MPEG4 movie vs other formats

[roland_vink]

I'm looking for a compact digital camera like the Panasonic FX9 or

Sony W50. The Sony shoots movies in "MPEG4" format, while the FX9 is

in QuickTime format using the M-JPEG codec. What's the difference

between them - size of file or quality? Is there a big difference?

[jcuknz]

I don't know anything about the recording systems but both shoot VGA at 30fps so are acceptable to me as a video person and the FX-9 has the advantage of image stabilisation which I first discovered in my video cameras and think is an essential parameter these days.

 

One of the major differences between video and stills is the fact that a little blurr helps video to show smooth movement without jerkiness, whereas it is usually a NO-NO with stills. OIS helps to remove camera unsteadiness from our hands without affecting subject movement.

[basscheffers]

MPEG4 uses progressive encoding; it only records the changes from one frame to the next.

M-JPEG (Motion-JPEG) is a succession of self-contained JPEG images. This takes more space

but has the major advantage that you can do precise editing without the problem of the

images becomming a "mosaic" when there are sudden scene changes.

 

The quality and file-size difference between these cameras can't be determined by just

knowing the basic encoding system they use; it all depends on the implementation...

[roland_vink]

Thanks for your answers.

 

I had an FX9 which was stolen. Overall I was happy with it and may get another but the W50 is a new option. The FX9 has image stabilisation, the W50 has iso up to 1000 which are both useful for indoor shots. I shoot quite a few short videos of my one year old daughter - lots of fun - trying to decide which camera.

[joel_hammers]

I just picked up a Panasonic DMC-FX01 this weekend and it is totally sweat! I use a $60,000 video camera almost every day and the video from this camera obviously isn't nearly as good. (I just said that because I know what high quality video looks like.) I can say that the Quicktimes it makes look about as good as my Sony Mini DV Handcam (HC42 I think). Of course you can't zoom or shift focus while recording but I'm not that sure any digicams do. It's by far the best video I've ever seen from a PS digicam. The 28mm equivlent lens, the OIS, and the 840 something by 480 resolution in 16x9 mode makes getting nice looking short video clips a lot of fun! The file sizes are kind of big though.

The FX01 takes nice pictures to. I'd get it over the FX9 just because of the wider angle lens. I like it!