$100 Camcorder vs the Canon 80D

I recently purchased a cheap camera from Amazon in hopes to use it for an upcoming seminar. I love my Canon 80D, but it stops recording at 29mins and 59secs. These seminars will be much longer, so I did some research on a new camera. After seeing positive reviews and a low price, I went with a non-name brand, $100 camera. Then I compared the two head to head, to see how they would stack up.

The Stack Off

The area that I plan on recording the seminars in has low lighting, and an open space. In an attempt to recreate that feel, I set up my cameras in my Air bnb townhouse. The lighting of my townhouse is very similar. So I will be testing a few things; First, how well the picture on each camera is, then I will be comparing sound, and lastly the sound with microphone attachment.

Picture Matters

My very first judgement call between the two cameras was when I set them up. I could immediately see that the color on the new camera was almost a bluish tinged picture, where my 80D had a warm feel that I know and love. So from this I know, the Canon is in the lead by one point already.

HUH?

One thing that I noticed about the new camera is that there is no headset port, so that I can test sound as I am recording.

This test will be all a bout the new camera, as I already know and am happy with the sound on my Canon 80D. Although I won’t be able to tell until the editing process how the sound was going to work, I still gave each hertz setting on the new camera a chance. I stepped back about 7-8ft from the camera and recorded the sound at each setting.

On the highest hertz setting, with microphone attachment, I was audible at a comfortable level. With the middle hertz setting, although significantly lower, the sound was not bad. However, with the lowest hertz setting I was left thinking “Huh?!” during editing. At the last setting I was not audible at all. So I would say this round ends with a tie, because the highest hertz setting did the job.

Final Thoughts

I still believe that the new camera has miles to go before measuring up to my Canon 80D. However, it films longer and will preform the job that I need it to for the seminars. I also have a live show that I do each Sunday and record for my other YouTube channel. The new camera will work perfect for it as well since it’s typically and hour long show. So at the end of the day, I am happy to have both.

I love video, so it is a topic I cover a lot. If you are interested in all things video, like helpful tips, click here.