which digital camcorder

[vood0g]

i am planning to get my wife a digital camcorder for christmas and was wondering if you guys can suggest some models/brands that i can look at, or which pieces of sh1t to stay away from. budget for this is $1,000 +/- $100. Thanks!

oh yea, and any personal experience with a camcorder would be welcomed also.

 

[loic2003]

Well I liked my Canon MV600 (new equivalent model MV700) but you should get the 'i' model (MV700i) which has analogue input.

Neat little cameras, good features, firewire interface, Mini DV media.... You really don't need to be spending $1000 on a camcorder these days, mine was £250 ($500 ish) and it'll be all you need unless you want broadcast quality or something.

Also bear in mind that being a digital camera you'll need to assign quite a hefty chunk of that budget on some editing software (unless you have a mac and and can use iMovie) with which to create the final movie. You may also want to consider a DVD burner. Just a thought.

Hope this helps.

 

[vood0g]

how much is video editing software these days? maybe the budget should include the camera, video editing software and a dvd burner. is that doable (sp?)?

 

[Ryuson99]

Originally posted by: vood0g
how much is video editing software these days? maybe the budget should include the camera, video editing software and a dvd burner. is that doable (sp?)?

With good software and cam I doubt it.

 

[Kelemvor]

A lot of camcorders come with software already. I think it's usually Adobe Premier. Was looking at BestBuy and either the Sonys or Canons come with that program and the others probably at least come with some off-name software to do that.

 

[loic2003]

I paid £50 for this sony editing package: had the firewire cable and Pinnacle Studio 7 in the box. Pinnacle was crippleware though, and loads of features and transitions weren't included which really annoyed me ot say the least.

From my experience for the PC Pinnacle is the best for average home user use. It's got all the basics and is simple to use. Adobe Premiere has a lot more features but is harder to use concequently.


iMovie is dead easy to use and pretty well featured, plus being a mac it's esier to throw together a decent DVD with photos, movies, title page, etc....