Hi,

This is Earl again (I was just recently asking about buying a camera for $1000). I found one from Sony called the "DCR-TRV510", it's really got a load of good features for around $1200-$1400. My one question is: I noticed someone was saying something earlier about playing back PAL (I have NO idea what this is). I suspect this is necessary if someone wants to convert their project to film later on; does anyone know if the Sony 510 does that?

Also, my second bit of news: go to www.cameraworld.com! That $1400 camera I mentioned is there for about $1000!! And they have more than just cameras, it's really a great place to look around.

Hope someone knows about my question, and good luck buying cams!

Earl

-- Earl Newton (vadal@aic-fl.com), September 22, 1999

Answers

Yes, Earl, cameraworld.com seems to be a good place, w/good service, I like them better than bhphotovideo.com in NY.

PAL is the standard video format in Europe. Here we have NTSC. PAL video runs at 25 fps, NTSC at 29.97 fps. Don't worry about not being able to transfer to film with NTSC video, lots of places do it here in the US. Blair Witch was shot with mostly NTSC Hi-8 Video. Just buy your camera, shoot something with it, learn, and if the need arises, you can transfer it to film. Someone with more PAL experience might differ from my opinion, so they should post here if they have some

-- Jethro (jet@firelabs.com), September 23, 1999.