Camcorder for DJ use?

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!
B

Bill Kexel

Well-Known DJ
Dec 5, 2006
2,097
59
65
Phoenix, AZ
For the past couple years, I have been taking my camcorder with me to the wedding gigs I DJ.
I usually set it up on a tripod & videotape the wedding ceremony & important parts of the reception.

The reason for this is for personal improvement for DJing. I can review it later & catch things I may have missed/not noticed while DJing.

At the ceremony: Were the mic levels ok? was the music too loud?, how was the timing? Did everything flow properly?

At the reception: Am I talking too fast? does my voice carry well? Did it appear that I had control/attention of the guests, Did things flow properly? Did I do a good job of getting everyone's attention/introductions for toasts, etc.

The camcorder I currently use is an old Sony Handycam (1997) that uses little 8mm tapes. (analog)
On my computer, I convert them over to digital & burn them on to DVDs & keep them in a binder. By doing so, I am losing alot of quality & have decided to go with a new modern digital camcorder.

I am leaning towards another Sony handycam, but want it to have a decent amount of features. (like a winsdscreen mode for the mic) My present camcorder doesn't have that & many times it picks up wind noise during outdoor events. another feature I have seen: the new Handycams also have a built in projector, but I'm not sure how good it works. (not sure if I'd use it or not)

I'm looking to spend less than $1K & hoping to get 10+yrs use out of it.
Any suggestions? If so, what are the pros & cons of what you have or recommend?

Thanks,
 
Bill Kexel said:
For the past couple years, I have been taking my camcorder with me to the wedding gigs I DJ.
I usually set it up on a tripod & videotape the wedding ceremony & important parts of the reception.

The reason for this is for personal improvement for DJing. I can review it later & catch things I may have missed/not noticed while DJing.

At the ceremony: Were the mic levels ok? was the music too loud?, how was the timing? Did everything flow properly?

At the reception: Am I talking too fast? does my voice carry well? Did it appear that I had control/attention of the guests, Did things flow properly? Did I do a good job of getting everyone's attention/introductions for toasts, etc.

The camcorder I currently use is an old Sony Handycam (1997) that uses little 8mm tapes. (analog)
On my computer, I convert them over to digital & burn them on to DVDs & keep them in a binder. By doing so, I am losing alot of quality & have decided to go with a new modern digital camcorder.

I am leaning towards another Sony handycam, but want it to have a decent amount of features. (like a winsdscreen mode for the mic) My present camcorder doesn't have that & many times it picks up wind noise during outdoor events. another feature I have seen: the new Handycams also have a built in projector, but I'm not sure how good it works. (not sure if I'd use it or not)

I'm looking to spend less than $1K & hoping to get 10+yrs use out of it.
Any suggestions? If so, what are the pros & cons of what you have or recommend?

Thanks,
Click to expand...
Bill, won't you be better served by going to a camera store and having them show you some of their products and point out the features for you? Maybe even a photography forum will be good as you can get pros and cons about many makes and models. Each person here that has one will try to get you to buy theirs. To me that may be a slanted/bias recommendation.

Update: I am not referring to a Walmart, Best Buy or Target type of store. I would suggest a dedicated Photography/Camera Store
 
Good point. We're not camera people - except for the few that are photographers. I'd listen to the opinions here - but I would also talk to a camera person. (I don't think the camera section at Best Buy (and the like) qualifies as 'camera people'). Having said that - where would we find 'camera people'?
 
I'm not looking for anything "Professional grade". If I was, I sure wouldn't be asking here (for video advice)

Question:
Am I the only DJ that uses a camcorder at gigs to improve his performance?

I thought I'd see if anyone else does & what do they prefer.
Nevermind.
 
Video cameras have became incredibly inexpense in the last few years. If the only reason you need this camera is to review your proformance, why put so much money into it? I like quality products myself but don't see the need in spending so much into an item that will be outdated before you know it.

I have a Kodak playsport for my personal video recording. Its water/drop proof(to a point) and was 179 bucks at the big box store.
 
If $1000 is your budget save yourself some money and look at the JVC or Sony Cams in the $200 to $400 range. The difference in quality between them would be very hard to notice to an average user. Until you get up in the big dollar range the quality doesn't change a whole lot. Look for something HD thats the big thing

I've been using a JVC GR-D770U for the past few years the picture quality is good and it records decent audio. It uses Mini tape or SD card. It doesn't do HD but it serves the purpose I need it for
 
This camcorder would also be for my personal use as well. (holidays, vacations, etc,) but primarily for DJ use. The windscreen feature is a must have. I think moving from analog to digital will make a huge difference in quality when transferring video. I plan on keeping it for 10+ yrs, so I don't want a piece of junk.
Thanks for the suggestions.

Does anyone else utilize a camcorder at their events? A fellow DJ suggested it to me years ago.
It is a great tool for performance improvement.
 
DJ Wes has got one that I really liked (can't remember the model, maybe he'll chime in). My view, if you can get something that's akin to a Flip (but with audio compression) it's probably going to work out much better in the long run. A long zoom is nice but in this setting totally unnecessary in my view.
 
rickryan.com said:
DJ Wes has got one that I really liked (can't remember the model, maybe he'll chime in). My view, if you can get something that's akin to a Flip (but with audio compression) it's probably going to work out much better in the long run. A long zoom is nice but in this setting totally unnecessary in my view.
Click to expand...

I've tried the flip cameras, but the quality is like that on a cellphone camcorder (choppy & jerky) If I also plan to use it for family home videos, I'd like something that is going to be enjoyable to view in the years to come.
Thanks for the advice though.
 
Bill Kexel said:
I've tried the flip cameras, but the quality is like that on a cellphone camcorder (choppy & jerky) If I also plan to use it for family home videos, I'd like something that is going to be enjoyable to view in the years to come.
Thanks for the advice though.
Click to expand...

There are several of the flip-knock-offs that have stablilization built-in. I believe Wes' is the zoom. To me, the biggest consideration is the size of the unit and the ease in which you can get video to the web. IMHO, you simply can't beat the flip-style package. It'll fit in your jacket pocket and can be pulled out in an instant whenever you run into a moment that needs to be captured, not to mention it doesn't have the same appearance as a traditional camcorder (i.e. it doesn't look like the DJ is spending his time shooting promo footage at the gig). The optics on that zoom is really good and it shots at 1080. The only thing it's missing is the longer zoom, which in my mind is useless for our situation. BTW, we're talking 3-bills.
 
Bill Kexel said:
For the past couple years, I have been taking my camcorder with me to the wedding gigs I DJ.
I usually set it up on a tripod & videotape the wedding ceremony & important parts of the reception.

The reason for this is for personal improvement for DJing. I can review it later & catch things I may have missed/not noticed while DJing.

At the ceremony: Were the mic levels ok? was the music too loud?, how was the timing? Did everything flow properly?

At the reception: Am I talking too fast? does my voice carry well? Did it appear that I had control/attention of the guests, Did things flow properly? Did I do a good job of getting everyone's attention/introductions for toasts, etc.

The camcorder I currently use is an old Sony Handycam (1997) that uses little 8mm tapes. (analog)
On my computer, I convert them over to digital & burn them on to DVDs & keep them in a binder. By doing so, I am losing alot of quality & have decided to go with a new modern digital camcorder.

I am leaning towards another Sony handycam, but want it to have a decent amount of features. (like a winsdscreen mode for the mic) My present camcorder doesn't have that & many times it picks up wind noise during outdoor events. another feature I have seen: the new Handycams also have a built in projector, but I'm not sure how good it works. (not sure if I'd use it or not)

I'm looking to spend less than $1K & hoping to get 10+yrs use out of it.
Any suggestions? If so, what are the pros & cons of what you have or recommend?

Thanks,
Click to expand...


I have some insight into this that might help you bill, as I work in the indie film and local production community on visual effects and commercial shoots.

All the bells and whistles of the new camcorders aren't important as having something with a good image sensor and good internal mic, if that is the route you are going.

Unless it's their pro-line I stay away from sony. Really any of the sub-consumer level cams are not worth spending the extra cash.

Unfortunately for you the super image clarity and good motion response a 3ccd HD camera provides may be out of your price range, as that is a pro-sumer and pro feature set and a lot of manufacturers are using cmos sensors. The good news is a lot of camera companies are finally investing in better cmos chips that use global shutters to eliminate the biggest issue with cmos sensors, which is rolling shutter.(google it)

However, I can recommend a camera i use that would do exactly what you need it to.

The Canon Vixia HF S30 is an excellent quality handheld shooter, we have the last year model to use for b-roll shooting. The image quality is very good, and the mic picks up pretty much what you want to hear, and it has a good assortment of manual controls.
 
rickryan.com said:
There are several of the flip-knock-offs that have stablilization built-in. I believe Wes' is the zoom. To me, the biggest consideration is the size of the unit and the ease in which you can get video to the web. IMHO, you simply can't beat the flip-style package. It'll fit in your jacket pocket and can be pulled out in an instant whenever you run into a moment that needs to be captured, not to mention it doesn't have the same appearance as a traditional camcorder (i.e. it doesn't look like the DJ is spending his time shooting promo footage at the gig). The optics on that zoom is really good and it shots at 1080. The only thing it's missing is the longer zoom, which in my mind is useless for our situation. BTW, we're talking 3-bills.
Click to expand...

How many hours can you record on one of those? how are they on low light situations?

I usually set up the camcorder on a tripod. I've had good luck with my Sony Handycam (13+yrs) but it's analog (tapes).... It's time to get away from that.
As far as the 3 bills, I'm looking at full fledged camcorders around $300.
But I may look at some of the flip cameras too. I hope they are better than my smartphone camcorder.
 
Bill Kexel said:
But I may look at some of the flip cameras too. I hope they are better than my smartphone camcorder.
Click to expand...

The little Flips and their ilk are turds for image quality. Better to stick with something with better sensors and glass.
 
Bill Kexel said:
How many hours can you record on one of those? how are they on low light situations?

I usually set up the camcorder on a tripod.
As far as the 3 bills, I'm looking at full fledged camcorders around $300.
But I may look at some of the flip cameras too
Click to expand...

Like the other poster said, you're gonna have to go full 3-chip to get any decent low-light handling. I have a Canon Vixia HF200 (a bit lower than the one he recommended) but IMHO it suffers about the same level of low-light problems as the Zoom. In my opinion, and considering the application, portability/flexibility trumps. Even as small as the Canons are, you're going to be noticed more (while shooting) not to mention that Camcorder is not going to be something you can stick in your pocket. These smaller cameras look more like an iphone and guests won't think twice about you popping one out for a few seconds to capture footage. Most of the smaller units hold 1-2 hours of footage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back