Camcorder Advice

[BoatBuoy]

Well, it looks like I'm going to buy my daughter a camcorder for Christmas for her and hubby to use on my new grandson. Being out of the camcorder loop for years, I have no knowledge of the latest offerings. In looking, I see there are DVD camcorders, mini-dvd camcorders, hard-drive camcorders, HD camcorders, flash memory camcorders. I'm quite confused. It looks like any of them would work for me.

Does anybody have any suggestions, particularly about what NOT to get?

EDIT: After posting this, I noticed my signature line. How ironic.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Camcorder Advice

Hi BB. The only advice I would offer is to not purchase a camera that uses a hard drive to save the video. It sounds like a great idea, but the image is not that great compared to the DVD or Mini-DVD models. Although I have no experience with the flash memory recorders, I would guess it would be the same thing. We've had a Mini-DVD for a while now and it is very nice and easy to use. It's a Samsung, but that doesn't really matter. Check out Consumer Reports for the latest and greatest, that's what we do before buying something like that.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: Camcorder Advice

I am no camera expert and find myself confused with all the high tech gadgets and their features whereas 10 years all that stuff made perfect sense to me.
My father in law bought us a nice middle of the road JVC Enviro hard drive camcorder 3 years ago also for our first child and his first grand child.
Honestly the thing has sat in its bag as even our older lower end Fuji FinePix takes better quality video and with a good sized memory card the FinePix would hold more than enough to fulfill our needs. The small point and shoot also seemed a bit more convenient altho the JVC camcorder would also take still shots.
We have since gotten a new camera, a Canon SX10 which is a pretty sweet 10 mega pixel point and shoot with 20X optical zoom lens, it takes great video and pictures and it not as bulky power hungry as a camcorder. With a 4 gig card (which is pretty small) it holds about 60 minutes of high quality video.

 

[Bifflefan]

Re: Camcorder Advice

I would go with one that has a flash memory of some sort.
For my thoughts, they dont have a hard drive failure, you cant get a scratch on the media, and they are reusable as many times as you like. Also they are getting up there is storage capicity and down very low in price. Iv seen 8Gig ones for 8 dollars. They are also really easy to load onto a computer or tv or one of those electronic picture things.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Camcorder Advice

I've had great luck with the Sony mini-dv recorders. Get one with the level of options you want. The picture quality is very good, and the anti-shake feature makes for smooth video shots. They start at about $400 and go up. They also have outstanding quality lenses. A good place to shop online is B and H photo video.

 

[ThumbPkr]

Re: Camcorder Advice

Sony had a problem with their CCDs in the past and if you have an older one or are considering the purchase of one you should take the time to determine whether or not the camera in question is fitted with one of the offending units.
They were replacing them for free for a while but the last one that crossed my bench was out of warranty so could not be economically repaired.
They were used in both the still cameras as well as camcorders.
As I am able to determine if you live in Canada or Asia and maybe the UK then you are in luck,they have better lawyers I guess and the class action suit is still in effect in those countries but the good old USA sold out last fall.I must add that Sony sold their CCDs to many camera manufacturers and it is possible to have one even though the camera is not a Sony. Ron G

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Camcorder Advice

Anymore the cell phones have nice little video recorders with 8meg cards, (whatever that means) we bought a $600.00 RCA camcorder a few years back and it's already an albatross of a dinasour by todays standards, electonics technology is overwhelming especially to grandpa lol. you would get better information from a 12yr old than me.