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Video Camera for Interview - Recommendation Request

D

Donnybrooke

Charter Member
I know we have some folks knowledgeable in cameras at SOH, so I thought I would see if someone has a recommendation for a VIDEO camera.

Bit of explanation: My uncle is a veteran of 20+ years service in the USMC. He joined in 1947, served in Korea, was in on recovering some of the Mercury astronauts (crewman on a helicopter) and retired in 1968. Since then, he's lived on his farm with his wife. At 80, he's the patriarch of my mother's side of the family.

What engendered my plans to interview him was a remark by a member of SOH concerning Pearl Harbor and opinions. That made me think about who in my family had been alive at that time, and what their opinion would be today about December 7th. I realized that only my uncle was alive during that period (being 12 years old), and if I wanted an "informed" opinion, I would have to ask him. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was a LOT I wanted to ask him. About growing up at the end of the depression, what the war years for a young man were like, about my grandparents and my mother, and his service in the Marines.

I really want to video-tape the interviews, and would like to get something
relatively good with a recording time of a few hours. If I can hook it up to
a laptop, so much the better.

If anyone has any knowledge of video cameras, perhaps you can recommend something? :salute:
 
that's a great idea, imo :applause:

i really don't know why something like that hasn't already been done on a much bigger scale. such an archive would be priceless, i would think.
 
@djscoo> Less than $500 dollars, at best. I'm not sure I'm going to be using this camera very much, and would like to get out as cheaply as I can.

@cheezyflier>

Actually, I believe that there is a Veteran's Archive of interviews on a bigger scale, but that's not why I am doing this. It's really a sort of
family history that I want to record before the last of the people who lived
during those times are gone. It's a good idea for my family, at least. There are so many people who I now wish I had taken the time to talk to about their lives.

But concerning the military, I may interview my cousin, who is a retired Air Force colonel and my brother, who served in the Riverine Patrol forces in Vietnam (though he may be reluctant to talk about his time there as he was severely wounded in a mortar attack on the monitor he served on).
 
Try to get the best recording equipment that you can afford, Hi Def if at all possible. It may seem a bit extravagant to be capturing in full 1080p resolution....but in years to come it'll have been worth it.

FWIW I'm using a JVC GZ-HD6 cam.
 
The Vixia line by Canon is the top of the line everyday use camcorder. They are a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for.

Here's a good site for technology reviews:
http://reviews.cnet.com/camcorders/

The reviews are a mixture of professional and consumer reviews, and I generally agree with them.
 
donny, that's kinda what i meant. not so much the military aspect, but the life aspect. the generation that is almost gone has witnessed sooo much history, and their p.o.v., having lived through it would be priceless. print is nice, but you can't see someon'es facial expression or hear the inflections, you know? cool idea. our family has bits and pieces of this kind of thing but they are hand written, and very casual.
 
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