Hi if you are considering used camcorder I have excellent miniDV camcorder that I am retiring in my move to HD. It is JVC GRD230. You can read review about it here
http://www.easycamcorders.com/conten...VC-GR-D230.htm
It should fit in your budget as only ask £230 for it. It cost me £600 new just for the camcorder! It comes with manual and all original accessories. I also add high capacity extra battery and wide angle lens that you can attach to it. (Cost me another £100)
Plus some empty tapes and firewire / iLink cable to connect it to your Mac and transfer video. It is high class camcorder and has many features you would usually find only in high end camcorders. Firstly it has large 1.33megapixel ¼-inch CCD. Just check what other camcorders have (almost always it is 800K) that is the main measurement of the video quality it is producing and the reason it performs well in low light. It has DVout as well as In so you can capture your video and save on your Mac and you can write edited video back on the tape! It has nice feature called DV navigation which helps you index you tapes and find place you need by its picture.
It is shame that you use Mac as I could also supply some PC software to edit your video and PCI firewire card (If you PC doesn’t have one).
I could put it on eBay for you to buy via PayPal or you can pop in Crawley (West Sussex) and buy it by cash.
Kind regards