[driver8]

I've been scouring this forum, and the web, and just can't find an answer !

Need a camcorder for shooting 95% of the time in the house, with available natural light or a 60w bulb. It's for my brother, who will be filming his 1yr-old (and another on the way).

I know low light is the weak point for many digi-camcorders, but can someone point me to a list of models that might be better than average ? Or even a ranking ? (The only clue I've gleaned is to avoid the 3ccd models, but even then people argue they're still OK !)

My brother is a total newbie, and has only just outgrown his digicam's AVI mode, so no advance features are required (but he is techie enough if required).

Thanks for looking.

See my reply to 3ccd question. Why not fit 100w bulbs instead if you know you are going to be videoing, if you are recording indoors with natural light sources then fit daylight balanced bulbs (around £2.50) for the duration of the recording.

Bright lenses and HAD systems work, but basically YOU NEED LIGHT TO RECORD IN!

If you dont do even the above very simple inexpensive steps then you have no right to slag off the camcorder.

If you buy the panasonic then take control of exposure, switch off the auto shutter, set it manualy to 1/50th, where possible have your lens open to f2.8 (keep it at this if you intend to use your zoom) and try to keep the gain (the 'db') setting under control.

Although more gain = brighter picture it also = noisy grainy picture.

I am no video snob, I realise that most folk don't want to be bogged down by professional working practices, but if you want professional looking (or ok, decent looking) footage, then you do need to be a bit more pro-active.

[driver8]

Hi Roy - thanks for your quick & thorough reply (but why do I feel like I've just been told off ??)

So it's off-a-googling I go !

OT, but I think in the same way that PC/laptop prices have fallen so low these last couple of years, enabling the "average joe" to websurf (quite possibly without AV & firewall) then there are a whole new breed of digicam users (and camcorder users too) that have bought models stuffed to the gills with unused features, and want little more to do than point & shoot. Sad, I know ...