[bragss2]

I have a sony cybershot DCS-T9 digital camera (6 mega pixel, MPEG1 compliant). I was planning to buy a video camera but some one adviced me to buy a memory stick instead and use it for video recordings. The cost of the memory stick is much less as compared to a new video camera. What are the limitations in using a still digital camera as a video camera.

[seo]

A still digital camera can be used as a video camera, but it would shorten the memory. Moreover i feel that the quality of the video is also not upto the mark when used as a video camera. The other sensitive effect is that of red-eye effect.

[MeTweety730]

I would agree with Seo. Even an inexpensive video camera would give better results that using your digital still as a video. I would watch for sales in local stores, or perhaps look into a camera store that sells used equipment. As with any kind of photography, if you want quality results, you need to use the best equiment you can afford.

[kiwiguy]

At a modest 640 x 480 (basic VGA resolution) video, you will get only 12 minutes of video on a 1 GB memory stick.

As above, video cameras are not very good at doing digital pictures, digital cameras are not very good at doing video.

[phoneguy55]

I have the Sony Cybershot T5 myself and added a 2 Gig mem card to give me about 25 minutes of video. For home movies and web posting video clips, it works great and fits in my pocket.

Here is a quote from "Letsgodigital.com" ..a digicam review site.

"Memory Stick PRO Duo - High speed storage
With the new Sony Cybershot DSC T5 digital camera, you not only get the still image but the video too. With an optional Memory Stick PRO Duo media card, shooting high-quality video is simple. MPEG-VX fine mode lets you record MPEG video with 640x480 pixel resolution at 30 frames per second, up to the capacity of the media card. A 1-gigabyte Sony Memory Stick card can hold up to 12 minutes of VGA-quality 640 x 480 MPEG video and 384, 5-megapixel JPEG Fine images"

Everything has tradeoffs, but portability was my main concern.