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Question

Picture quality help with my camcorder

Jan 19, 2014 11:05PM PST

Hi everybody.

Many apologies if this is on the wrong forum/wrong thread/topic but i have very little clue about camcorders and needed some help.

Basically i bought a very standard HD Video camera the other week (new) and went to do some filming. I have put a new memory card in, a miniature one that i then put into a bigger plastic holder thing to fit into the camcorder, 16gb in size i believe not 100% sure on class though i'm pretty sure it's class 10.

Anyway when i go to record in HD it stops recording automatically after only a couple of minutes and when i record in 720p it comes out like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHV-PyG2EvE

If anyone could give me an idea as to why this is and how to get a decent quality video i would appreciate it. At the moment my mobile phone records better than my camcorder.

Thanks. Sean.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Manufacturer and model number will help.
Jan 20, 2014 2:21AM PST

I watched a few seconds... looks like the shutter is slow - usually happens under not-very-good indoor lighting conditions. As well, high compression video capture is not your friend when it comes to fast motion.

The manual will normally tell you the "acceptable" memory cards. This usually does not include using a micro-card in an adapter. That is an "unsupported configuration".

The camcorder's manual should have a "troubleshooting" section that describes different symptoms. Because the micro card in an adapter is not support, there won't be any information in there.

Step 1: Add light. This should allow the shutter speed to increase.

Since we don't know which cell phone you use, we don't know what file type/video format is being captured by it... a MOV or AVI file type with h.264 video inside is a LOT different than AVCHD-compressed video.

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Answer
Can't resist it.
Jan 20, 2014 2:26AM PST

More cowbell.

I agree on the shutter speed but the lighting looked OK. I think we need more detail about what the make/model of the camcorder is. Also take some outside video under the Sun (I know that's hard in Seattle or Vancouver) but it gives me an idea if the stock settings are bad or the camera is that bad.
Bob

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camcorder info
Jan 20, 2014 8:15PM PST

Thanks for the replies people, much appreciated.

Not sure what make it is but this is the info i was given when i bought it.

16M Digital vedio camcorder

Electronic Anti-shake
Voice recording
5.0 Mega pixels COMS sensor
Max. 12MP Resolution
16x digital zoom
TV output
support up to 16GB SD Card(not including SD card)
2.7" TFT-LCD 90 degree rotation screen
NP-120 li-ion battery
SPECIFICATION
Operating mode Camera, video camera, voice recording
sensor 5.0 Mega pixels COMS sensor
Image resolution
16M 12M 7M 5M 3M 2M
Video resolution
HD 1280*720, VGA 640*480, QVGA 320*240
Video camera Support
Built-in speaker Support
Lens features
Lens F/3.2;f=7.6mm
Focus range 80cm to infinity
Optical zoom No
Digital zoom 16x
Display
Display size 2.7" TFT LCD screen
screen 90 degree rotation
Shutter
Shutter speed Auto
Auxiliary Light
LED Light Yes
Exposure Control
ISO Auto, 100,200,400
Exposure -3.0EV~+3.0EV
Metering mode Auto
White Balance Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Tungsten
Shooting performance
Scene mode Auto/ landscape/ portrait/ night portrait/ beach/ sports/ parties/ high sensitivity
Color effect Auto
Automatic shooting Off, 5S, 10S
Continuous shoot Off, 3 continuous
camera Pause No
Photo date showed No
Storage Performance
Internal Memory
External Memory support up to 16GB SD Card(not including SD card)
Other properties
AV-OUT output
Face-priority No
remote control No
Anti-shake Yes
Shut off On/Off, 1min, 2min
Other parameters
Operating language English, Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese
Storage Format JPEG, AVI,WAV
Interface USB /TV-OUT
Power
Rechargeable NP-120 li-ion battery
Camera size
120*56*64mm
Camera weight Approx. 264g(without Battery and card)
Accessories USB cable, TV cable, charger, battery, camera bag, manuals, CD-ROM
Package(colorful box) -QTY: PCS/CTN -G.W/N.W.: kg/ kg -MEAS:


May well be just a poor quality camcorder but i'll try with a decent memory card that actually fits.

The lightings pretty good in that room so wouldn't have thought it was that but thanks all the same.

Sean.

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Without a make and model
Jan 20, 2014 11:41PM PST

I'm guessing this is one of those sub 100 US Buck cameras. I've seen phone cameras out perform those. I can't figure out what this thing is from the specs so I'm going with "try another camcorder" but want to upgrade to "try a major brand camcorder."
Bob