Looking for help to find a video camera

[lakelover]

Hi folks. My wife has been asked by her boss to research & price a video camera for work & no one at her office has any knowledge about video. We don't have a clue where to start or know anyone who would know about this to ask questions.

The intended use is to record meetings/workshops/training sessions, just basically talking heads, so the people who might miss sessions can watch a video later and the education staff won't have to reteach the material so often. Needless to say, the budget is "as little as possible while fulfilling the need".

I have a fairly decent small Canon Vixia HD camcorder, but the problem is that it is designed to shut down to cool off after 10 consecutive minutes of recording. It's not a memory issue, it's a heat issue. If it didn't do that, it would be perfect. We also have a Nikon digital SLR that records video and a Nikon B500 too, but they both will only record for 10 minutes max. per session because of the same heat issues.

They hope to record up to a maximum of 2-hour sessions, but most are probably less than that. It would just basically sit on a tripod and record the speaker, so it can be stationary on a tripod, even AC powered instead of by battery, no remote mics or anything like that needed.

Does anyone know anything about this sort of stuff who can get me pointed in the right direction to find a camera that might fill the bill? Thanks.

 

[StingrayMike]

what about a goPro?
​Pretty easy and compact. There are a lot of accessories for it

 

[lakelover]

We thought about that, but I think the lens would be too wide angle and need to be too close to the speaker toi get a decent sized image....Don't know, I could be wrong about that.

 

[southkogs]

These days you can do those kinds of video with just about anything. Something like THIS.

 

[Texas Prowler]

If your wanting clarity just about anything 4k is top notch.

 

[roscoe]

My sister records instructional videos using FaceTime and recording it in iMovie, on her iMac or MacBook Pro.

I'm sure a porthole based computer has something similar.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I have a sony handicam that records video direct to an sd card. Great resolution, and i use it on vacations to take vids as well as stills. Inexpensive and will record about 4 hours at a crack just on battery

We used it for recording service training sessions at work. The recording quality was ok at best, and without someone manning the camera, we have a bunch of footage of an arm waving as the presenter was talking.

The next service training sessions we hired a local video production company that came in with an array of audio mics and 3 video cameras. On high-mounted in the back, on close to the presenters, ans on behind the presenter, capturing the techs for the Q&A sessions.

Long story short......hire a video production crew

 

[roscoe]

On second thought, people in offices, especially educators (people that can teach, because they can't do, or don't want to be bothered with the details) think too much of themselves. They think everyone wants to see their faces. No, we don't.

Pictures/video are overrated.
Tell you wife that if her boss, the educators, and the rest of the talking heads are so smart, why do they need her to make decisions for them.

Tell her to hand them one of these, and be thankful that they have job




She should get a nice bonus out of it for saving them thousands of dollars.

 

[lakelover]

My wife is the supervisor of the education department, not because she "can't do", but because she "has done" every nursing job that there is in the whole organization over the last 22 years. That being said, your first post was much more helpful. Might look into that.

 

[roscoe]

Well, I'm glad you realized that my first post was serious, and the second was in jest.

What my sister makes are how-to videos, where she can move the items around in front of the lens, and some more distant shots that my show an entire table top shot of the final assembled project.

I think anything that needs to show more detail, better sound quality, or shots of larger visual aids, is going to require a real camera on a tripod.

Let us know what you come up with.

 

[lakelover]

Just thought I'd update this.

I ended up testing out my Canon Vixia HD using the AC adapter/charger and running it off that. I set it up on a tripod, plugged it in, turned it on & let it run. It was good for 2+ hours and didn't even get warm, so I guess the overheating has to do with the battery, not the camera innards. I couldn't find anything about this at all in the extensive manual except that it would shut down after 10 minutes of taping..

In the end, she ordered the same camcorder I have and will run it off the adapter for taping the sessions.