The one on the left is a Sony Handycam using the mini DVD format. It has excellent features with 120 x digital zoom, Carl Zeiss lens, Supersteady shot, Nightshot and it was made in Japan. It has been with me since 2004 and has served me fine till December 2009 when on the trip to Labuan the camera just went bonkers and will not focus.
A check with the camera dealer in KL conclusively indicated that it was beyond them to repair and it had to be sent to Sony. Sony Malaysia confirmed the repair bill to be RM505 which seemed to be quite high especially when we had been using the camera for almost 5 years and now there is in the market new cameras with Hard Disk format. The DVD format is quite cumbersome to use as the maximum capacity of the mini DVD is at the most 1 hour of recording and each DVD costs about RM50.
Time to buy a new camera.
With the support of the wife, we went hunting for a new camera. At the Megacity KB Mall we found a camera very much to our liking. It has a Hard Disk format quite small in size costing RM1999. They came in 3 beautiful colours, blue, maroon and black. To entice us to buy one Megacity threw in a tripod for free and nothing else. We deferred our purchase to later.
The next day we saw an advertisement in The Star by Court Mammoth that the same camera was being offered at less than half price for two days from 27th to 28th February with 4 units being offered a day. So off we went to Court Mammoth Kota Bharu on the 28th of February being the last day of the offer. We armed ourselves with the newspapers.
Upon reaching Court Mammoth Kota Bharu, we were surprised to find out that they don't have such offers. We scrutinised the advertisement and we found out that the offer was only for Court Mammoth Penang which has just been opened. I wanted to kick my backside for not reading the advertisement carefully. Fortunately I can't reach my backside so I couldn't kick it. At the KB outlet we saw many other models on display and we settled on one of them costing slightly above RM2000. They said they will take our orders and the stock will come soon. We are not buying something which we cant take home immediately.
Off we go into the midst of KB town where at Ban Huat Electric we saw the same model. It was a JVC Everio GZ-MG645RAG with a 60 GB Hard Disk memory. That will give us a recording time of between 7 - 75 hours depending on the picture quality we choose to record in. It comes with a nice bag too. Though it has only 35 x optical zoom, the 1920 x 1080 Pixels resolution when upconverted via HDMI cables to my 37"LCD TV should give us great viewing pleasure. Above all it was made in Malaysia. Hey I am patriotic enough to support a Malaysian product. This toy cost us RM2080.
With this new toy, now I am going off to KL Matta Fair comes this 14th March 2009 at PWTC to buy a holiday package to either Europe, Egypt or the Goldcoast of Australia, which ever we fancied. Anybody wants to join me for a holiday somewhere? I promise to shoot lots of video which we could share.
32 comments:
small and senang nak bawak. that is definitely neat! :D
congrats for the new toy pak.
rm2080 eh, perhaps i can recommend this to my friend yang tengah terkial2 nak cari sebijik haha :D
Akmal,
Ya kecik. Orang kat Sony service kata banyak customer dia yang tukar ko brand lain dari Sony akan kata quality gambar tak sama ngan Sony.
Tunggu saya buat penilaian dulu sebelum recconmend pada kawan awak.
Mabrook ...
Memang betul, nowadays, it is better to buy a new one dari repairing ... sebab cost of repairing kekadang will be higher (parts and labor cost!)
As for holidays ... I am planning to go for London/Paris this coming mid June ... kalau you ke sana, boleh ler jumpa ya.
Ghazali,
Salam. Sebenarnya kalau repair baru kena RM500 jer tapi bila beli baru kena RM2K. Saja nak tukar model bab model terkini guna Hard Disk dan bukan lagi mini DVD.
Jumpa di London? Susah tu bab kalau ke Eropah pun cuma sehari je di London.
Good choice Pak Zawi.
Happy shooting!
I hope you already have a good video editing software.
Pokku,
Had the software for the Sony but I think the CD that comes with the camera may have a simple software to go with it. Yet to see how good the camera is.
Salam,
Pak Zawi..waaa new camera..going for a trip..best nih..why not go to Middle East..Dubai..bole visit PakPayne..8WINK8wink..it was nice meeting u that nite..
tchersally,
Salam.
Been to Dubai twice so wont be going there again.
Nice meeting the two of you too.
DLSR dah ada, dan sekarang videocam lagi..wah!!!nak buka studio nampak
hehehe...
Oh ya..cari lah yang latest pakai DVD blue ray.
Awang,
Tak mampu lagi nak pakai blueray dan TV yang ada pun belum tau boleh support blueray.
rm2000+ handycam, rm2400+ dslr, holidaying in GoldCoast...
I'm just an average bankrupt Joe, really out of your league.
But enjoy watching you with your toys, anyway.
Mazle,
That's how you can live life after being retired and with a bit of money invested somewhere to earn some income. It is nothing extraordinary for a once a year bash when you have only yourselves to take care of. The children are all grown up and have their own life to live.
Pak Zawi,
I need to contact you.
What is your e mail address?
sad,
mohdzawi@gmail.com or zawi_ahmad@yahoo.com
Zawi,
I guess we'll be seeing your videos on You Tube anytime now.
Have fun with your new camera.
louis,
Since I will be taking mostly family videos and holiday trips, I guess you won't be seeing any of them.
Have a good day.
Ngape kena gi holiday to use your new toy?
Orang sekarang, amik gambor dulu, then baru gi lari luar negeri! (Elizabeth Wong-Hilmi saga!)
U lak, terbalik! Hehehe....
Ahan,
Hahahahahahaha. First time I had such a good laugh. No market for a video of me in what ever position unless I am in the opposition in politics. I don't mind doing that if I can get a few millions like that postman or that DAP runt got from AMNO.
Salam, Abang Zawi!
Wow, that's an expensive camera, but a worthy purchase.
I can kick my own backside by putting one of my shoes on a long stick, stuffing and tying it in place with old socks, and then whacking my own backside with it.
Care to try this method?
That's why we should always read the fine print, especially when dealing with commercial enterprises, lawyers and government officials!
CO78
Ee Lynn,
Thanks for the great idea but I won't be trying it. Who knows I may hit my backside so hard that I wont be able to sit down to do anymore posts.
The next time we nick to kick each others butt we just trade blows ok?
Ass'kum,
Saya dah dapat Nikon D90, beli kat PCompleks kedai yang kita pergi hari tu. Datang Kl jumpa lagi..saya di Kedah dari 14 hingga 16 Mac.
kalu gi Mata fair.. hmm nak minta ambil balik brochure dari tiap partcipants. Kawan nak buat comparison.. kat rumah aje. Kalu ada yg kawan minta, baru kawan nakbuat booking melalui fon aje..
Mawar,
Bestnya D90. Pilihan yang tepat bagi yang mampu. Saya juga mengidam untuk mendapatkan sebiji tapi belum mampu sehingga Sony Alpha 350 menemui ajal. Sekarang Mi memiliki camera yang cukup baik untuk mengasah bakat dalam bidang photography. Tahniah.
kbguy,
OK akan kutip. Tapi tak mampu untuk ke semua gerai bab terlalu banyak.
And that is why I've never entered Courts Mammoth after my first visit! It's always, 'wait for stock to come in' lah! Stupid, no? No wonder their stores are closing down all over the place!
So now you have a new toy!!! Enjoy!
Pat,
That was my first time and I presume it is the last too.
I am looking forward to meeting my grand children in KL during the coming school holidays when I will be visiting them. The grandchildren are our best subject to shoot at.
Salam Pak Zawi,
The new toy looks sleek and compact. Looking forward to having a look at your videos if you're willing to share them.
I'm not a video kaki, so memang tak pernah terfikir nak beli videocam. But I'm still dreaming of getting my first dSLR, though. Tengah target the Nikon D80. The D90 is way out of my league.
Oldstock,
I love to video tape my holidays to share with my family members. I will try to put on Utube some of them if I get to know how to do it.
I was surprised at the slim model myself. Earlier I was using the Mini DVD Sony model which was slightly bigger and heavier. This JVC model is a Hard Disk model and the 60 GB hard disk can be used for 20 hrs on fine mode. (Less if on high definition).
Making recording of my grandchildren growing up gives me intense pleasure. They will get to view them later in life.
Though I already have the entry level Sony Alpha 350, I still dream of the Nikon D90. Why not hang on till u can afford the D90? It will be worth the wait.
Would you believe that before reading this post, I didn't know the medium previously used to record was mini-DVD? (Is this RW or recorded just once?) Somehow, I had never cared to follow its development over the years.
As for the prices, you could have pulled my leg and I would have believed without batting an eyelid had you said the price of the JVC was RM5,000 or RM500.
This disinterest - I believe it's because I've never seen one being used, the transfering process (to maybe a PC) and the end-result... Plus the editing. As such, there's no appreciation of it.
My theory could be right in my case. I've discovered that I now have "some interest" in digital photography due to three incidents. And they all involve YOU!
The first was the AADK Majlis Raya Puasa where I first became fascinated and intrigued with what a digital camera could do.
The second was the one at Renaissance with David - that was my first time holding a digital camera (your Sony). And a SLR too. Went home thinking about that camera "and the things I could do with it" (the angan-angan).
The third was with Sakmongkol - of seeing you taking the pix; and then the ease with with I cropped the results. Well, I'm a lot more appreciative now (but not yet of recording)
Salam Pak Zawi
Hmm, another gadget? I have always depended on my handphone for pictures and videos. First, it was the N70, now its the N95.
Then in Japan, I treated myself to a Lumix, which can also shoot videos.
Now that I am carrying a company-issued handphone, also an N95, the Lumix is left at home most of the time.
With the N95, I can download pictures onto the laptop, either using the USB cable or blue-tooth. As for videos, I capture them on Qik.com, which transmits direct almost real-time, onto the web.
Do I need more? I don't think I'll get any other gadgets unless I upgrade the N95 to the N97, which I believe will be in the Malaysian market pretty soon :)
Alamak! Didn't know nor expect Fauziah to mention something like these!... Now I'm looking like a real Lakloh-outskirts ulu guy. Maybe I should delete my comment heheh!
But at least when it comes to software-related, I'm able to hold my own. That Qik.com - it's connected to Marc Andreessen, isn't it?... the guy formerly of Netscape (mid-late 90's).
From what you had described, it may look like what he said three weeks ago is materialising - of how content and what the `media' will be like in the next couple or so years to come.
He had specified the iPhone as being central - you can do a lot of things with the Nokia too, obviously. Anyway, right now, there's one big advantage of iPhone - it comes with a genuine OS. The others are more of "mobile system" - for the PHONE.
But the iPhone's OS is "for computers"! So guess who has the advantage when it comes to building applications for it? However, LG is working on it, and Nokia too no doubt. Which means we'll be getting iPhone features but at half the price.
Of course, there's the crucial matter of 3G (4G not too far away) coverage... An iPhone in my kampung isn't much better than a RM250 Nokia when on GPRS.
Say Fauziah: Can you ask the tech publication whether they need a freelancer? Add a few more words here and this should be a bona fide RM50 piece Haha!
MC,
Read your first comment last night but I was too tired to respond.
Since I am a photography buff, I need a camera that can do more than point and shoot. Now with me shooting action shots of Tomoi events under poor lighting condition, even my Sony Alpha 350 is making me feel inadequate especially when not many third party component makers are making accessories for Sony. An upgrade to a Nikon D90 is now in the pipe dream.
The JVC camcorder with a 21 hrs recording ability (with several backup batteries or AC supply of course) will come in handy to record Muay Thai fights which lasts several hours.
I wonder if Fauziah's Nokias be it N97 could cope with such needs. As for you, you will have to determine what you will be needing the camera for. A Lumix the like of the one used by Zaharan Razak is more than enough for most bloggers and it won't cost too much too (within RM2K).
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