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[Darius Wey]

Although on a side note, for comparative purposes, if you were conmparing SD and CF formats.

First thing you look at is price: CF is generally cheaper although SD prices are dropping as we speak.
Second thing you look at is write speeds: every format sports different write speeds, and these even differ between brand types. So choose carefully, although nowadays, the differences are minimal.

Now I'm totally confused as to whether you're looking at digital cameras now or are now centred on video cams and tapes, but lets do a speel on both!

With digital cameras, you can now pick up decent ones up to 6-8MP for less than A$1500. As to whether you need something of that supreme megapixel power, it's purely set on a personal basis. However, while you can record "movies" and I do quotation mark that term because the quality is not comparable to video cams, usually the quality is only set at a max value, and it doesn't respond as well to motion. My camera can record at up to 640x480 I think although its motion response is poor. Formats usually include MPEG, MOV. As with your original question as to how much you could record on a 256MB card...well this depends on the format you record the movie in, your resolution, etc.

And for taking pictures, sometimes the speed at which you can take pictures is dependent on the speed of your camera and how fast it can write to the memory card and prepare for the next picture. Some cameras have built in storage capabilities (a bit like RAM) or new digital signalling processors that enable fast writing to handle for high and rapid demand pointing and shooting. This allows the pictures to be offloaded onto the memory card at the same time you're taking the next picture. This technology also allows for faster previewing of the picture on the LCD screen. While memory card formats play a minor part, a lot of it is attributed to the features of the camera itself.

So with video cameras, while it is rare to find ones with memory card functionality, they are available...although these days, they're more limited to tapes and mini DVDs. The tapes have been around for a while so I don't think I need to delve into those, but with the mini DVDs, the off-putting feature is the price of the video cameras that take them. Most models allow for variable bit rate recording. So as an approximate guide, if you have an 8cm 1.4GB single-sided mini DVD ready for recording...at an average of 3Mbps, you can record roughly 60 mins worth of video onto it. And with pictures (because you can take pictures with digital video cameras, although the extra tweaking features that you might find in professional digital cameras may not be present), on the same disc, you may be able to store about 7000 at 640x480 depending on your clarity setting or about 3000 at 1152x864.

However, while tapes are still cheap, they may still be the better option. However, if you're looking to have good high-tech technology, you may want the mini-DVD cameras.

And your budget of 400-500...is that in US dollars? If so, you can look at the Sony DCRCH range which may fit in that price bracket. Hope all that helps! :mrgreen:

[Darius Wey]

Although on a side note, for comparative purposes, if you were conmparing SD and CF formats.

First thing you look at is price: CF is generally cheaper although SD prices are dropping as we speak.
Second thing you look at is write speeds: every format sports different write speeds, and these even differ between brand types. So choose carefully, although nowadays, the differences are minimal.

Now I'm totally confused as to whether you're looking at digital cameras now or are now centred on video cams and tapes, but lets do a speel on both!

With digital cameras, you can now pick up decent ones up to 6-8MP for less than A$1500. As to whether you need something of that supreme megapixel power, it's purely set on a personal basis. However, while you can record "movies" and I do quotation mark that term because the quality is not comparable to video cams, usually the quality is only set at a max value, and it doesn't respond as well to motion. My camera can record at up to 640x480 I think although its motion response is poor. Formats usually include MPEG, MOV. As with your original question as to how much you could record on a 256MB card...well this depends on the format you record the movie in, your resolution, etc.

And for taking pictures, sometimes the speed at which you can take pictures is dependent on the speed of your camera and how fast it can write to the memory card and prepare for the next picture. Some cameras have built in storage capabilities (a bit like RAM) or new digital signalling processors that enable fast writing to handle for high and rapid demand pointing and shooting. This allows the pictures to be offloaded onto the memory card at the same time you're taking the next picture. This technology also allows for faster previewing of the picture on the LCD screen. While memory card formats play a minor part, a lot of it is attributed to the features of the camera itself.

So with video cameras, while it is rare to find ones with memory card functionality, they are available...although these days, they're more limited to tapes and mini DVDs. The tapes have been around for a while so I don't think I need to delve into those, but with the mini DVDs, the off-putting feature is the price of the video cameras that take them. Most models allow for variable bit rate recording. So as an approximate guide, if you have an 8cm 1.4GB single-sided mini DVD ready for recording...at an average of 3Mbps, you can record roughly 60 mins worth of video onto it. And with pictures (because you can take pictures with digital video cameras, although the extra tweaking features that you might find in professional digital cameras may not be present), on the same disc, you may be able to store about 7000 at 640x480 depending on your clarity setting or about 3000 at 1152x864.

However, while tapes are still cheap, they may still be the better option. However, if you're looking to have good high-tech technology, you may want the mini-DVD cameras.

And your budget of 400-500...is that in US dollars? If so, you can look at the Sony DCRCH range which may fit in that price bracket. Hope all that helps! :mrgreen:

[JackTheTripper]

Thanks for your detailed answer. I was a bit confused when I asked this question. I was under the impression that some of these cameras were purely digital in that they did not use any tape and recorded straight to a memroy card. I couldn't believe this to be true and was checking up on it. As it turns out I was right to question my sources.

But your write up was very informative.

To answer your question, yes.... $400 - $500 is in US dollars. I'm looking at a JVC GR-DVL820 which is normally $999 but I can get it from a discount site for just under $400.