Perfect for Everyday – Sony FE 24-50mm F2.8 G Lens
Sony FE 24-50mm F2.8G Lens – Just Announced from Sony
Give us a call at (201) 664-4113 to pre-order yours today!
Shop our online Sony store here.
Read moreBergen County Camera news, events, products, helpful photographic tips and suggestions
Sony FE 24-50mm F2.8G Lens – Just Announced from Sony
Give us a call at (201) 664-4113 to pre-order yours today!
Shop our online Sony store here.
Read moreYou won’t want to miss these highlights from Sony! Sony February specials run through 3/2/2024.
Shop our online Sony store here
Shop Instant Rebates on Sony Mirrorless Cameras – Shop Instant Rebates on Sony Lenses
Read moreYou won’t want to miss this limited time savings event from Sony! Sony February savings run through 2/11/2024.
Shop our online Sony store here
Shop Instant Rebates on Sony Mirrorless Cameras – Shop Instant Rebates on Sony Lenses
Read moreJason Etzel from Sony Digital Imaging will be in store on October 2nd from 11 – 2 for equipment demonstrations and firmware updates. We hope you can join us.
New Alpha 7S III Empowers Creators with 4K 120P[i] Video, 10-bit 4:2:2 Recording, 15+ Stop Dynamic Range[ii], Improved AF Performance and More
From February 1st through March 28th, trade in any camera, camcorder, or cell phone and receive up to $100 off a Sony RX Series Camera. More details available in the attached image.
The Sony RX100 Mark III is now in stock. Featuring an impressive combination of a pop up viewfinder, a 24-70 f/1.8-2.8 Zeiss lens, and a 21 Megapixel 1 inch BSI-CMOS sensor. Stop in this week to try out Sony’s newest camera.
In our last installment we spoke somewhat briefly about the MiniDV format of camcorders. This time around we’re going to go into the DVD format. DVD was first introduced in the computer industry in 1995, the same year MiniDV made it’s introduction into the video market, but it was not available for video or consumer use until early 1998. DVD camcorders did not gain popularity until the year 2000. At first the image quality on DVD camcorders was lacking at best. The quality has gotten much better over time but is still not on par with either the current tape formats or the solid state/hard drive formats. This might not sound like the most compelling argument for DVD. I mean, who wants to spend money on a format in which the quality is less than it’s competing formats? Read on and you will discover.
The biggest advantage to DVD format is that it’s the simplest of the video formats. It has two basic fuctions – to record and to play back. If you don’t want to fuss around with connecting the camcorder to your television DVD is the way to go. Pop the DVD into your DVD player and you’re ready to go. There can be compatability issues with playing DVD’s, though that is of minimal concern. Almost any modern DVD player (from the last 2 to 5 years) will be able to play recordable DVD’s.
Other than quality the other main disadvantage is that standard DVD’s for these camcorders can only hold up to 30 minutes per disc. The discs aren’t expensive (around $15 for a 10 pack) but it can be a nuisance when recording an event that’s longer than the disc’s capacity.
There is something that needs to be mentioned when it comes to different types of recordable DVD discs. There are three types of discs on the market. DVD-R (know as either “minus R” or “dash R”) will work in any DVD camcorder and is readable in almost any DVD player. DVD+R is a format that was introduced by Sony to compete with the already popularly available -R discs. +R discs hold slightly less information than -Rs but the trade-off being that the +R discs are more stable when writing information at higher speeds. You need to make sure your camcorder/DVD player are able to write/read +R discs. Both -R and +R discs also come in -/+RW formats. RW stands for re-writeable. They give you the ability to delete and re-record scenes on the DVD itself. I don’t recommend RW discs for camcorders due to the fact that they’re less reliable than standard R discs. The last and least popular of the formats is DVD-RAM. RAM discs (which stands for Random Access Memory) are also re-writeable but are more stable than their RW counterparts. RAM discs are great but just like the +R discs you need to make sure your equipment is compatible with that format.
Overall I can fully recommend DVD camcorders for those looking for simplicity above all else. The image quality issue (if you would even call it that) isn’t of huge concern. To the untrained eye the image quality differences are negligible.
Check back here next Wednesday for the third installment of our Intro to Video Formats column – HDD/Flash Memory.