[Kamanchi]

Hello

I have recently become a Dad for the first time and I'm getting a camcorder to obviously take hours and hours of footage of my Daughter doing stuff to bore my family with.

I've been having a good look online and haven't got a clue what to get. I want one thats High Def, Im undecided on flash or hard drive memory. It's go to be simple to use so my girlfriend can use it, and I'd like a decent battery life. My budgets about £500.

Any help would be appreciated.

[glesgaguyav]

Originally Posted by Kamanchi

Hello

I have recently become a Dad for the first time and I'm getting a camcorder to obviously take hours and hours of footage of my Daughter doing stuff to bore my family with.

I've been having a good look online and haven't got a clue what to get. I want one thats High Def, Im undecided on flash or hard drive memory. It's go to be simple to use so my girlfriend can use it, and I'd like a decent battery life. My budgets about £500.

Any help would be appreciated.

First thing you'll want is a cam that handles low light well, most baby shots are done indoors with atrificial light, I believe the Canons are fairly good at this although no cam works perfectly in this regard.

Also there are differences in frame rates, some capture HD video at 30fps (some of the cheaper ones) and some at 25fps(UK) if you buy one or the other you should be aware that if you upgrade your cam in the future you should buy one with the same spec otherwise you won't easlily be able to incorporate the two standards as your baby grows up.

Flash v's HDD ? depends on your personal preferences, Card only cams are smaller and easy to use but with less recording time, HDD cams tend to be bigger with more recording time and some can capture to card as well.

I would be looking at the main brand names Canon's, Sony's and panasonics etc.

If your budget won't stretch, I would consider a good spec 2nd hand cam if you can get one, many of the newer models have no real differences in video quality over the older ones.

[Kamanchi]

Cheers for that, after posting I realized there are quite a few similar posts. After reading them I've vetoed the Xacti HD2000 due to the Image stabilization and I've just been to Currys to have a look at whats available there. Im thinking either one of the Panasonics, the Samsung R10 (Not sure in the 25 Degree angle). I would have definately have bought a TG but it's been discontinued. Anyone know where I can get 1???