Canon ZR850 mini DV How to Transfer Footage

[oliveirasophia]

 

 

I inherited this camera from my parents and I was wondering how to transfer the footage to a computer. I am assuming I would need to plug one of these into a computer. Please help if anyone knows.

[Stefschultz]

Hi, with a Canon STV-250N cable you connect the camera to a capture card that goes into the computer. Then with OBS studio you can do the capture on the computer

[kvbarkley]

What computer?

You need a firewire (IEEE1394) card for the computer.

If you are on a Mac, I can give you more directions.

But hurry! Firewire and even programs that import firewire are disappearing fast!

[shadowsports]

oliverasophia,

Please share the platform you are using the camera with.  Previously asked.

Desktop or laptop?

MAC OS or windows?

Connectivity option on the device.  

The 3 ports on the device (left to right) are AV, USB and DV (Firewire).  The firewire port is preferred, but may not be useable depending on what you have to capture with. 

The AV port is intended to display on TV's

The USB (middle port) can be used to transfer video.  The DV port (far right) is the optimal choice for transfer.  It retains the highest level of video quality and color.

Free video capture software is included with windows and MAC.  For Mac, its image Capture.  On windows, ClipChamp.  If you have to buy a capture card it may or may not come with software.   Like kvbarkley said, hurry, because firewire capture is disappearing fast.  I don't think its supported in Premiere any longer.  I haven't tried in DaVinci Resolve, ClipChamp or Image Capture myself.

**Edit, DaVinci Resolve doesn't capture Firewire footage natively.  It can be converted but know that each time you copy DV footage from one source or format to another, you will lose one generation of quality., so it best to import once for the best image quality.