videoed each of my boy's soccer games with little effort. I videoed for almost two hours with no issues. The batter still had an hour of charge left and there was over an hour left on the 8gig card I was using. Brought it home, hooked up to the Mac and instant upload. Very smooth. The video looks good for an armature video guy. So far I would highly recommend.