Digital cameras: Kodak Easyshare z612 or Panasonic Lumix FZ8
Kodak Easyshare z612 or Panasonic Lumix FZ8
by cyberajnabee - 4/10/07 10:15 AMHi, I am looking for a digital camera for my high school graduation. But my parents don't want to spend extra money for a camcorder too. I looked at the specifications for camcorders and digital cameras and both looked very similar. Both shot video at 640*480 and 30 fps. So i opted for high end digital camera's that can get nice pictures and shoot decent movies. Right now Panasonic Lumix FZ8 looks like the perfect fit but that it shoots video in Motion JPEG mode (which i heard is not a good video compression format). My second choice would be Kodak Easyshare Z612 which shoots video in MPEG-4 ( which is supposedly a better compression format. Is compression format a big deal in terms of video quality. I mean both shoot in VGA format at 30fps. Can someone guide me if i should pull the trigger on FZ8. Thanks
Actually...
by whizkid454 - 4/10/07 12:43 PM In reply to: Kodak Easyshare z612 or Panasonic Lumix FZ8 by cyberajnabeeMJPEG is more efficient than MPEG4 meaning you get more video with less compression. I use a FZ7 and a Sony DVD92 camcorder and I would say the video from the FZ7 is equal to or better than my DVD camcorder. How bizarre... But it's true. The DVD camcorder uses MPEG2 compression to fit a lot of video onto a small disc. MPEG2 uses somewhat of the same compression algorithms as the MPEG4 compression. I had several opinions and all thought the camera's video was better than the camcorder's. I also like how the Panasonic FZ's can record video in widescreen. It even looks ok on my 43" plasma (it's standard def of course).
Personally, I would choose the Panasonic just because I've had very great results from their cameras. Too bad they're not as well known as say Canon or Nikon.
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