Camcorder or Camera for video recording?

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SEMAE
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Camcorder or Camera for video recording?

Post by SEMAE »

Hi

Most of my photography is taking stills of aircraft at flying displays and I have not felt any need use my 5d mk iv as a video recorder.

However, I have been photographing more steam trains of late and with all the infrastructure and scenery around them, particularly when the trains are in motion, I do not think I can adequately convey the type of noise they make or the atmosphere they convey.

My main concern is the lack of zoom capability on my camera. I have enough zoom lenses but not a single zoom with sufficient range in between. I have seen many very good videos on u-tube where the camcorder operator zooms quite close up at max zoom when the train is still quite far away yet able to go very wide when it passes by. On a full frame camera that would be like zooming between 28mm and toward 500mm.

I presume a camcorder will probably be partly optical zoom and digital zoom and it is the flexibility in zoom I want so I am wondering if anyone can recommend a good quality camcorder which would fit the bill especially one that can follow the action without straying in and out of focus.

Or am I totally mistaken in my assumption that my camera cannot zoom digital wise in such a manner when using the video function?

If anyone who uses video to shoot aircraft and/or trains can give advice, it will make a great start.

Many thanks

Martin Eames

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