can anyone recomend a wide angle video camera

[popolarbear]

can anyone recommend a wide angle video camera. preferably inexpensive and that records in high definition to a memory card or internal memory. low light or infrared would be a bonus. dont need picture photography feature, just video for fish watching.

[Hydro]

i use a gopro hero HD... decent wider angle lens, small and about $200... uses larger sd cards as well. all my videos are shot with it.

[lahrcm]

That looks like a pretty decent camera for the price.  Have a list of 'cons' you dislike about it?  I looked at it on the website and couldn't tell if it has an LCD preview, does it?  How about strobe/flash attachment, is it possible?

[Hydro]

ok ill start with what i don't like, because i find negative reviews more helpful

cons:
-picks up sound from dry gloves like crazy
-controls to start video could be faster, the thing has 2 buttons, starting video takes about 30 seconds
-controls and lcd are on the front of the camera! wtf u have to look at the camera to tell if its on or recording.
-due to tiny lens, low light can become a problem
-battery life seems to diminish in cold water, not a huge problem, but might have an effect.
-havent been able to get video started on a few dives, but this could have been my error, or card error.
-all the mounting stuff they supply is worthless for diving, i use a string and tie it to my BC.
-small camera=must concentrate on image stabilization... first few dives with it is like blair witch project.

pros
-small and doesnt get in my way during a dive
-lightweight, can hold my light and the camera in same hand at once
-once you figure out LCD indicator, recording doesnt take much setting up or adjusting
-cheap, for $200 you are well below the price for a lot of underwater video cameras.
-versatile, you can put it on a bike, or helmet or anything you want to capture action.

no lcd
no flash

[Aquaventure]

The Ikelite/JVC Picsio package is a great choice!  Professional results are easily achieved.  It is inexpensive and wide angle lenses can be added to greatly increase the U/W angle of coverage.  We have sold many of these systems to customers this past year and they have been thrilled with the results.

Here are some of the basic specs:
- 1080P/30fps HD Video Recording
- 8 Megapixel Still Image Recording
- Image Stabilization
- 2.0" Color LCD Monitor
- 4x Digital Zoom
- HDMI and AV Output Terminals
- NTSC and PAL Video Output Formats
- Direct Sending to iTunes/YouTube
- Records on SDHC/SD Cards (not included)
- Includes USB Cable, AV Cable and Hand Strap

Stop in to Aquaventure Dive & Photo and we can demo one for you as well as show you other available options and answer any questions you may have.

Steve Philbrook

[popolarbear]

sounds good, me and a pal were doing some mental calculations, on the video storage size.
am i correct in that the full HD video uncompressed should save at around 100gb hour?

[Qix]

sounds good, me and a pal were doing some mental calculations, on the video storage size.
am i correct in that the full HD video uncompressed should save at around 100gb hour?

The number would be extremely big however there aren't many camera systems that saved uncompressed HD video. If you have bigger budget, you might want to do a web search on the RED line of cameras

[Deltaforce]

A friend of mine owns AquaVideo ().  They have a terrific housing for the Red camera.

The video from this camera is unbeliveable -- truly motion picture quality in digital form.

[ccuda]

Sony has announced the NEX-VG10E video camera, to be shipped in September.
Consensus on the web is that the video companies are going to eventually stifle the video-enabled DSLR.

The new video NEX uses the same lens mount as the NEX3 and NEX5 still cameras, but is a video camera all the way: video-optimized lens (28-300mm equivalent), video-optimized audio (quad capsule spatial array stereo, mic jack, plus headphone monitoring), both rear and viewfinder LCDs, AVCHD format (full 1080i at 24 Mbps bandwidth and 60 fps max). And it takes 14mp stills.  The new Sony has Autofocus
Video and audio control, Shallow DOF capabilities, and use of existing lenses.

DSLR-video is getting squeezed from all sides; video cameras, cellphones, and the compact camera market proving that they can do competent HD video for casual situations, the need for "casual" video in DSLRs is going to be wasted money soon.