[Fred Quimby]

I have never owned or used a camcorder before. However I would like to buy the wife one for Christmas,

I intend to spend around £400-500. Im looking at Sony,Panasonic and Canon.

Can anyone advise me what model I should be looking at and what functions are worthwhile

Your opinion is warmly welcome.

[CoSzaro17]

Well I don't know about pricing because I live in the U.S. but here are some basic things you might want depending on what its intended for:

--HD is definitely something good.

--If you want to be able to edit it, go for a camcorder with a Hard Disk Drive(HDD)

--If you just want to record it and play it, maybe look at DVD.

--If you want portability, maybe look at http://www.sony.co.uk/product/cam-hi...stick/hdr-tg3e

So yeah, that's what I would look at, personally I always use Sony, but you may want to check out JVC or Panasonic too.

[rhubarbe]

If you want to buy her a present for Christmas, I should:

1 Wait until nearer the time because there will be cams about by then that are not available yet and of those that are available now the prices will have fallen, so you'll get a better deal if you go for one of them.

2 I should make darned sure she does definitely want a camcorder.

I bought mine an iron once and she started to call me Flathead.

[newbie1980]

Originally Posted by rhubarbe

If you want to buy her a present for Christmas, I should:

1 Wait until nearer the time because there will be cams about by then that are not available yet and of those that are available now the prices will have fallen, so you'll get a better deal if you go for one of them.

2 I should make darned sure she does definitely want a camcorder.

I bought mine an iron once and she started to call me Flathead.

buying a iron as a present is bad enough, but for christmas?

welcome to 1960

[Mr Lazy]

Originally Posted by CoSzaro17

HD is definitely something good.

Agreed. Stretch your budget to £550 and you will get a very good HD camcorder. As Rhubarbe has said, prices will probably drop by Christmas (or at least, you will get better camcorders for the same money as now). There is no point buying SD today, even if you don't (yet) have a HD TV.

If you want to be able to edit it, go for a camcorder with a Hard Disk Drive(HDD)

I'm not sure why the media should make a difference to editing. For example, both flash memory and HDD camcorders use the AVCHD format. The only real advantage with a HDD camcorder is the amount of video it will record.

Be aware that if you do want to edit AVCHD, you will need a high-powered PC. Even if you just want to playback, you need to think about how you are going to do that with HD video, as well as storage.

If you just want to record it and play it, maybe look at DVD.

Personally I would avoid DVD camcorders like the plague because a) I just don't trust them to not, every once in a while, get fussy with a particular disc and loose footage etc. b) the picture quality of AVCHD and HDV camcorders is better and c) DVD camcorders will probably have died out in a few years as flash-memory camcorders become the consumer norm.

[Mr Lazy]

Originally Posted by nikonkid

Can anyone advise me...what functions are worthwhile

To answer that specific question, consider:
- OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) as opposed to EIS (Electronic...)
- if you will be shooting in bright conditions regularly (ie. beach, snow) consider if you need a viewfinder or not. A lot of the current HD camcorders have only an LCD, which can be a bit tricky in bright conditions.
- is your wife used to using a DSLR or interested in how the final image will look? If not, she can just leave the camera on auto and in most cases it will do a fine job. If yes, think about how much manual control you want over the image and choose a camcorder that makes it easier to change things like focus, shutter speed, apeture etc.