[jooroo]

Hi everyone,

I'm after a camcorder to produce some videos for the web - so SD is fine.

Would like external mic and a headphone socket.

SD or Mini DV - not too keen on DVD (although no particular logic to that).

Would like to pay less than £250.

I've spent all afternoon searching and can't find anything suitable yet.

Could anyone please make a (useful!) suggestion?!

Thanks

[senu]

The Canon MD 205 has mic in but headphone as well.??. very unlikely for £250

[jooroo]

thanks. am I asking too much for the money?

how do i monitor the sound level then without a headphone socket?

[daz4590]

the canon fs100 (£220) has a mic in but again doesn't have a headphone jack. I heard somewhere there is some audio level control but if you're using it for simple web videos surely you don't need them that much??

for £250 I don't think you can get one unless you buy a mini dv tape camcorder..

[senu]

Originally Posted by daz4590

..for £250 I don't think you can get one unless you buy a mini dv tape camcorder..

Even miniDV at £250 is most unlikely to have both. In fact maybe only the HDV ones going for a little more

[jooroo]

Thanks for the replies. I've had a good look around now and realise I am asking too much for the money. I also don't really need those features for only producing web videos. Worst case, if I do need something better later on, I can always use this one for a secondary camera, or just flog it.

My shortlist now is either the MD235 or the FS100.

Does anyone have a real-life comparison between the two? I've read some reviews questioning the image quality of the FS100 - does it use compression to save to the memory card? Am I better, quality wise, with mini dv?

Thanks again

[senu]

I would be surprised at a comparison unless someone in a shop does one

this is mainly because with very few exceptions, ( like yourself) MiniDV may be unlikely to appeal to anyone also considering the FS100
Indeed many new entrants are seemingly unaware that miniDV is digital
It is safe to assume that MiniDV technology is stable and mature and the MD235 represent more of the same ( ie It is not a poor MiniDV camcorder) although budget, it is VFM
The FS100 is the one whose reviews you might want to seek
It records to mpeg2 which is more compressed than DV AVI (4.7 vs 13Gb /hr)
If it creates mpeg2 well( as it does "on the fly" ), transfer to PC will be a case of USB drag and drop , and the files may be DVD ready and also small .. you just compress to web format
DV AVI will give you better starting quality but capture is real time and initial files are larger. It may be possible as a result to have more control over quality of end format and if editing is desired, it is unlikely to hit quality
Ultimately they both seem to have pluses and I would not discount either

[jooroo]

Thanks Senu, that has probably answered by question. I'm a DSLR user and a semi-competent photographer and appreciate quality of image. I think the quality of the mini dv image will outweigh the downsides of larger files and longer processing.

That decision made, from what I can see, the MD235 is the main choice at this sort of price if I want a mic-input. I won't be buying until tomorrow at the earliest so if anyone has a last-minute "have you considered X" suggestion, please post!

Thanks again to everyone for your advice.