Digital Video
Of course thats not the entire story. In some fo my time-wasting activities I have been researching for a future purchase of a digital video camera. The contest has come down to three candidates, which I will list in the order of my current relative preference:
Panasonic AG DVC-80
Canon GL-2
Sony VX-2100
The DVC-80 doesn’t have the 20x zoom lens that the Canon does, but it has a wider wide angle and bigger CCDs, which allow for better low-light performance. It is also newer and has better audio hookups. The GL-2 has by far the best lens of the groups in terms of zoom, but I’m not sure how useful extreme zoom is – I think wide angle is preferable for indoors shooting like I plan on doing. The Sony VX-2100 is supposed to have the best Low Light detail of the group, but its lens lacks any distinctions and it doesn’t have the progressive scan “frame” or “film” modes that the others boast, which is a feature I am interested in. They all go for slightly north of $2000.
I am also interested in picking up a Direct-To-Edit hard disk drive capture box for the camera. Although they run for around $1000, this completely eliminates the need to capture video after shooting, which adds as much time as it took to shoot originally to the editing process. Of course, the DV tapes are only several dollars, and I can keep them labelled long after they are orignally recorded as backup of original material, so perhaps that is just as good for now.
As if these things were not enough to spend my money on, a coworker just informed me that he is selling some cars – the one that piques my interest is a 1994 Nissan Sentra with 100k miles on it, going for $1500. Its smallish, white, two doors, fuel efficient and runs well. I really do want a replacement for the truck I drive now – I’m getting tired of the no-radio no-air-conditioning rides that suck 4 gallons of gas to and from work. It’d also be nice to have transportation that I could call my own. Thinking aobut it though, I think I have to check to see if its FWD or not, since that is kind of important in the driveway. Of course, that may not matter when/if I begin at the UW…