[jmdeegan]

So, I am getting prepped for a family trip to Disney World in late April, and I have my usual thoughts...plus some new ones.

For background-I have soon-to-be 3 year old triplets, plus my 4 year old nephew will be joining us (4 kids, 4 adults, 2 doublewide strollers).
Camcorder-wise, it's my kids first trip to disney, so I want to make sure we have it all covered.

My personal camcorder is old (sony digital 8 hybrid from 99ish). It works fine, but it's dated and is admittedly a bit bulkier.
Wife got me a flip ultra a couple christmases ago, and as much as I thought I'd hate it, it is dead simple to use and extremely tiny. Downside is, its SD and only has 30 minutes of memory, non-expandable.

So I was thinking of getting something newer, smaller and on the inexpensive side. A 200 dollar price point seems semi-feasible, figured I'd see what the forum has experience with...

Saw a panasonic SD model at bestbuy for 200 on sale, got so-so reviews, but the form factor is sweet
Saw a samsung on amazon, also using SDHC cards, 200 bucks, got relatively good reviews, similar form factor and good battery life. concern over it's screen ratio options tho.
Then theres the Flip Minio HD, which seems a logical choice since I liked the earlier flip. Downside 1 is the Li-ON battery instead of AA, but I gotta assume it can last a day in the parks. Downside 2 is 60 minutes fixed, but I can mitigate this by bringing my netbook to offload files to/charge at night.

the wildcard is that the olympus point and shoots we have (770 for me, 2x850 for the wife and MIL) will shoot decent video....

so has anyone used any of the above? likes? dislikes? comments?


Camera-wise, I am beginning to again lean toward leaving the K10D home as I did with our last family vacation last year, for a few reasons.
1-It's not going to be a blast lugging the camera bag around WDW, in addition to the kids, the strollers and whatever else we will have. While i have a nice shoulder/hip bag from LowePro, and it's kinda compact, it's hardly small. taking it on and off and being sure it's safe.....not always sold on that.

2-I am the only one of the four adults who can use the dSLR. Even in green mode. Wife is too intimidated and indifferent, Mother in law can't hand hold for anything (she holds it lopsided and says otherwise, etc etc). Father in law just doesnt care.

3-For snapshots done by other guests, I think a p&s is easier to hand to them and explain. Plus, cheaper to replace if we get duped, or the guest drops it. (though the point and shoots I have are all drop-proof to 6 feet).

4-Space. in addition to the constraints walking around the park, given the 3 kids, luggage will be a PITA. I will want to keep carry-ons to a minimum, and I wouldn't care if I checked the point and shoots in regular luggage (small and crushproof, and in hardside luggage).

It's depressing to think of not using the K10D, but i think ultimately it makes the most sense....plus, I really do like the pictures the Olympus p&s we have takes, so that helps.

Sorry for the long post, but i think thats kinda where my thoughts are right now. Just hoping to get some input on those choices or other alternatives....

thanks!

[Wildnsyko]

I personally only buy Sony camcorders. They are the only one with nightshot, which is something we really use alot. I've heard that the new JVC is decent and takes a card. That's not a bad brand either.

Whatever you decide, make sure you have fun!! My parents took my niece in October and had a blast.

[cdsbrother]

If your kids are going to meet all the characters, I'd recommend at least checking out Disney Photo Pass (Disney's PhotoPass - Add some Disney magic to your memories). Get a card from the first official photog you see, and hand it to all the others as they take your photos. After the trip, all the pictures get linked together on their website. If you get multiple cards, I think you can link them together after the fact. They have an option (not cheap) to buy all of the photos on CD.

Their people did a better job than I did at getting our kids looking at the camera. If I'd known that we'd end up buying the CD, I'd have gotten them to take some group photos as well. I did not notice any of them shooting Pentax.

[Nowhere Matt]

I cannot argue with many of your points. There is some mature wisdom in your content.
I know a lot of people want to go with smaller video cameras today. Ones that will fit in a pocket or purse but that also means to me less stability and room for the thing to get lost.
But with that many children and the different directions you will face I can certainly understand the concern over not carrying you K10.
We have the older model Sony Handycam but I don't think I would like to get use to something half it's size.
And I think your thoughts on just using the point and shoot are complete. I also would not like to go anywhere I thought would present a few unique photo opportunities without my K10 but the vacation is what is important. You might be risking the vacation if something were to happen to the K10 and you stew about it for three days. If you handed off the K10 to most people so they could take your picture they invariably try to compose looking at the lcd screen with the camera at arms length any way.

[Arpe]

I personally only buy Sony camcorders.

Whereas I would never buy one as the others take SD/SDHC cards! Which you can use for your other camera/s.

The Panasonic SD cameras are pretty sweet alright, I haven't used one, but if I were purcahsing today I would get one.

If you want to edit the footage be careful, it takes a fairly powerful computer to edit the AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition, I think) stuff, plus modern software. Though you often/usually get some basic software with the camera.

I think a small video cam and a small stills cam would be best, and you can always edit the footage together later on.

[stewart_photo]

I picked the Canon ZR-900 because it's one of the very few relatively inexpensive (roughly $210 at B&H) camcorders with a microphone input (which I can't stress the value of enough). This camcorder also has a good zoom range, solid image stabilization, and a decent nighttime mode (even to the point of using it's own LCD display as a light source in total darkness).

A remote microphone comes in real handy when one doesn't want the subject's voice to sound like it's miles away, with massive ambient background noise (wind, room noise, etc) also recorded. While probably not much of a selling point to you, I also use a remote microphone with my Peugoet Satelis - camcorder attached to the handlebars and a tiny clip-on microphone under my helmet so I can narrate with little or no wind noise.

The MiniDV tapes are cheap, can be recorded over several times (though cheap enough to just use a new tape for anything important), and videos can obviously be imported into a computer (Mac or PC, which I have both).

stewart

[ve2vfd]

Saw a panasonic SD model at bestbuy for 200 on sale, got so-so reviews, but the form factor is sweet

I bought a new camcorder not too long ago to replace my broken Sharp DV camcorder, and looked at those new panasonic SDHC models in my research.

On the plus side they are extremely compact.

Unfortunately they have some serious issues... Of course it's not HighDef and the image quality is that hot compared to other regular def camcorders (heck my Optio W60 in movie mode has better IQ!). Next, and that was the deal breaker for me, is they they have no shake reduction.

In the end I bought the Panasonic SDR-H40 which is a few steps up. It has a 40gb hard drive and also accepts SDHC cards, has mechanical shake reduction (like Pentax dSLR's) and the price was right. Of course it's not an HighDef camcorder, but that simply was not in my budget anyways.

Pat

[jmdeegan]

so an update....

last night i was just going through camera gear (the trip isn't until april, but i already couldnt find one of the spare olympus batteries, which i did track down).

So I said to her, I figure we'll take the olympuses and our older flip video, and that will be it. I said I figured we'd be leaving the "big camera" home.

She did a double-take. Said no, bring it.

So, apparently, she really wants the good pictures, which is a plus. She knows the size comparison (hence she calls it the big camera), but the fact that I was planning to go without it, and she wants it, makes it easier (ie, she might gripe about it, but it was her idea. Shoulda got audio of that LOL).

I do have a sony digital 8 circa 99 (the one infamous for the IR/Nightshot that sees thru clothing). It's a nice size, but its about the only item I've owned from sony that I didn't have considerable issues with. I figure it's a fluke. That Sony still adores it's proprietary cards is a deal breaker-their webbie mini-cam looks pretty slick, but I am not dropping 40 or 50 bucks on a card I can't use in anything else (plus the money for another card reader).

The more I think about it, I am leaning toward the Flip in HD, because its something I know/am familiar with, as is the wife. I planted the seeds for a better, real sized camcorder tho. Perhaps for Christmas if the better ones come down a bit in price.

I liked some of the lower end ones, the fit in the hand was nice etc, but none of the ones I was looking at otherwise can do anything other than SD. It's not a major PITA yet, but considering all of our TVs are now HD capable and in the 16:9 aspect ratio, it would be nice if the videos we did take could work better with that.
Plus, even the lower end ones with SDHC cards, I saw a number of issues with audio and video coming out of sync. Whether thats an issue with card choices or camcorder, I don't know...but I know if the wife is importing the video, she won't have the patience to fix it.

Now....look for a "what lenses to bring" thread, since she shocked me with that bit last night LOL.

[Nowhere Matt]

I do have a sony digital 8 circa 99 (the one infamous for the IR/Nightshot that sees thru clothing).

Isn't that funny how some people associate this. I was using my Sony at a wedding this passed weekend and my cousin asked about those very properties.
My remark was, "Well given this particular crowd and how most of us are related, I am rather glad that it is not."

[jmdeegan]

it is funny, i just remember how much i got asked about it after I bought it. I think mine was the first model that had safeguards in place which are easily bypassed, but honestly I've never been inclined to even find out. I only used nightshot a couple times, once to film my infant son sleeping for his doctor to review. Other than that.....it's nothing I use.

But since I bought it in college, all the guys on my floor wanted to borrow it, because that particular "function" made headlines.

[Clicker]

MiniDV is still the best value, video vs photos especially for active kids is a must and unless there are more than one person recoding the trip less is better i think you should just do the camcorder whichever media (HDD,miniDV,miniDVD,SD) etc as long as it's reliable and a good P&S (i have a Panasonic TZ5 which records on SD in HD and it takes photos too )

Whatever you decide as long as you get the memories without too much frustrations, enjoy your trip.

[jmdeegan]

definetly looking to avoid anymore tapes, tho I do recognize the bang/buck ratio for those miniDV models.

I think the father in law has one of the older ones, its OK, has zeiss glass but I was never liking his more than my own digital 8. Could be that when we used his when my wife and I went to disney, it had an issue and was not that useful.

[reeftool]

I have a Canon ZR 700 camcorder which I am very happy with. Similar specs to the model Stewart mentioned but a year or so older. The mini DV tapes are available everywhere and don't cost much. It is quite compact. I have taken it skiing and it easily fits in my jacket pocket. I paid 249$ for it with 2 batterys and a bag. I think the current model available is the ZR 950. I don't shoot video all that much so i'm no expert on the subject but for an inexpensive camcorder that takes really good quality digital video its hard to beat. My model can also take still shots and uses an SD card.