I'm looking for something a little more compact than a Sony Portapak

I’ve noticed that many artists are now shooting video with DSLRs because of their higher quality lenses and versatile shooting formats. I was hoping that I could purchase one for recording artists’ interviews and lectures, but I’ve learned that DSLRs can only record a limited amount of video (up to 29 minutes continuously) in most cases. Drat. This means I’m back to looking at video cameras.

Photo peeps, please recommend an HD video camera that can:

• shoot in a variety of situations, including low light in lecture halls
• has a microphone input
• has a kick ass lens
• costs around $1000 (stop laughing)

Domo arigato.

“There’s slime in the ice machine” is a Houston saying made popular by the late TV personality Marvin Zindler, a white-suited, surgically-enhanced, makeup wearing investigative reporter cum restaurant inspector for KTRK Channel 13. “Slime” was the worst offense a food establishment could perpetrate; fashion was perhaps Zindler’s. I invoke Marvin Zindler in order to write about Buffet DVD, Volume 1, a DVD magazine of short artist-made videos, because they both address food, Houston and breaking the mold, so-to-speak.

The Drift, Kelly Sears, 2007

Buffet, Volume 1 features 13 artist-made videos related to Houston and food, plus interstitials (shot at Luby’s, Fiesta, Sengelmann Hall and a private kitchen) made by the creators of the DVD, artists Kelly Pike, Kara Hearn and Sasha Dela (I appear as a grocery shopper at Fiesta, however, the producers did not buy my groceries in exchange for this review). The self-titled “Buffet Chefs” describe Houston as “an endless sterno-warmed parade of variety (food, weather, culture).” It’s the perfect environment to grow cultures. The side of Houston that “Buffet” hopes to capture with this first release is the city where one can establish a career as a respected reporter while dressed as a dandy, build an amusement park in tribute to oranges, or barbeque on your car’s engine without worry. Read the rest of this review on Glasstire.com.