[HAILOS]

Have used my FUJI F30 for capturing various clips on holiday.
Think the clips have been great and have served a great purpose.
Now, I'd like something better.
What I'd like to know is how much of an improvement can I expect from the budget range of Mini Dv camcorders, like sony Hc range, Pany Gs range, canon's..etc
Thanks !!

[redsox_mark]

How much improvement is always hard to quantify....

I’d say that when watching the video on TV (or other display with video input), you’ll see a big improvement.

If your purpose is emailing or posting clips on the web (in a small/compressed format anyway) then the difference won’t be significant.

[senu]

Mike is spot on there

However even if you compressed good mini Dv footage to web sized clips, they are likely to be better , but the hassle may not be worth it for the difference. I sometimes look at clips from You tube and try and guess how they started life before being compressed

But for TV viewing , DVD making , even large screen viewing on the PC a "proper camcorder " will do a better Job.
However if your needs are currently being served and you are happy with what you have, you can wait,
Camcorders are evolving into putting good quality movies on Media cards and lot more on HDD such that shooting and copying to PC is so much less tedious than it is now for those who dont want that extra to do ( IE capturing from tape ect)

[HAILOS]

Thanks Guys for the sound and sensible advice.
Its a good point that if I was to use the tv to display the clips then I would enjoy a better quality.
If I am being realistic I'd only ever do that once or twice.
Of course if I could see a big leap in quality on the PC monitor for just over a hundred pounds I could be tempted.
But as I said in my initial post the job is being done to a pretty satisfying degree now anyway.
I know what you mean about Youtube clips. I've posted videos on there and the original clips on my pc are of course far far better so I always wonder how much better other peoples original clips are...