Video Camera Recommendations

[NibbanaBanana]

Greetings,
I want to get my wife a video camera as a gift. She likes to film the dogs, wildlife, outdoor activities, etc which she now does with her laptop. Have heard good things about both Sony and GoPro.
Any recommendations?
Thanks.
Nibbana

 

[skyactiv]

Get something allowing for a wireless mic. Actually, a late model iPhone with a bluetooth mic and a rig to hold the iPhone does a very good job. That may not be what you want, but it could help someone else.

Look at sample YouTube videos using the video camera you're interested in.

 

[Fish Fry]

Greetings,
I want to get my wife a video camera as a gift. She likes to film the dogs, wildlife, outdoor activities, etc which she now does with her laptop. Have heard good things about both Sony and GoPro.
Any recommendations?
Thanks.
Nibbana

A DJI Pocket3 is your best bang for the buck right now.
I'm a professional DP, and even I use it for some situations on bigger productions.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Stay away from GoPro. The latest models overheat and the batteries do not last long. GoPro is a meme now, they were one of the first and most popular to the market which gave them a great chance to be great but they blew it with bad hardware and software.

 

[Nukeman7]

Stay away from GoPro. The latest models overheat and the batteries do not last long. GoPro is a meme now, they were one of the first and most popular to the market which gave them a great chance to be great but they blew it with bad hardware and software.

Agree with Owen's comments above. GoPros are designed as "action cameras" intended to be affixed to bikes/cars/helmets/etc., not as a point and shoot handheld camera. As such, the tiny viewing screen is unusable for framing a shot or centering on an object. Also, unless your wife is super technically savvy, the built in navigation menu will be extremely frustrating to navigate. If the software has not changed, the video format is not a conventional standard and footage will be difficult to manipulate. The 4K video resolution is amazing though when used as intended for action sports.

Your best bet would be to upgrade her smartphone to a flagship iPhone or Samsung Galaxy with the state of the art camera as suggested by skyactive.

 

[andrew_j]

What kind of smartphone does she have?

iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 15 pro have some really good video capabilities and I am sure Samsung has them in upper end models if she likes Android.

How does she record with a laptop or do you mean processing?

 

[NibbanaBanana]

That was some good information. Especially about the GoPro. I didn't understand what a GoPro was for. A lot of this doesn't mean anything to me though. I'm not a tech person and I don't know anything about photography or video. I have a Canon powershot A2300 which was less than $100 and takes pretty crappy photos but that's what I use for the few I take. I use a 12 year old desktop Mac. Photos has never worked so I upload the few photos I take with image capture. She has a 5 year old laptop Mac.

She doesn't have a smartphone. She doesn't want one. I don't either. The videos she's made so far she does with her laptop. Really awkward to make a video on so just about anything would be a step up I guess.

This stuff can very quickly go way over my budget too. I'm thinking get her something entry level and if she wants to pursue it she can take it from there and learn about it. That DJI Pocket 3 looks along the lines of what would work. Looking at the Sony Handycam CX405. I saw a youtube video of a guy comparing this to an $800 Panasonic and I really couldn't say I saw much if any difference. They both looked great to me and seemed very easy to use. He liked them both.