Sample Shots
Still from 720p video
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1080p still from video
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No digital zoom
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4x digital zoom
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COMMENTS
A budget camera, yes.
I bought one of these and it is pants.
Not what I would call HD quality, my pocket stills camera takes better video and the zoom on the S20 is woefull.
re: Why not 24p mode as well
Off the top of my head, I would say because of the following:
Problems with fast motion – as a format 24p handles this less well that shooting at more frames per second. You really need to plan your shooting in order to avoid choppy footage, which means it’s not great for capturing ‘the moment’, which is why many buy this kind of camera.
Lack of editing software that can natively handle 24p – really you’re looking at pro software that can handle it well. Similarly how many consumers will have the hardware to burn blu-ray?
Cheapness of the camera – at this price, I doubt many are seeing the camera as a long-term investment and therefore aren’t looking at a ‘future-proof’ buy. The price point is low enough to be a strong impulse buy when the latest and greatest version comes out.
24p, what? – I suspect a lot of consumers don’t know what hell that is, let alone care.
The way users output footage – although some of these cameras produce great results and would be suitable for professional uses (especially if there’s an external mic input like the Zi8), an awful lot of users will using it to email clips or uploading them to YouTube (more than a few cameras are marketed as being great for YouTube).
Re: your last point (“Or do movie-makers want to leave their precious footage on a more delicate, easily deletable, flash memory card that will fill up, or a hard drive that could crash?”), well as we all know every computer user takes a robust approach to such things…
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I got the sister model of this camcorder last year on release... its awful it may technically be HD, but in 1080i your hard pressed to notice it over the compression and interlace errors, the colours too were crazy! try videoing a 2 yearold on his new trampoline in the sunshine... nope! it worked ok for almost static subjects though! in the end, sent it back waited a few months and got the kodak, which is much better, but not a patch on the titanium sony thing my mum bought!!
overall, the kodak is passable, the Tosh - an SD camcorder produces a better image!
Why not 24p mode as well - for easier archive to blu-ray?
Why not 24p mode as well - for easier archive to blu-ray?
Manufacturers still haven't seemed to have got it into their thick heads: They don't all offer full true hd at 1920x1080 at 24p - 24 full frames per second.
24 is blu-ray compatible which means less transcoding work needed on the original footage, compared with a non-24p format such as 30p reviewed here.
Blu-ray offers a final, permanent (debate about longevity about the chemical compounds aside), solid-state, reasonably robust and portable medium to archive and share your precious footage.
Or do movie-makers want to leave their precious footage on a more delicate, easily deletable, flash memory card that will fill up, or a hard drive that could crash?
