Capture software

To be able to capture your animations your going need a computer, a camera and some capture software.

I haven't used them all, but I'll tell you what I know.  Starting with the cheapest

BEGINNERS

onion skinning

This software is more aimed at beginners, they'll work with webcams, but I can't say beyond that.  They'll probably all use the "onion skinning" method of showing how far you've moved your object which places the live frame on top of stored from giving a blurred "ghosting" like image.






Helium Frog - free download -  http://www.heliumfrog.net63.net/heliumfrogindex.html
Never tried it so I can't really rate it, but it's free (this might make it unreliable).

Monkey Jam - free download - http://monkeyjam.org/
For PC's only, looks pretty good

I can animate 2 - £30 - http://www.kudlian.net/products/icananimatev2/Home.html
I've used this with web cams to teach kids of ages 8-15years and it's pretty good for that.  Your sound can be recorded straight onto the timeline, which my kids enjoy.  Basic, good fun for kids, a good place to start, but if you want to get serious you'll need better.
The makers "Kudlian Software" also make "Pro animate" at £80 which can be used with DSLR camera's.

I haven't used any of the next one's, but I guess there pretty much the same as the above

Frame thief  (mac's only)   -  $40 - http://www.framethief.com/index.html

IKITMovie  -    around $50  - http://www.ikitmovie.com/

Istopmotion (mac's only)  - from $50 -  http://www.boinx.com/istopmotion/mac/-

PROFESSIONALS and ENTHUSIASTS
If you want to get serious then you'll better kit.  All these will work with DSLR camera's and give you better results.  They should also all use the "step to live" way of showing you how far you've moved, which allows you to walk through your previous frames and land on the live view with the click of a button (although I can't vouch for Animator HD as I've never used it)
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Animator HD  -   £90 - £180 - http://animatorhd.com/
Like I say, I never used this one so I can't comment on it.  I find the pricing on the website a little confusing and I'm not entirely sure what you get for your money in the different price ranges.

The two to choose from in my opinion are -

Stopmotion pro  -   from $70 - $295  - http://www.stopmotionpro.com/
I know "StopMo Pro" best and can talk about it with the most confidence. In my opinion you should go for the "action HD" version priced at £135.  It has all the features you need to create professional stuff and it brings it in cheaper than "Dragonframe", also you can upgrade later if you feel your missing out on something.
Where it excels  is in it's "edit" features - you can hide, delete, duplicate, and reverse frames easily.  It also has a nifty "rig removal" tool which allows you to paint out any rigs or blocks you might use to fly or jump your puppets around.

Dragonframe   -  $295 - http://www.dragonframe.com/
I've only used DragonFrame briefly, but I liked it very much.  It only has the one price, so no confusion over trying to decide which version is best for you.  It excels in it's looks and in it's DOP features (director of Photography), this means you can get the best out of lighting.  It is also compatible to "motion control rigs" which allow you to achieve automated camera moves (I'll write more on this in a later post).