Posted by Smarty on 06/26/07 19:02

A number of Nikon point and shoot cameras allow zoom while taking movies,
including the S10 Coolpix and Coolpix 8800 which I own.

The 2 GB limit is usually imposed since the file system required to read and
write larger files which are Windows-compliant (called NTFS) takes a lot of
complexity to implement versus the simpler, older FAT file system used in
most cameras. The physical memory of 2 GB may therefore not be the "true"
reason why this file size is limited. The camera could write multiple files
for a movie, breaking the movie into 1 or 2 GB chunks, but they do not seem
to allow this work-around, probably since it also introduces further
complexity.

Smarty
"Michael Johnson" <cds@erols.com> wrote in message
news:VIednUfuMf8btxzbnZ2dnUVZ_hSdnZ2d@giganews.com...
> Moviemaker wrote:
>> I have been trying out the new Sony Cybershot DSC-W200, and I like this
>> little camera and its sharp 12 mp stills. The movies, when taken at the
>> highest resolution (VX Fine 640 x 480 at 30 frames per second) are also
>> pretty good, given the tiny size of the camera.
>>
>> I was told by the sales person that you can use the zoom feature when
>> making movies with this camera. However, I have found that I can't
>> actually zoom in and out while the camera is recording movies. I can
>> select, BEFORE recording, either a wide angle, standard, or telephoto
>> view, and take movies at these different scales. But it won't zoom in and
>> out while recording. Can anyone tell me please whether this is a common
>> limitation of movies taken on digital "still" cameras, or do some models
>> allow you to zoom in and out while recording?
>
> The overwhelming majority of P&S cameras have this limitation when
> recording video. The only ones that I know of that doesn't is Canon's S3,
> possibly the S5 and TX1.
>
>> Another unexpected movie limitation is that the Sony W200 limits the size
>> of movie files to 2GB, after which the camera stops recording
>> automatically. At the highest resolution, a 2GB movie file would take
>> about 25 minutes to record. Is this a common movie limitation with small
>> digital cameras of this type? I was told that movies are only limited in
>> size to the capacity of the memory stick, but this isn't the case with
>> the W200.
>
> If Sony says the W200 supports memory cards up to 2 gig then they are
> technically right about the video only being limited by the size of memory
> card. I agree though that this is misleading to most buyers.

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