Camcorder - What am I looking for?

[StarsFan4Life]

There comes a time in every mans life (most anyways) where he willingly gives his life to a woman. Some choose to give it to a man.....but for me the woman is what I prefer. That time comes for me November 1st.

In the mean time, I have a lot of things I want to capture on film. I don't own a camcorder and they last one I used was 8 years ago in high school. Since then, I have been out of the loop.

I see a lot of hype over Mini DV and how the price of them have come way down. Mind you, I don't mind any kind of "tape", just as long as I can download then to my computer and convert to a dvd.

With this said, what do you guys suggest I purchase? Is $150-250 too cheap for one of these (found some deals on slickdeals here lately).

 

[jpeyton]

Panasonic TZ5

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Panasonic TZ5

Excuse me...that is a digital camera....not a video camera/camcorder....

 

[Kaido]

Canon HV20 or HV30 if you want top-quality (records to MiniDV tape, although drive-based Firewire recorders are available for $$$).

Canon HF100 if you want ease of use (records to an SD card).

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Panasonic TZ5

Excuse me...that is a digital camera....not a video camera/camcorder....

It's a digital camera under $250 with 10x optical zoom, image stabilization, and 720p HD video recording onto SD flash memory cards.

 

[JS80]

Trust me go with flash.

Canon FS100

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: JS80
Trust me go with flash.

Canon FS100

I really wish my HV20 was SD-capable for video. My only option is a $799+ Firewire hard drive recorder

 

[randomlinh]

Just to be clear, you do understand tape "downloading" to a PC is real time.

With that said, get something flash based, makes life SO much easier.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
Just to be clear, you do understand tape "downloading" to a PC is real time.

With that said, get something flash based, makes life SO much easier.

I couldn't agree more. Doing huge shoots are a pain in the neck...I did my sister-in-law's wedding on MiniDV tape (around 8-10 hours of footage) and I STILL haven't finished importing it lol.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
It's a digital camera under $250 with 10x optical zoom, image stabilization, and 720p HD video recording onto SD flash memory cards.

15 minutes at a time and 10 minutes takes 4 GB at 720p.


i'd go either flash or hard drive.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

So do you guys suggest anything around $200?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
So do you guys suggest anything around $200?

There are some Canon ZR camcorders in the $200-$250 range which aren't bad. They aren't HD, but they'll give you a pretty decent picture for the price.

 

[DanMart25]

Take a look at new high-definition camcorder in this Sony's HDR-HC5 Camcorder, the performance is outstanding.

 

[AznMaverick]

I've been looking too. What do you all think of the HF10 with the 16GB internal?

 

[sygyzy]

How much recording time can HD or SD based camcorders take? I know it depends on capacity, so give me some examples. Say on a 4GB SD card. Also, is copying time in real time (like FW) or faster? What are the cons, if any?

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: JS80
Trust me go with flash.

Canon FS100

I really wish my HV20 was SD-capable for video. My only option is a $799+ Firewire hard drive recorder

Excuse the newb question but what is a firewire HD recorder? You mean a camcorder that writes to a HD and as a FW connection for offloading video?