Digital Video Camera

[Xenon14]

What's a good one under $1000? Most bang for the buck...and the more under $1000 the better. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Crucial]

I would be interested in hearing this as well.

 

[TheShiz]

take a good look at the sony models, plenty under $1000, and all i hear are good things.

 

[Nocturnal]

Sony TRV-80? Or any of the Sony cams are really good. I wouldn't mind the VX2000!!!

 

[slackerinabox]

Hey, there's a similar thread about this same topic.. I'm not being a repost police but it may have a lot of info in it that may be useful to you..

In general go with a sony or panasonic.. People recommend Canon but I'd have to say that their sub-$1,500 cameras suffer from many of the problems of the dv format (bad low light performance, the ZR series picks up motor hum, etc.).. Notice I said that these problems are inherent in the DV format.. You can't get a camera that has GREAT low light abilities for less than $2,000 (msrp).. Sub $1,000 sony's have decent l.l. and are pretty trouble free..On the other end of the price spectrum is panasonic.. These are not trendy, cool, or gimmicky cameras but they're totally mediocre- and that's a good thing.. They work and they work pretty well with few problems.. JVC is a company I tend to stay away from (bad l.l, motor hum, poor build quality).. Here's my advice to you: buy a cheap ($400-600) panasonic or save up for a 3ccd camera (trv900 (discontinued), canon GL1 or gl2, etc.).. The quality jump from a $400 camera to a $1,000 one is small while the jump from a $1,000 camera to a 3ccd one ($1,500+) is HUGE..

Did a little bit of digging.. 3ccd and less than a grand!!!! If I needed this camera I would get it pronto (though you may want to wait for some reviews)

 

[slackerinabox]

sorry.. double post

 

[Xenon14]

I've used a Sony TRV 520... very good quality, but are there any similar models that offer "movie" mode?

 

[mpitts]

I just got the DCR-TRV38 and it is awesome.

Highly recommended. For me, it was between this and the comparable Canon model. The Sony just seemed much nicer to me.

 

[novon]

Don't listen to any of these people - there is only once sub-$1000 camera you should buy and that's the 3CCD

Panasonic PV-GS70

$771 on pricegrabber.com