[Smith2525]

Hi all,

I am looking at buying a HDD camcorder mainly for filming my kiteboarding down at the beach. Thought I'd go for a HDD one for ease of compatibility with my pc, etc. Want one with say 30gb hard drive and 32x optical zoom. Doesn't have to be anything special. Has to be under £300 preferably as close to the £200 mark as posible.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[gritstone]

Originally Posted by Smith2525

Hi all,

I am looking at buying a HDD camcorder mainly for filming my kiteboarding down at the beach. Thought I'd go for a HDD one for ease of compatibility with my pc, etc. Want one with say 30gb hard drive and 32x optical zoom. Doesn't have to be anything special. Has to be under £300 preferably as close to the £200 mark as posible.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

You need to do your own research here... there's so much choice, and you'll find just as many opinions.

I've just been through a similar hoop, and ended up deciding to dump the HDD idea and go for MiniDV... at your price mark you're in compromise land, big time.
Check out eBay for bargains.

[redsox_mark]

I agree. Your budget limits you to entry level HDD cams, which have questionable video quality. Probably the cheapest is the MG130 (or the earlier MG21), you can read a review here.
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-Review.htm
Hopefully the Sony SR32 (also available online for under £300) isn’t quite this bad, but I’ve not seen it in action or a review to confirm.

If you go with miniDV tape you can get better performance and also spend less money. Consider the Panasonic GS230, Canon MD160, or Canon MD101 as some options.

You can get decent HDD cams (even High Def ones) but you will need to pay more.

[senu]

Originally Posted by gritstone

You need to do your own research here... there's so much choice, and you'll find just as many opinions.

I've just been through a similar hoop, and ended up deciding to dump the HDD idea and go for MiniDV... at your price mark you're in compromise land, big time.

Seriously sound advice
Do a search . You might find what you need to know was covered probably just a few days ago..
Then ask specifics.

The only thing I would add is that your budget will seriously limit your choice to the most basic models with Image quality that may be underwhelming
MiniDV for £2-300 may get you better but HDD is fine as formats go, just not at that price range
Apart from the need for real time footage transfer and need for firewire ( & maybe a bigger HDD) there is no difference in PC compatibility between the HDD and tape models
32x optical zoom is a rarity .. at any price although ironically the costlier ones tend to do less zoom as 32x is plenty ( too much???) and no handheld shot with that sort of zoom is going to be steady

PS: Ive just noticed :This post and Marks( above) were "simultaneous".. Pls feel free ignore any repetitions

[mattr]

The panasonic SDR-H20 is about £290, 32x zoom and 30GB disk (plus you can write vids to SD cards), and an optical zoom. Picture quality is okish in good light, very so-so in low light apparently (there are some reviews around, none are jumping up and down about it). Probably equal to a entry level MiniDV from what I've heard.

(I'm also looking to get a camcorder - argh, there's too many of them!)

[Smith2525]

Cheers for the help guys, I did have a search, but as you say there is sooo many I didn't really know where to start and i'm a bit of a newb when it comes to this type of thing. You have given me a good starting point anyway, thanks again