HD Camcorder Flash based Mac
 

So I want to shoot some digital HD.

I travel relatively light with a Macbook Air.

I only have USB as my input (no firewire).

Any recommendations for some reasonable sized HD camcorders now that transfer via USB?

I'd like to Best Buy Circuit City etc in the beginning to try some different models.

Thanks much

I can't comment on the Mac aspects, but I am in the market for an High Definition camcorder (new grandson). I also want SD based memory.

Right now I am zeroing in on Canon VIXIA HF10 whcih is small, HD, has a 16 GB on board storage, with an SD Slot. It also has Image Stableization.

The best current price I have found is 649 at BUYDIG.COM. I expect it to get cheaper before I buy.

Here's a review of the Flip MinoHD; maybe it will suit your needs?

The Creative Vado is small, lightweight and can record either 1 hour or 2 hours of video and charges and downloads via USB. Its only $99 too!

Product page for the current camera:
http://us.creative.com/products/prod...WT.mc_id=16960

Works on a Mac too!
http://us.creative.com/products/prod...ct=17761&nav=3

However, it looks like Creative may be updating its Vado camera with a new HD model as well that you may be interested in:

http://www.vimeo.com/2228817

More info on the Creative HD camera, Vado HD:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/26/c...for-pre-order/

I have always had good luck with JVC products --- here is there flash based solution

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...view-35154.htm

Don't know your budget but B&H Photo has a great deal on a Canon HG10 right now, $500 (about $700 at most other places). It's a HD camera with 40Gb hard disk, USB interface, & optical image stabilization.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...6695&KBID=1564

It's received excellent reviews at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000U8HBRW

I'm planning on ordering one today.

Any flash based HD camcorder that allows external SDHC/flash cards will do the job. Almost all these camcorders allow a direct hookup via USB if the flash memory isn't removable.

At worst, you buy a $5 SDHC USB reader.

As for a camcorder, I'd suggest the Canon HF100. It's like the HF10 but without the internal memory which you could buy at a fraction of the differential.

I have used the Sony HDR-SR11 and SR12s at school to shoot HD video and I was very impressed. The quality was terrific and the camera was very simple to use. Everything gets recorded right to the hard drive and then automatically cut into clips when you import (iMovie or Final Cut). The largest draw back is that the HD files are enormous.

David Pogue in the NY Times says that before you buy a flash based camcorder to use with a Mac, be sure it's easy to get your movies into the computer. From what he says, all the camcorders work well with PCs, but sometimes the software for Macs isn't so great.

I have used a Sanyo HD1000 and HD1010 for a few months. The HD1010 does 1080p / 30fps and records directly to H.264 format MPEG4. I typically record 720p / 60fps since I feel that it records action a bit more smoothly with less motion blur.

The video it takes can be stunning and is "pocket sized" for coat pockets, but slightly too large for pants pockets. Probably my only complaint is the poor image stabilization, but I've improved my video shooting techniques so that it is not much of a problem for me anymore.

Note that you will need a Gen 2 Macbook Air to playback even 720p videos from the Sanyo. My 1.6ghz MBA was not fast enough to play back the video without dropping nearly 1/2 the frames.

One of the things I don't like with other models such as the SONY TG1 and the Canon HF100 is that the record in AVCHD format which is not natively supported by many programs. I owned a SONY TG1 for a while and found it to be rather limiting in comparison. You can not upload the files from these other cameras directly to Vimeo or Youtube like you can with the Sanyo, for example.