14 Responses

1. Stu Bazley

   August 25th, 2006 at 3:30 pm

   1

   Dead right David,

   Save video for the video camera and stills for the still camera and whilst you’re about it. If you want to play games buy an XBox and if you want to listen to MP3s buy and MP3 player.
   That’s the latest “got to have” with the youngsters,The combined still camera/video camera/games machine and MP3 player and soon to come with an inbuilt phone/torch/GPS/calorie counter all built into a wristwatch

2. michael Kirwan

   August 25th, 2006 at 5:27 pm

   2

   Personally I will go for the still camera every time. I dont believe people look at video as much as they would at still photo. I come down on the side of a camera for stills, leave the video stand alone

3. cathy

   August 25th, 2006 at 8:49 pm

   3

   You are absolutely right David!! 3 years ago I made the mistake of buying a video camera like this and was very disappointed in the still pictures. I ended up buying a separate digital camera a couple of years ago to go along with it.

4. Brenda

   August 26th, 2006 at 5:25 am

   4

   I love my still camera, (finepix s9000) , it takes wonderful pictures, it also takes very good quality vidio, which I seldom take more than 30 seconds of anyway. I vote for a sitll camera that takes vidio anyday.

5. Ralph Honey

   August 26th, 2006 at 6:12 am

   5

   Right on, David!
   I bought a movie camera (SVHS) some time ago, with still capabilities… Took it back and exchanged for Movie only. Since still images are what I like best, my movie camera has not been used in a long time. But I will keep it, Just in Case!
   Two cameras are better than one.

6. Glenn

   August 26th, 2006 at 9:38 am

   6

   I agree with you David! You want video, use the right camera. Same goes for photos. But that does not mean rejecting a video camera because it also has still capability. I have a Sony DCR-TRV350 Digital8 video camera. That is not the reason I bought it although it does have the advantage of doing stills. Unlike some video camera, it does not put the stills on the video tape. It uses the “memory stick”. The advantage here is that if I do not bring my still camera, I can grab images off the video tape or shoot directly to the “memory stick”. But this is the rare circumstance. For the best quality, use the correct type of camera!

7. kim

   August 26th, 2006 at 11:12 am

   7

   I agree!!!!! I work for a camera department and tell people daily that they need to buy the correct camera for what they are doing. Many of the newer video cameras have the ability to put stills on a media card rather then on the tape which is an improvement. However these pictures are still not the best quality. I still prefer my SLR camera to any of the digital cameras I have used, but the processing is much more expensive.

8. Phillip

   August 27th, 2006 at 5:03 am

   8

   Agreed, except that some of the newer still cameras can take video of reasonable resolution; good enough to be used for home video. I have a Sony DCR-TRV350 Digital8 video camera that takes still photos (effective 0.3 MP) which does not provide sufficient quality stills. For family snaps, you need at least 1MP to get something usable that you can put in a photo album, so i believe some of newer video cameras may give the ability to capture happy snaps, but no more than that. I also have a Panasonic FZ30 (12x zoom) that takes 640 x ?? video, which is essentially TV quality, and usable for family video. Although I used to lug both still- and video on trips, the video is being left behind more often than not. A 1GB memory card gives me sufficient still photos and video clips for a typical day trip (usable video clips should not be longer than approx 5 seconds each; anything longer tends to put the audience to sleep …)

9. Westy Hirst

   August 28th, 2006 at 1:50 am

   9

   I have a Sony TRV11 which took fantastic stills until I dropped it. I sent it away to be fixed but it was never the same again. I recently upgraded to a TRV350 and am very disappointed with the quality of the stills. However, because the video is now easily accessible and available on the memory stick, I am taking a lot more video than I used to.
   Now I am in the market for a digital SLR.

10. mounir

    August 28th, 2006 at 9:01 am

    10

    sportif calme j’aime la vie .

11. Neel

    August 29th, 2006 at 11:05 pm

    11

    Hey thanks David.

    I was planning to buy a one for all solution, for Video and Stills, but I guess I’ll do a re-think now.

12. Canute

    September 10th, 2006 at 7:17 am

    12

    If you think that combo cams are not good at one thing or the other then you should look at a Sony Cybershot video.
    My uncle bought a 3MP one and the video on it which was shot about 640×480 with amazing sound is something that left me thinking about combo cameras.
    If you think that is no good then remember this – don’t expect to get SLR like pics and professional movies camera like video on a device. It’s not possible because when tech get better the high end goes higher. Unless you want the pro quality pics and movies of the 70’s camera’s in a single device.
    If you don’t do much shooting better go for the new nokia cell phone with video recording and 2MP cam.

13. Dan

    September 20th, 2006 at 9:54 am

    13

    While buying both types of cameras is the best solution, having a still camera that can shoot small clips is fun and worth using for clips that one may want to put up on the net or send to family. All you need to do is watch a senior’s face when they see their first great-grandson moving about and you’ll know what I mean.

14. Casey

    October 31st, 2006 at 8:19 pm

    14

    I think that a video camera should just be that a “Video camera” and a digital still camera to be used only for photos. If you are serious about video or still you know what i mean, even if you take a photo at 3 megapixel on a video camera it is still to small to do anything with it. Most video cameras do not have the settings of a digital photo camera therefore is should not be used for stills. I have taken 3 megapixel photos in photoshop CS2 and there is not much you can do with them.