£100-£200 Camcorder

[Rookie1986]

My G/F has offered to buy me a Camcorder for my 22nd Birthday next month but she doesn't want to end up buying me a piece of junk so she has asked me to ask you guys what ones in her price range would be worth looking at (if any).

/Rookie

[Funky]

Originally Posted by Rookie1986

My G/F has offered to buy me a Camcorder for my 22nd Birthday next month but she doesn't want to end up buying me a piece of junk so she has asked me to ask you guys what ones in her price range would be worth looking at (if any).

/Rookie

Try this Sanyo VPC-CA65, this is a very nice camcorder at low price. For the price, you won't be disappointed with the video quality. It's very compact and small.

[herbs]

I have the cg65 which is the same as the CA65 but not waterproof, in low light its not great but passable. I have posted a clip (end of a cat fight so don't watch if your an animal lover) on http://www.vimeo.com/925839 if you want to see the quality, it's best to download the original clip so you can see it without re-compression vimeo adds. The downside of this camera is that the battery lasts 50-60mins, only 5x zoom, and 30fps where 25fps is used for tv in this country. The good thing is the size of the camera which easily fits in a trouser pocket, and it does take a reasonable photo to boot as well, also a 4gb sdcard will hold over 2 1/2 hours worth of video at highest setting. I sure you could get a reasonable mini dv for the top end of your price range if you want better picture quality.

[redsox_mark]

For miniDV, consider the Canon MD205.

[Rookie1986]

Hey again,

After reading about camcorders on the net today i have noticed that a lot of people with macs have problems with the mini dvd's getting stuck in the dvd drive so i think that means there out, what other options would there be aside from HD ones?

[redsox_mark]

I'd avoid DVD camcorders anyway.
But a Mac will have no issue with miniDV (tape).

[Funky]

[QUOTE=herbs;7011331]The downside of this camera is that the battery lasts 50-60mins.QUOTE]

Exactly! My solution is ordering couple replacement batteries for spare. Its batteries are not expensive.

[Rookie1986]

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

I'd avoid DVD camcorders anyway.
But a Mac will have no issue with miniDV (tape).

How do the miniDV ones work??

[redsox_mark]

You put a tape in the camcorder and shoot your video.
You can then connect the camcorder to a TV and watch it.

To edit, you connect the camcorder to the PC using Firewire, and capture (digitally copy) the video to a file (or files) on the PC. You can also use a set top DVD recorder to record to DVD.

[Rookie1986]

Originally Posted by redsox_mark

You put a tape in the camcorder and shoot your video.
You can then connect the camcorder to a TV and watch it.

To edit, you connect the camcorder to the PC using Firewire, and capture (digitally copy) the video to a file (or files) on the PC. You can also use a set top DVD recorder to record to DVD.

Thanks for your replies, i have a few more questions if you would be able to answer them,

Would i have to buy a camcorder that is Mac compatible?

What are the recording times for the tapes and would i need multiple ones?

[redsox_mark]

All DV camcorders are Mac compatible.
A standard tape will hold 60 mins of video; there are also 80 min tapes. You can get 1.5 times that using long play, but that is not recomended. Tapes are cheap (you can get them from Amazon for around £1.30 per tape).

[Rookie1986]

Thanks for the reply, i have been looking at this unit SONY DCR-HC51 on Comet.co.uk and it seems nice and within the price range, what do you guys think of it? are there any major pit falls with this camcorder or is it a safe buy?

[redsox_mark]

It's a safe buy. A decent camcorder for the money.

[Funky]

Originally Posted by herbs

I have the cg65 which is the same as the CA65 but not waterproof

But i think I'll choose the CA6 over CG65 due to the additional waterproof festure.