Is Mini-Dv the best quality video, or is Gigital, Etc., Etc.

[partyboy 0]

Someone please help me. I am needing to know if Mini Dv is where its at. I see very many Sony Camacorders that are 1500 dollars and up, and are Mini-Dv. I guess thats becuase Mini-Dv is the best?

Up High!!

[IvanPeters 0]

Quote

Someone please help me. I am needing to know if Mini Dv is where its at. I see very many Sony Camacorders that are 1500 dollars and up, and are Mini-Dv. I guess thats becuase Mini-Dv is the best?

I assume that Gigital means Digital.

MiniDV is digital. Most, if not all, formats now available are digital. I think there is little difference in quality between the formats (with the possible exception of compressed formats like MPEG).

Things that have a bigger effect on quality are the general quality of the camera, the size and resolution of the CCD, the size and quality of the lense, the effectiveness of the anti-shake technology used, etc.

The differences in the formats are more practical. How expensive is the media, how easy is it to swap tapes/cartridges/disks, how does it cope with vibration, how much footage can you fit on one tape/cartridge/disk, etc.

MiniDV is what most people in skydiving use. It's small and light, reasonably cheap and reliable. The fact that most other people use it is a good reason to do so yourself. You'll be able to borrow tapes from others, lend tapes to others, copy stuff from tape-to-tape, etc.

Ivan