what 8mm?

[embracedwithin]

hello, i want to make a low-budget horror/gore film with my friends using a digital 8mm. can anyone recommend some good digital 8mms? im from england uk, so if anyones from there they might know of what to get where.
budget for camera is up to about £500.
any help would be great
thankyou

[AJ]

Hi embraced,

I am also in the UK, and here in London there are several good places to get camcorders at a reasonable price.

I would reccomend AJelectronics (no relation!) and their website is at www.ajelectronics.co.uk/

They have a range of digital 8mm cameras in the sub-£300 price range. Make sure you get one that has both in and out recording, and manual focus / apature setting.

Personally, although 8mm is cheaper, I sould recommend shelling out the extra for a MiniDV camera, I would say the image quality is much better, and unless you have a library of existing analogue 8mm tapes you need to access, its really not worth using digital 8mm.

Just my opinion though, I'm sure others will disagree ;D

[embracedwithin]

you say its not really worth using a digital 8mm. could you recommend me something that i should be looking for?
you mentioned a MiniDV camera. any models spring to mind?
thankyou once again

[scitek]

Hey man. I used a model called the Canon ZR-40, it worked great for what I needed if you ask me. I used it to film "The Moviegoer." You can find my movie here (www.dbfilms.net/movies/the_moviegoer.zip) if you're interested in seeing the quality it gives after being compressed into .wmv format. That particular model is out of production now, so you can probably find it cheaper on ebay used or something, or if you prefer you can get one of the new models, the ZR-60 being the lowest. All of the new ones have better quality picture and more options than the one I used. I'm getting a Canon GL-2 now, which is a big step up, but it cost me an arm and a leg. Good luck!

[AJ]

MiniDV is just my personal preference, I am not overly familar with Digital8, and having looked on-line, it seems many people claim that the results are identical. I guess that the final choice comes down to the quality of camera.

Digital8 cameras seem to be more limited in terms of features, there don't seem to be many 'high end' digital 8mm cameras, they are mostly the point and shoot variety... but, and this is a big but, they are a LOT cheaper to buy than a comparable MiniDV camera. So for your limited budget, perhaps Digital8 will enable you to get a better spec of camera than you otherwise would have done.

If you are going for MiniDV, then try to go for a good one, like the VX2100 or the XL1. Expensive, but worth it.

Here are a few links to comparisons on the two formats.

www.epinions.com/content_1461231748
forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/8691/72.html
www.amazing.com/dv/dv-faq.html