I've never owned a camcorder

jinduy

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2002
4,781
1
81
i'm debating to spend about $930 total on the canon hv20 cam just because i figure it might come in very handy some day for a trip or some outing...

so i'm curious if anyone has ever bought it for no real purpose but has found it to be worth it or a waste of money

thanks
 

KLin

Lifer
Feb 29, 2000
30,453
761
126
I spent 500 bucks on my Canon s30 about 4 years ago, and never really used it all that much.
 
Dec 4, 2002
18,211
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Bought one to use back when Digital 8 was premo. $1k waste of money. Used it several times but not worth the money spent IMO.
 

Spoooon

Lifer
Mar 3, 2000
11,563
203
106
My wife and I got a miniDV one for Christmas. I played with it for a while. My wife has not used it yet. I don't think she wants to.

There really isn't anything to regret, but I can think of other things I would have liked to get instead.
 

iamaelephant

Diamond Member
Jul 25, 2004
3,816
1
81
All of my friends who have bought camcorders have said it's a waste of money and they haven't used them. Get a really nice still camera, you'll use it a lot more.
 

GRIFFIN1

Golden Member
Nov 10, 1999
1,403
6
81
I'm thinking about getting one so I can upload 20 minutes videos of my cat sleeping to Youtube. All my videos will have heavy metal sound tracks to keep them from being boring.
 

TheGizmo

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2000
3,627
0
71
i bought an older model DV cam for $300 at best buy open box.. it was worth it, but what i don't understand is why you're trying to buy a high-end one while you don't even have a use for a low-end one. :confused:
 

McCarthy

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,567
0
76
Get a cheap camcorder if you get one at all. If you end up using it, upgrade.

These days a digi still camera with a half decent video function fits most needs. What you give up in quality you make up in actually having some short videos to watch in the future.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
100,511
17,957
126
wife wanted one so we got one... I said we would not use it much and I was right. She is too lazy to use it and I am more of a stills person.
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
62,947
19,187
136
Buy a nice digicam and some memory cards. Unless you can think of a circumstance where you want to shoot more than 10-20 minutes of consecutive video at once.
We have a pretty nice Sharp that we got free... the battery is toast, but even when it wasn't, it hardly got used.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,659
6,536
126
I bought one a few years ago and honestly I never use it. I use it maybe once a year and it's only when I go on vacation. And I usually don't use it, my girlfriend does.

Digital camera on the other hand, I use that often.
 

bl4ckfl4g

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2007
3,669
0
0
I know alot of people that buy them and don't use them. I have one and use it alot though. I like to edit.
 

radioouman

Diamond Member
Nov 4, 2002
8,632
0
0
Bought it last year, used it twice. It's fun for making videos when boating. Otherwise I prefer a still camera. I'd love to have an HD camcorder.
 

ivol07

Golden Member
Jun 25, 2002
1,475
0
0
I bought a Sony camcorder a couple years back and rarely used it. The quality was average and it was a huge pain to get the video to a PC. Now that I've bought an HV20 I use it a lot more than I ever used the Sony. The quality is so good that I want to film stuff just so I can see it later. Also because it's so small it's way easier to take with me places. And mini-DV is so easy to transfer to my PC. I bought it in the first place because my wife and I are planning on having a baby soon, but in the mean time I've put a lot of hours on it.
 
L

Lola

we owned one a while ago and although we took it on vacation with us, we never really used it.
however, i am wanting to try it again for our upcoming holiday since i have seen some neat progams that you can make home movies look a lot better and more professional than before. who knows thouhg.
 
Jan 31, 2002
40,819
2
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Just saw LolaWiz as the last post in a camcorder thread and had to check in.

Very dissapointed at the lack of naughtiness. :p

- M4H
 
L

Lola

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Just saw LolaWiz as the last post in a camcorder thread and had to check in.

Very dissapointed at the lack of naughtiness. :p

- M4H

hey i am coming up on 10k posts, i don't want to get banned before i hit lifer. :eek: I have never been banned and i don't want to be now.
Plus, a lady never tells. :D
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
Originally posted by: ivol07
I bought a Sony camcorder a couple years back and rarely used it. The quality was average and it was a huge pain to get the video to a PC. Now that I've bought an HV20 I use it a lot more than I ever used the Sony. The quality is so good that I want to film stuff just so I can see it later. Also because it's so small it's way easier to take with me places. And mini-DV is so easy to transfer to my PC. I bought it in the first place because my wife and I are planning on having a baby soon, but in the mean time I've put a lot of hours on it.[/q]

video of the attempt to make a baby?