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We have recently upgraded to an HD camcorder. We picked Canon HF200, which has no built in memory. I am trying to decide how much memory to buy, I am thinking 16GB or 32GB, which is how much Canon HF20 has built in. DH is pushing for more memory, of course. If you have HD camcorder how much memory do you wish you had/is enough?
As much as you can afford.
One 8GB card takes about 45 min of video. I have the Canon with 16GB built in memory. If you're on vacation, it goes pretty quick.
i bought DH an HD camcorder 2 hanukkah's ago and ended up NOT getting the kind with the built in memory becuase they are apparently really fragile. if you should drop or even bump the camera into the wall, that can be enough to completely bust your memory. i'd keep that in mind b/c i was told that by lots of people (dont have first hand expereince).
we ended getting one that has tapes (i think!!) i'm seriously little help. i can't even remember, but i'm almost 100% thats what we bought. Sony. (and this way you dont have to worry about memory at all! - just swap in a new tape).
oh, and the ohter thing is...if you buy memory camcorder, that you apparently have to be pretty diligent in uploading it to your computer, b/c even though it says up to 12 hours recording time (the camera with the most memory at the time i was shopping), it really is over about 4 hours in the highest quality.
lots to think about!
I was told that hard drive camcorders are fragile, but not flash memory ones. So that's what I got; an HD camcorder with built-inflash memory storage.Quote:
Originally Posted by sewarsh
According to Canon's website, with a 32GB SDHC card, your model will be capable of recording ~3-12 hours worth of footage depending upon the quality setting you choose.
Tech Specs
I would do as codex suggests and buy the largest card you can afford. Cards are relatively cheap nowadays. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Also, since you'll be capturing full motion video, you should try to get the fastest card you can. You don't want your recording hanging up because your memory card is too slow to record the data. Again, according to Canon's site, your camera is capable of accepting Class 10 SDHC cards, but apparently that standard is relatively new and it doesn't look like all the camera's features are supported by that Class. Looking at the website, it looks like either a Class 4 or a Class 6 card will work best for you.
Memory Card FAQ
ETA: Bah! Second link doesn't work quite right. Go to that link then hit the link to the Frequently Asked Questions, then hit the link for the first question about size/type of memory cards to use.
Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for all the responses. I did read the manual and online reviews so I know that I need a SDHC card with a minimum of class 4 speed rating. And I also know how many minutes of video I can record per GB at various speeds. What I want to know is how much memory others have bought and whether they found it to be enough or not. I also get very confused as to different types of SDHC cards and how important speed is.
Last but not least the price of memory keeps dropping and I see no point buying what I don't need even if I can afford it. Even when we travel, I always have a laptop so I only need enough for a day's worth of video and I don't plan on shooting continiously. So far we've been able to get away with using the memory we have from our dSLR.
That's why I told you how much actual record time you get from an 8 GB card on a Canon. I can't remember if it matches what the specs say, but we all know it's better to get a real life example then what the "specs" say it "should" get. Like miles per gallon on a car. Real life is different from the EPA amount.
I dunno if 45 minutes is enough for "one day" for you. On a trip to a theme park, it's not enough. Even if you have your laptop with you (say, a home movie), events happen while you're downloading the card (that's just d/l the file itself, converting it into a format watchable on dvd or something takes a LONG time).
That's why, with HD Video, buying a bit more than you need isn't a bad thing. Sure you can go frugal. THen you might miss something cuz you ran out of room. I have a dslr. 2GB is plenty even when I don't really hold back. However, that's cuz I shoot in jpg for my vacation pics. To get an idea of how fast you eat up memory on a camcorder, start taking some pics in RAW format on the dslr. It goes by QUICK!
Essentially, think of 8GB as 1 mini-dv "tape". Can you get by with just one tape for a whole day? It's true you usually don't shoot continuously, until you get the parade at disneyland or something like that where while you might break it up, you still end up shooting the bulk of it. Otherwise, you might as well just take photos and not record video at all.
I gotta double check my cards, but I think they are Sandisk Extreme IV level cards.
I just bought SanDisk Ultra II 16GB card. My justification for going with this brand, speed and size were as following:
- SanDisk is one of the three manufacturers whose cards were tested by Canon for our particular model, and they also have a smaller percentage of complaints than others;
- Card is rated as class 4 for speed and according to reviews on Amazon and camcorder's manual that's enough to shoot HD video;
- SanDisk Extreme Class 10, which seems to be the next step up in terms of speed, is more than 2x as expensive and offers 30mp/s rate that is not supported by my camcorder;
- It is one of the two cards recommended by SanDisk for HD camcorders;
- We have never used 2 miniDV tapes in a day, hardly ever one;
- We have 6GB or 8GB in SD memory already for our dSLR so we have some backup;
- Prices for memory will continue going down and we don't plan any large outings any time soon.
I figured I'd share this for the benefit of the community.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a long, detailed message. I really appreciate your help. And I completely agree with you that 45 minutes is not enough for a day, which is why I was not even considering a 8GB card. I was trying to decide whether to get a 16GB or a 32GB card, and finally settled on the smaller of the two with the idea of buying more if we need it. By the time we figure it, chances are prices will drop even further and we'd be able to buy extra 16GB card for less than the difference between cost of 32GB and 16GB card right now. In fact it is cheaper to buy 2 cards 16GB each than one 32GB, which does not make sense to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by codex57
Oh, 16GB sounds perfect for you. I wasn't sure if you were looking at 2GB cards or up to 32GB.
And yeah, I bought two of the smaller cards instead of one of the bigger ones cuz it's cheaper that way. I don't think it's too big a deal as long as you stay at the 8GB size and up (to allow enough room to "plan" a break in the filming to swap cards).
Your next problem is to get enough spare batteries cuz the standard size Canon ones only last about 50 min. If you buy on eBay and get an extended battery, be sure it's one single battery instead of two standard ones.
We bought that exact camcorder about 6 months ago and I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how much memory to add and what size battery to get. I finally ended up getting the 32Gb card because I didn't want to bother with downloading the card more frequently. I have used the 8Gb card it came with on a few occasions and that one's annoying bc I think it only takes about 1 hr worth of video on the better video quality setting.
Re the battery, the charge on the standard one doesn't last very long at all. Again, it was cutting out much too early for our preference. So I upgraded to the largest one I think and have been totally happy with that. Note that the larger batteries are actually larger in size as well, which means they stick off the end of the videocamera. I wasn't expecting that. It's not a problem, just something worth mentioning.
Btw, I am very technically proficient and I found the video downloading instructions VERY confusing to follow. I never had any issues with my old tape-using camcorder, but with this one I had a hard time following the instructions. I finally created a short, bullet-pointed cheat sheet for myself that I now follow everytime. If you want me to email it to you just PM me your email addy and I'll send it over.
Sounds like I need to buy an extra battery as well or else we'll run out of juice before we run of memory. Are generic batteries as good as OEM ones? We've had a generic battery for our last miniDV camcorder, which was a Sony, and it was fine. I got it from eBay since Sony batteries were really expensive.
My generic one was fine for the Canon. Same length. Wasn't quite as pretty as the OEM Canon one (the end wasn't quite as flush with the rest of the camera, but the part connecting it to the camera fit just fine). It's just that the auction said it was for an "extended" battery but it turns out they shipped two regular ones instead of one longer extended battery.
I wanted teh extended one cuz even tho the time is the same, I didn't want to have to carry another item or have to switch as often.
I think the other issue with the generic one is that the battery indicator on the camcorder won't work with it, i.e. the camcorder screen will no longer tell you how much charge is left in the battery.
There do seem to be some listings on Ebay for OEM batteries that claim they have their own kind of battery indicator (I think it's a light on the battery itself vs the usual on-screen indicator) so if that doesn't bug you, it's probably fine. Ultimately I decided to go with the real thing, mostly because I don't have the time or patience to deal with the possibility of a wonky battery.
I would strongly suggest at least 2 memory cards. That way, if you are on vacation and alternate days on each card, you don't lose everything if one gets stolen or corrupted somehow. That is what we did at Disney last year.