[danielstanden]

I started my Video camera life with a MiniDV Panasonic NV-GS120. However it has been severly under utilised apart from my wedding and Holidays. My real issue is the size and weight and complication of operation and getting the movie onto the PC. If I pop down to the park with my 17 month daughter I don't want to take a camera and a bag and tapes etc.

To this end I was wondering what the new generation of small HD cameras are like such as the following.

• Creative Vado HD
• Kodak Zi8

I have read various reviews and done my research but it would be good to hear from anyone who owns one of these or knows about them. While I accept they will not perform as well as there full size brothers I was wondering what kind of compromise you have to make.

[glesgaguyav]

Originally Posted by danielstanden

I started my Video camera life with a MiniDV Panasonic NV-GS120. However it has been severly under utilised apart from my wedding and Holidays. My real issue is the size and weight and complication of operation and getting the movie onto the PC. If I pop down to the park with my 17 month daughter I don't want to take a camera and a bag and tapes etc.

To this end I was wondering what the new generation of small HD cameras are like such as the following.

• Creative Vado HD
• Kodak Zi8

I have read various reviews and done my research but it would be good to hear from anyone who owns one of these or knows about them. While I accept they will not perform as well as there full size brothers I was wondering what kind of compromise you have to make.

AFAIK these are hybrid cams, they're more like cameras that take video

They wouldn't be classed as "broadcast" quality cams but if you're not bothered about that, then they'll do.

I would imagine the video quality wouldn't be any worse that an SD cam but obvously not as good as the more expensive ones.

They're also probably intended for use outdoors with plenty of light, indoors might dissapoint.

They also normally shoot video at 30fps AFAIK, so if you ever wanted to buy one of the full size big brothers you'll probably have to buy a 60Hz version (US) if you want to use old and new footage together.

If it's small and compact your looking for and can afford it, then I can recommend the Sony TG3/7 it's full HD and it fits in your pocket.

[kdc]

It also depends on how much you want to spend.

the sanyo HD2000 at £400 (Clifton Cameras for Nikon, Fuji, Pentax, Ricoh Digital Cameras, Binoculars and Accessories -very good company, highly recommended) and Sony TG7 at £550 (amazon.co.uk) are both very compact but give a much better quality picture.

I highly reccomend the sony, the picture quality is amazing for something so tiny.

The Sanyo is great for the price but is let down by absolutely awful EIS (image stabilization)

[I bought the sanyo and returned it as it had a stuck pixel and used the opportunity to trade up to the sony..]

http://www.camcorderinfo.co.uk/ gives some good reviews so you could have a look at the lower range of camcorders that might do better than one of these pocket camcorders.