Is there a decent point-and-shoot option?

04-05-2006, 4:42 PM

A colleague has his second son's christening on Sunday, and has been a little negligent about getting a camcorder for the affair, although he has intended to for ages. We've been going through the options today, and there do seem to be a couple of clear winners in the value-for-money category, but he'd like a little validation before taking the plunge.

So. The 3CCD Panasonics seem to have a lot of supporters, particularly the older GS250 (which he can lay his hands on for £550). Even the newer GS300 is quite well reviewed, and is a little cheaper still at £500. I've been steering him towards these two models as I'm a great believer in getting maximum bang for one's buck. I get the feeling that a lot of the additional features suddenly become useful after the initial learning curve is crested.

But does he need to spend that much to get decent value? He says he is unlikely to play with the manual settings all that much (a shame, I know, but there you have it) and the low light performance of the 250 and 300 seems a little lacklustre.

The question I'm asking, I guess, is: Is there a decent point-and-shoot option currently available for less than £500 that will deliver good video in family and holiday recording situations? Any suggestions? I know the Sony models are vaunted for their Easy auto functionality, but are they warranted when all the proprietary format headaches are factored in?

Here's hoping someone can help shed light...

No pun intended.

dejongj · 05-05-2006, 9:36 AM

I don't know what you mean about proprietary format headaches....

My wife wanted a point-and-shoot small camcorder as she found my Sony TRV-900e too daunting....She loves the ease of use of the Sony DCR-DVD803e (now to be had for only £458 at Savastore in Luton), works great in low light and as it records to DVD you can pop it straight into your DVD players....Oh and the 5.1 recording is good fun with kids as well!

**senu** · 05-05-2006, 10:12 AM

There is no doubting the obvious convenience of the (DVD) camcorder suggested above.
I have an old 3ccd Panasonic MX 500 which has many manual features but which my very technophobic wife has used happily in auto mode with good results.
As such there is no reason why the Panasonic gs 200 cannot be used as a point and shoot as it does give good PQ with little fuss on auto.
The danger of spending less is not so much the lack of complexity but the dissapointment which one often gets from the distinctly underwhelming PQ that seems to plague some of the lesser costing camcorders.
Dont get me wrong: Im all for value for money but in my experience one ( up to a point) gets more for a liitle extra cash

Like Jean-Paul Im also puzzled by "proprietary formats" as long as you avoid micro mv and the likes of it. DVD, MiniDv and even Digital8 ( to a lesser extent) are mainstream

redsox_mark · 05-05-2006, 10:47 AM

One "proprietary format" issue with many Sony camcorders is the AIS accessory shoe. This limits you to Sony accessories which use this proprietary interface with the shoe. I work around this with the HC1 by using a bracket which connects to the tripod mount to add an ordinary accessory shoe. But I would have preferred having a standard accessory shoe.

Another small one is with the video cables... Firewire is standard, but for the video or component output it uses a special Sony connector on the camcorder side (at least on the HC1).

"Format" isn't really the right term for these, but they are things which are Sony proprietary.

Having said that.. Jean-Paul's 803 (and the related 403) have received good reviews. It is 1 CCD, but a large (1/3") one, which is good for low light. Also the miniDV HC96, available for £470, also 1/3" CCD.
http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/sound-a.../548648/prices
The HC96 gets a similar overall rating as the GS-250 here
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/ratings.php

Mark

**senu** · 05-05-2006, 11:35 AM

Mark,
Thanks for clarifying the "proprietary format" comment .I was lost

for a while
The normal Av out/ Dv out interfaces are standard with Sony .
Sadly Sony has no real rival with the "Prosumer" HVD camcorders so the proprietary component/ hdmi interfaces on the HC-1 and HC-3 which may be explained by the need to miniaturise things are probably easy to forgive especially as there is no similsr camcorders to compare them with.

What is more annoying ( especially if you buy into Sonys system and then later wish to get a diferent camera ) is the AIS accessory shoe interface. One of my pals has vowed to avoid Sony purchases in the future as he has a whole load of Sony accesories unusable for anything else and his Sony camcorder now has a fault which he's considering not fixing.

Saying that, the £470 for the HC96 and probably similar cost for J-Ps suggestions seem to butress the need not to go too low in cost in search of camcorder simplicity as one may also be sacrificing decent PQ and build

dejongj · 05-05-2006, 12:21 PM

Ah the hot-shoe....There are a couple of positives as well, at least their camera's do have a hotshoe, not all do especially powered ones.....I'm using a one of those £3.5 brackets as well on my TRV-900 so I can have external microphone and video light.....But for point and shoot usage I doubt there is much real world need for a hot shoe anyway....

The unique cables is really a size thing, my Sony TRV900 has got normal cables......

04-05-2006, 4:42 PM	#1
sinplicity Guest Posts: n/a	Is there a decent point-and-shoot option? Advertisement Want to Advertise? A colleague has his second son's christening on Sunday, and has been a little negligent about getting a camcorder for the affair, although he has intended to for ages. We've been going through the options today, and there do seem to be a couple of clear winners in the value-for-money category, but he'd like a little validation before taking the plunge. So. The 3CCD Panasonics seem to have a lot of supporters, particularly the older GS250 (which he can lay his hands on for £550). Even the newer GS300 is quite well reviewed, and is a little cheaper still at £500. I've been steering him towards these two models as I'm a great believer in getting maximum bang for one's buck. I get the feeling that a lot of the additional features suddenly become useful after the initial learning curve is crested. But does he need to spend that much to get decent value? He says he is unlikely to play with the manual settings all that much (a shame, I know, but there you have it) and the low light performance of the 250 and 300 seems a little lacklustre. The question I'm asking, I guess, is: Is there a decent point-and-shoot option currently available for less than £500 that will deliver good video in family and holiday recording situations? Any suggestions? I know the Sony models are vaunted for their Easy auto functionality, but are they warranted when all the proprietary format headaches are factored in? Here's hoping someone can help shed light... No pun intended.
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