[senit] digital still cameras

We use Mavicas within school which use both stills and mpg we also

Charlie, you're a right darlin'. Great information.

----Original Message----
From: charlie.danger at googlemail.com
Date: 18/04/2007 13:13
To: <rbowstead at allsaints.stockton.sch.uk>, <senit at lists.becta.org.uk>
Subj: Re: [senit] digital still cameras

On choosing a compact digital camera for video use.

VIDEO FORMATS
=============
Generally camera manufacturers stick to one video format for all their
cameras (there may be exceptions and sometimes a manufacturer will 
switch
from one format to another). I've done a little research and found 
that
these are the formats that the main digicam manufacturers are 
currently
using:

Canon: AVI
Casio: AVI
Fuji: AVI
Nikon: MOV
Olympus: AVI
Panasonic: MOV
Pentax: AVI
Ricoh: AVI
Samsung: AVI
Sony: AVI

The AVI format is generally much easier for Windows PC users than the 
(Apple
Quicktime) MOV format. You can play MOVs in Windows if you download 
the free
(but in my opinion awful) Quicktime player but it's difficult to do 
anything
with them other than simple playback. For example Windows Movie Maker
supports AVI (and WMV) but not MOV. I use the free RAD Video Tools to
convert MOV to AVI but it's far less hassle to get a camera that uses 
the
right format in the first place. Apple Mac users will find the MOV 
format
far more convenient as its support is built into OS X.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
====================

Image Stablisation
The new batch of Image Stablisation/SuperSteady Shot cameras result in 
much
smoother footage for handheld videoing.

Resolution
Different cameras record video at different resolutions. While most 
cameras
record at a satisfactory 640x480 pixels, some only record at 320x240 
and one
or will record at the much more viewable 800x600 or even 1024x768.

Frame Rate
Some older cameras can only record decent resolutions at 15 frames per
second which results in low-quality stuttering video.

Compressing
The AVI files created by the cameras are compessed to allow more video
length to be fitted onto your memory card. Some cameras (such as some 
of the
Nikons) tend to over-compress the video which results in poorer 
quality.
Other cameras use more modern compression techniques such as DivX 
which will
require a (free) download to be installed on to any computer on which 
you
want to play them.

I hope some of this information is helpful and accurate - always check
before purchasing. I tend to use www.dpreview.com as it lists almost 
every
available camera with all their vital statistics and some in-depth 
reviews.

Incidentally, I use a Canon G7 as a street camera and to record video 
clips
but the new Canon TX1 looks like a great combination digital 
camera/video
recorder. It records at HDTV resolution (1280x768) and has a 10x zoom 
with
image stabilisation in a body the size of an IXUS. Could be a great
investment for a school but i've yet to read a detailed review of it.

I have a little portfolio of my photographs availalbe at
www.charliedanger.com if you're interested. They vary in quality but i 
think
some are worth looking at.

TTFN

Charlie Danger
www.bltt.org

On 17/04/07, rbowstead at allsaints.stockton.sch.uk <
rbowstead at allsaints.stockton.sch.uk> wrote:

> We use Mavicas within school which use both stills and mpg we also 
use
> digital blues which are cheap and easy to use.
> david fettes <davidfettes3 at yahoo.co.uk> on Tue, 17 Apr 2007 12:40:58 
+0100
> (BST) wrote:
> > hi anyone recently got any digital still cameras that
> > also take movie clips as follows- avi or mpg , not
> > quicktime (.mov) , AND have sound on the clips?
> > Last school had polaroid dig still cams with avi movie
> > clip facility with sound, but the avis couldnt be
> > inserted into powerpoint normally only via control
> > box. current school has olypus did still cameras with
> > QT . mov movie clips but no sound. QT clips don't go
> > into Powerpoint easily. The idea is that staff and
> > students can easily take movie clips with sound and
> > insert to powerpoint (on windows) without  messing
> > around with converters or media file settings. anyone
> > got newish cameras that definately do that?!
> > cheers
> > david
> >
> >
> >       ___________________________________________________________
> > Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the 
answer. Try
> it
> > now.
> > http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/
> >
>
>
> ---
> Ros (ICT)
>
> rbowstead at allsaints.stockton.sch.uk
> http://www.allsaints.stockton.sch.uk/
>
>
..

Mandy Griffin
Senior ICT Technician
Southview School
T: 01376 503505
F: 01376 503460

This email (including any attachments) is intended only for the recipient(s) named above. It may contain confidential or privileged information and should not be read, copied or otherwise used by any other person unless express permission is given. If you are not a named recipient, please contact the sender and delete the email from your system. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to check for software viruses. 

..