Camcorder versus Digital Camera

My wife needs a digital camera with excellent zoom for taking pictures
at my son's football games. There are some highly rated cameras with 10X
optical zoom. However, there are some DV camcorders that claim 20X
optical zoom. The camcorders are cheaper. Why should I purchase the 10X
camera versus the camcorder 20X when still shots can be captured with
the camcorder? There has to be a reason to prefer the camera, but I
don't know what it is.

mcp6453 wrote:
My wife needs a digital camera with excellent zoom for taking pictures
at my son's football games. There are some highly rated cameras with
10X optical zoom. However, there are some DV camcorders that claim 20X
optical zoom. The camcorders are cheaper. Why should I purchase the
10X camera versus the camcorder 20X when still shots can be captured
with the camcorder? There has to be a reason to prefer the camera,
but I don't know what it is.

Are you trying to capture moving images at TV resolution or still images
at "photographic" resolution?

David

mcp6453 wrote:
My wife needs a digital camera with excellent zoom for taking pictures
at my son's football games. There are some highly rated cameras with
10X optical zoom. However, there are some DV camcorders that claim 20X
optical zoom. The camcorders are cheaper. Why should I purchase the
10X camera versus the camcorder 20X when still shots can be captured
with the camcorder? There has to be a reason to prefer the camera,
but I don't know what it is.

Are you trying to capture moving images at TV resolution or still images
at "photographic" resolution?

David

David J Taylor wrote:

mcp6453 wrote:
My wife needs a digital camera with excellent zoom for taking pictures
at my son's football games. There are some highly rated cameras with
10X optical zoom. However, there are some DV camcorders that claim 20X
optical zoom. The camcorders are cheaper. Why should I purchase the
10X camera versus the camcorder 20X when still shots can be captured
with the camcorder? There has to be a reason to prefer the camera,
but I don't know what it is.

Are you trying to capture moving images at TV resolution or still images
at "photographic" resolution?

Still images at photographic resolution. I think you just answered my
question. The camcorder is lower resolution. How do you determine the
resolution of a still created by a DV camcorder?

David J Taylor wrote:

mcp6453 wrote:
My wife needs a digital camera with excellent zoom for taking pictures
at my son's football games. There are some highly rated cameras with
10X optical zoom. However, there are some DV camcorders that claim 20X
optical zoom. The camcorders are cheaper. Why should I purchase the
10X camera versus the camcorder 20X when still shots can be captured
with the camcorder? There has to be a reason to prefer the camera,
but I don't know what it is.

Are you trying to capture moving images at TV resolution or still images
at "photographic" resolution?

Still images at photographic resolution. I think you just answered my
question. The camcorder is lower resolution. How do you determine the
resolution of a still created by a DV camcorder?

mcp6453 wrote:
[]
Are you trying to capture moving images at TV resolution or still
images at "photographic" resolution?

Still images at photographic resolution. I think you just answered my
question. The camcorder is lower resolution. How do you determine the
resolution of a still created by a DV camcorder?

Look in the specifications!

Some camcorders will do better than others, of course, and your choice of
final output medium - TV screen, Web image, computer display, print etc. -
will determine what resolution you actually need.

Cheers,
David

In rec.video mcp6453 wrote:
My wife needs a digital camera with excellent zoom for taking pictures
at my son's football games. There are some highly rated cameras with 10X
optical zoom. However, there are some DV camcorders that claim 20X
optical zoom. The camcorders are cheaper. Why should I purchase the 10X
camera versus the camcorder 20X when still shots can be captured with
the camcorder? There has to be a reason to prefer the camera, but I
don't know what it is.

Still shots captured by camcorders are pretty mediocre compared to what's
possible with a decent digital still camera. At those long zoom levels
though, it would be much more difficult to find a still camera (either one
with a very long zoom or one that supports external zoom lenses)

Good luck...

In rec.video mcp6453 wrote:
My wife needs a digital camera with excellent zoom for taking pictures
at my son's football games. There are some highly rated cameras with 10X
optical zoom. However, there are some DV camcorders that claim 20X
optical zoom. The camcorders are cheaper. Why should I purchase the 10X
camera versus the camcorder 20X when still shots can be captured with
the camcorder? There has to be a reason to prefer the camera, but I
don't know what it is.

Still shots captured by camcorders are pretty mediocre compared to what's
possible with a decent digital still camera. At those long zoom levels
though, it would be much more difficult to find a still camera (either one
with a very long zoom or one that supports external zoom lenses)

Good luck...

Because the digital camera will take much better (still) pictures than
any camcorder.

mcp6453 wrote:

My wife needs a digital camera with excellent zoom for taking pictures
at my son's football games. There are some highly rated cameras with 10X
optical zoom. However, there are some DV camcorders that claim 20X
optical zoom. The camcorders are cheaper. Why should I purchase the 10X
camera versus the camcorder 20X when still shots can be captured with
the camcorder? There has to be a reason to prefer the camera, but I
don't know what it is.

"mcp6453" wrote in message
...
My wife needs a digital camera with excellent zoom for taking pictures
at my son's football games. There are some highly rated cameras with 10X
optical zoom. However, there are some DV camcorders that claim 20X
optical zoom. The camcorders are cheaper. Why should I purchase the 10X
camera versus the camcorder 20X when still shots can be captured with
the camcorder? There has to be a reason to prefer the camera, but I
don't know what it is.

1. No camcorder is capable of still imaging comparable to a _good_ quality
digitial still camera.

2. A 20x lens on a camcorder is useless for a variety of reasons. First,
it can't be handheld (anything over 8x-10x is virtually impossible to
handhold). Second, consumer camcorder that tout large focal length zooms
use inferior optics that will produce a miserable image at their extremes.

3. Digital still cameras have a broader range of shutter speeds, which
allow selecting one appropriate for the depth of field you wish to achieve.