Camcorder Suggestions

[ZoSo]

OK, I want to get a camcorder, digital prefered, this will be my first one.
Other then searching the web for info, does anyone have any suggestions?

For now, I'd like to pay as least as possible, but still get a decent piece of equipment. But if need be I'll spend a few extra bucks if I have to.

Thanks

 

[ZoSo]

Anyone?

 

[w1retap]

Well, I'm about to pick up a Canon GL-2 (mid-range) or Canon XL-2 (expensive).. but that might be a little out of your price range if you wanted to go uber-cheap.

What to look for is a firewire connection, miniDV, 3CCD, and something with the features you want. I never really liked the current consumer cameras that they have on the market today. They are all wayyyy to small and don't offer much manual control over anything. I like to be able to manual white balance, zoom&focus manual via an attached lens, manual iris, etc. The small size of the consumer camcorders makes the picture really unstable even with a tripod, and even while using their image stabilization enhancement feature. Most have really slow auto-focus, and thats where I prefer a nice manual lens that I can set the depth of field correctly. I wish they would make more full size DV camcorders for consumers, but everyone wants these small cheap things that break if you hold them too tight.. its really unfortunate that you have to go into the pro-sumer or professional realm just to get a decent camera. =/

I suggest going to the store like best buy or circuit city, and testing out ones you like. Look for whatever features you need, and don't spend out of your budget, unless you really know you will be putting good use to it. Oh, get a good warranty plan on it, because these camcorders they are making now break really easy, or are just made cheap with a high price tag. Don't expect too much out of a cheap budget. Just as with getting a high end computer that performs well with the lastest games, to get a high end camcorder to get high end/quality video, you have to spend money.