Camcorder for max price of £250?

[cliveg]

Hi everyone,

I pulling my hair out trying to decide on a reasonably decent camcorder, there is so much choice out there!...don't really wanna pay any more than about £250. I will only be using it once, maybe twice a year for holidays, so don't really want to spend a lot.

I currently have a JVC - can't remember the model number, it was a special through Dixons, Currys etc - which has given up the ghost. I need a camcorder that will cope with bright sunlight, sand, water reflections etc, as me and the missus are going to Brazil for our hols this year, so need to make sure that the camcorder can cope with all that sun!

Don't particularly want to go the JVC route again, but anything else I guess will be fine. Also not bothered about still images, as I've got a decent digital camera, and also don't really need DV in...as long as it has DV out to edit the movie(s).

Any help anyone can give me would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Clive

[cliveg]

anyone out there that can give me some guidance?

Cheers,

Clive

[C.Wolf]

Hi Clive, Ive just bought a sony dcr-hc19e camcorder from argos sale for £199. It seems to be highly rated and on fiddling about with it , I think it is going to be great. I only got it yesterday so havent had chance to play with it much yet, hence the vague recommendation.
Hope this helps,
Clyde.

[cliveg]

Thanks Clyde....I've been looking at the Sony DCR-HC19, 22, 39 and 42. The 42 is bit out of my limit, but I might go for one of the cheaper ones. Does the 19 have the touch screen?...if so, how are you getting on with it?

Anyone else got any thoughts?...

Cheers,

Clive

[C.Wolf]

Hi Clive, yes it does have the touch screen. Ive not had time to try it out yet but just playing around with it, it looks good. The nightshot films black and white images in absolute darkness and the zoom and focus are great too. The zoom is like a telescope and the focus adjusts within about a second. As I say , it looks like its a steal at £199, and infact it gets great reviews at £349 which says it all to me.
Good luck,
Clyde.

[cliveg]

Thanks Clyde...I appreciate it. I might save me some dosh and go for the 19 as well!! Looks like Argos are still the cheapest at the mo...

Cheers,

Clive

[C.Wolf]

Hi Clive, Ive finally tried the camcorder at recording and then transfering to dvd. The results were fantastic. Focus at 20x magnification was like looking through a quality telescope, the detail was amazing. Close ups were as good as ive ever seen. If I had paid £400 for this I would think it was a terrific buy, but for £199 + £10 for 5xsony tapes I feel like ive had a late christmas present. By the way, I read the review in what camcorder and it gets a best buy against a panasonic, samsung and canon which backed up what I had already thought. Buy one now if you can, as all the argos stores in my area are already out of stock.
Good Luck finding one,
Clyde.

[cliveg]

Hey Clyde...pleased you're pleased with it! I'm gonna look this weekend...from what you're telling me it's the one to go for.

I appreciate your input...thanks matey...

(Ain't this forum great?!? )

Cheers for now,

Clive

[gingaman]

Clive/Clyde

Sounds like you guys like your HC19, have either of you used it indoors yet? If you have used other Camcorders how does its indoor performance compare?
By indoor I mean in a lounge perhaps with a few 60w/100w lamps around.

The low light performance of most cameras seems quite bad (grainy, poor focusing) so I was just wondering about this one. I'm looking for a new one and the HC22 (I want DV-In) is on my short list.

Many Thanks

[C.Wolf]

Hi Gingaman, I have tried the camera indoors this evening and am yet again pleased with the results. With 2x 25w wall lights on there is some grain but not excessive and the focus is as quick and accurate as ever. I then put the centre light on as well 3x 25w and this noticably reduced the grain. I recall looking at the panasonic 17 a few weeks ago in comet as it was on offer at £229, and i was put off by the grainy picture and difficult,slow focus. When I picked up the sony which was next to it (HC19) the difference was amazing, far less grain, faster focus and a generally better picture all round, but unfortunately out of my budget at the time. So the sony has lived up to my initial expectations and then some.
Hope this helps,
Clyde.

[gingaman]

Thanks Clyde

These budget Sonys have a 1/6 inch CCD like most other budget cams, I wonder what reason there could be for the Sony cams being noticeably better. And at least you have compared it with another Cam in the same environment.

I just got a Canon MV850i last week but I'm sending it back because it's indoor performance isn't any better than my old Canon MV400i that I'm trying to replace, just as grainy with maybe better colouring but the auto focus is surprisingly worse (very slow) when filming the kids moving about or panning - it's daylight performance is great as most cams seem to be. I usually have about 3x60w lamps on indoors when it's dark, if I remember I'll turn on the ceiling lights also as this does improve things.

I thought maybe I would have to spend a bit more and get an above budget model to improve things (ie bigger CCD and better focusing circuitry) but the HC22 might have to be worth considering first!

Thanks

Gingaman

[C.Wolf]

Hi Gingaman, The best thing to do is go to your local comet and try a few. It is surprising how much difference you see just looking at the lcd display. I think this would help you decide, especially if you take your camera along to compare. A friend of mine bought his JVC mini dv cam around last night to compare, I didnt look at the model but he said it was £229 a few months ago. Once again the sony beat it hands down, the colour on the jvc was dull, the contrast wasnt great and the picture was blunt and grainy. When we put the sony on it was like a breath of fresh air, we had vibrant colour and contrast, definition and depth, and a much more pleasing camera all round.
All the best,
Clyde.
PS. No, I dont work for sony