Looking for a Digital Camcorder

[zerocool84]

It is my sister's birthday in a couple weeks and she told us that she would want a digital camcorder. I have no idea as to what is good or what is cheap in this section as I have never dealt with these before. She is in college and wants just to take videos with friends. Nothing professional. It needs to be fairly easy to use but not too expensive. Probably max $500. She has a Mac btw if that makes any difference. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated thanks.

 

[TheChort]

This topic has been discussed here before. See if you can find your answer in one of these threads...

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2103590&enterthread=y
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2097545&enterthread=y
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2102036&enterthread=y
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2096470&enterthread=y
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2099736&enterthread=y

 

[musicetime101]

Hey zerocool84 , if you want to get a good camcorder , I got a suggestion for you . Last week my younger sister got a new camcorder for her college also . I had a look at the camcorder it is quite nice and easy for use . She bought the Sony HandyCam DCR-HC28 :
With Carl Zeiss Vario- Tessar lens; 20x optical/800x digital zoom .
1/6-inch Advanced HAD CCD imager .
2.5-inch touch-panel SwivelScreen LCD monitor .
Super SteadyShot image stabilization and NightShot Plus technology .
Easy Handycam button for ease of use .
My sister told me , that she decided to buy this one for the reason of the price and the quality , this camcorder got pretty decent reviews :
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DCR...-Optical/dp/B000M3IND6
And the price is not expensive for $230:
http://www.dealstudio.com/viewtopic.php?t=32005
Some of the same ones are priced at $280 :
http://accessories.us.dell.com...938489&cs=19&c=us&l=en
I think this is a good idea .
Well , how do you like it , hope this helps anyway .

 

[mruffin75]

If you don't mind refurbished cameras, there's a Canon HD camera for $499

http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...pNo=3206300&CatId=3357

 

[Blain]

HDD camcorders :thumbsup::laugh:

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: Blain
HDD camcorders :thumbsup::laugh:

Convenient? HDD is convenient for recording for the first four hours and then after that it is going to be a pain. Imagine your friends want to see the beautiful HD footage you took last summer in Paris. You then have to ask them to wait for a while when you go to your PC to unload some footage off your SR1 to make room on the HD and then download the Paris footage from your PC onto the SR1... IMHO it is just going to be a giant pain to playback achived videos in a hurry.

HDD camcorders :laugh::thumbsdown: