consumer Video camera

[Gitget]

I'm looking for a good video camera.
A feature I don't see is a date and time stamp.
Is there a video camera say under $1k that when you transfer the video to a dvd or just the computer it will show the time and date if it's turned on?
I see a lot a camcorders that display the time and date in the camera itself , but when you transfer the video it's not there.
Somewhere in the file properties but not in the video itself.

[Fred588]

I'm looking for a good video camera.
A feature I don't see is a date and time stamp.
Is there a video camera say under $1k that when you transfer the video to a dvd or just the computer it will show the time and date if it's turned on?
I see a lot a camcorders that display the time and date in the camera itself , but when you transfer the video it's not there.
Somewhere in the file properties but not in the video itself.

I have never actually tried this to see if it works but I did find this description of the "data code" function for the Sony AX33 and several other cameras.

https://helpguide.sony.net/cam/1510/v1/ ... 57875.html

[Chimerix]

Most video recorders today do record a lot of metadata, including the time and date. But the idea of burning it onto the video is a very 1980s concept. I would be surprised to find a camera that offered such a "feature" today. The expectation is that, if you needed that (or any other) metadata incorporated into the picture, you would do it with your editing software.

[Gitget]

Ok thanks for your input.
I'll look into that Sony.
I think my local Best Buy has an Open Box pricing on that for around $500.
Might give it a try.

[Fred588]

Ok thanks for your input.
I'll look into that Sony.
I think my local Best Buy has an Open Box pricing on that for around $500.
Might give it a try.

Be sure you ask the right questions. Chimerix is right about the thng being obsolete. I think what the Sony stuff is saying is if you play a video directly from the camera through a TV you can get the time and date displayed. I doubt very much that the video offloaded to a computer for editing would have that information superimposed. Typically, when video is to be edited the final result will come from more than one camera and may be in a different order that it is shot.

[Gitget]

Thanks Fred for the info.
Yes I agree that the date may not show anymore when transfer via computer.
Those day are gone.
It seems its a good camera in general though. Good for low indoor lights.
and the infrared part could help for a quicksand at night video.

Just wishful thinking about that though.

Thanks again.

[Fred588]

Thanks Fred for the info.
Yes I agree that the date may not show anymore when transfer via computer.
Those day are gone.
It seems its a good camera in general though. Good for low indoor lights.
and the infrared part could help for a quicksand at night video.

Just wishful thinking about that though.

Thanks again.

We do night scenes all the time here. The AX33 is pretty good in low light and the AX100 and AX700 are even better. I would NOT try to shoot a night scene using infrared unless I wanted a sort of security camera effect. It takes surprisngly little artifical light to get a good night time effect if the lights are carefully located. Way beck when we started we tended to flood the set with 2000 watts or more of light from halogen bulbs, usually located fairly high and close to the pits. As cameras have gotten much better, enabling the director to think more about composition and effects we have tended to both cut the wattage by half and move the lights further away.

[BogDog]

I often found such date/time stamps in old videos to be distracting. Maybe that's why they aren't seen anymore. I had a few like that shot in the mid 1980s.

[Fred588]

I often found such date/time stamps in old videos to be distracting. Maybe that's why they aren't seen anymore. I had a few like that shot in the mid 1980s.

I think you are very correct that this is an obsolete feature. One of the very few videos I ever did (long before I made quicksand videos) was ruined because the person I had operating the camera (while I explained why I was measuring the temperature inside a volcanic steam cave) inadvertently pushed a button that put something like "Valentine's Day" permanently across the entire scene. The addition of time stampts and titles by the camera was probably useful in a day when post-production editing was pretty much way beyond what a consumer could afford. About the only purpose I can think of now might be to document when a video was made when it might be used as evidence in a court case, but even then the time and date displayed would depend on settings in the camera (which can be changed).

[Chimerix]

About the only purpose I can think of now might be to document when a video was made when it might be used as evidence in a court case, but even then the time and date displayed would depend on settings in the camera (which can be changed).

If you shoot legal depositions, having time and date recorded is required. But this is the 21t century... it's expected to be in the metadata, not onscreen.

Working with producers who have no technical expertise, it is common practice to give them a "window burn," a video that has the file name and time code superimposed on the screen. Again, though, this is created by the editor in whatever software they are using. Here's an example I did for a documentary producer:

Screen Shot 2018-10-12 at 10.11.25 AM.png

He had five, sometimes six, cameras running on a series of interviews. He wanted a way to watch them all in unison and be able to take notes about edits based on objective data.

Here's what that timeline looks like, btw:

Screen Shot 2018-10-12 at 10.14.48 AM.png

On a side note, see all those tiny gaps between clips? That's what happens when you try to use a DSLR on a real project. Don't be awed by the idea of full-frame sensors and insane color depth. Buy a camera that's MADE to record video.