[Walrus9]

Hi, I am looking at the Zi6 for my son Christmas and he is very keen at making stop animation stuff at school.

I'm assuming the Zi6 can't do single frame stuff, so my query is which (cheap) camcorder can do single frame recording. Ideally in the sub £150 price bracket, thanks.

[senu]

Get a MiniDV model. It uses DV AVI. Although the transfer from tape to PC is real-time and needs fire wire ( and a big HDD) everything else ( including quality and VFM ) is an advantage
DV AVI is a video format in which you can get down to frame level with suitable software and a little know how
The Zi6 is totally unstuitable. not only is it a "gadget", its recording format is a compressed one which relied in intra frame compression and would prove hard to use for stop animation (IMHO)

[A n d r e w]

Basic miniDV (tape) camcorder with a Firewire connector and iStopMotion if you really want to make him smile - though a basic digital stills camera will do stop motion just as well (since it's not moving pictures as such that you're working with).

Andrew.