Senior Member
Best High Bass, Analog color 1080 Digital Camera?
Well now that the new equipiment is being built, I would like a new digi camera to use for taking videos. I am looking for a camera in the $300 range, and most of my shows involve high bass levels. I want something that will distort minimally, and able to catch vocals and pitch changes on the highs. 1080 video quality is also ideal. I have found this one (Amazon Link) and was wondering if it would be a nice cannidate, or do you have the perfect solution for me? Thanks
Senior Member
I'd either canvas clubbers or ask manufacturers if their camera model (s) have distortion protection.
Sometimes Youtube is a good start. Search for club videos, then find ones with perfect audio and email the owner to see if they'll tell you the camera and model. Some will, some won't.
Otherwise its a lottery.
I've always had £100 compacts for clubbing. Canon compacts distorted for me badly. Casio which I have now doesn't as it attenuates the sound. The sound is mint but you can sometimes hear the attenuation drop. ie sometimes the switch between loud and quiet passages is obvious in processing terms.
Senior Member
I bought a Canon G10 because it has automatic gain control for the audio. Works a charm in loud environmentsmy mate bought a Canon G11 thinking it would do the same... no it didn't. Canon in their wisdom removed the feature.
G10 is an amazing camera but it doesn't take 1080 video.
*This space intentionally left blank*
I'm don't have any models to recommend and I'm not familiar with what is available on today's market, but I wonder if there are any video cameras out there that accept external microphones.
If you found a camera that did this...
- J
Jr. Woodchuckington Janitor III, Esq.
lots of video cameras and even some dslr's will accept external microphones. most of them will have auto gain control circuits on the audio inputs.
i use a canon xh-a1. not only does it have external mic inputs (xlr), but it also provides phantom power.
Originally Posted by platinum
suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.
Senior Member
Auto gain control is the key feature. If you have camera with an external mic socket but without AGC, all you are doing is providing an alternative source for the camera's audio circuits to distort!
The challenge is finding the AGC feature on compact cameras. It took me ages to dig around and find a camera that had this. The guys in the local camera stores had no idea of any compact camera with this and suggested a dedicated video camera. I'm not sure the specs of the G10 even mention the feature. I had to dig around on forums and youtube to confirm.
Senior Member
Even a AGC isn't really a good option. Although it'll stop the distortion, as soon as the bass lifts (Or before it drops), your volume is going to be very loud, then drop to very quiet once the bass starts.
If you want clear bass and level audio through the whole thing, you're going to need a camera with external mic input, and a physically larger mic.
Senior Member
Depends on the implementation of AGC, I have some cracking good coverage of the Chemical Brothers that doesn't exhibit this.
Senior Member
It can happen. Sometimes my Casio is very good, other times its noticeable in volume drop after the bass kicks in, better than distortion though.
My Casio Z80 isn't HD though and I think you're looking for something more.
I'll put a comparison clip up later so you can see why you need to choose carefully by asking people about individual models.
BTW most non dedicated video cameras (ie stills with video capabilities) are also mono recording.
Last edited by White-Light; 07-30-2011 at 00:30.
Senior Member
2nd vid was out of focus, my fault.
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