[Hitby]

Hi all,
My video camera was stolen from my office and work said they will buy a replacement upto £500. What would be the best ones to look at for this budget? I don't have any particular requests, HD would be good if its available for this money?

Appreciate any pointers for what to read reviews on!

Cheers
Dan

edit: after a bit of a read around which would be better, the Panasonic HDC-HS9 or the Sony HDR CX11 which are both around about my budget?

[A n d r e w]

The Canon HF100 gets a lot of compliments around these parts. Also worth a look-in. Take a look at the reviews at camcorderinfo.com, if you're not already familiar with the site.

[Hitby]

thanks Courtaj, The Canon is a bit more expensive and after you've factored in memory cards as well its quite a bit more which is why I had discounted it. Appreciate any comments on the above two models or anything else which is similar.


Thanks
Dan

actually it was the HDR - SR10 not the CX 11 that I was looking at. Not sure what the differences between these are

[stu.artd]

Originally Posted by Hitby

thanks Courtaj, The Canon is a bit more expensive and after you've factored in memory cards as well its quite a bit more which is why I had discounted it. Appreciate any comments on the above two models or anything else which is similar.


Thanks
Dan

actually it was the HDR - SR10 not the CX 11 that I was looking at. Not sure what the differences between these are

The HDR-SR10 is hard drive based and uses a different sensor from that used in the CX11. You would be going about £70 over the £500 budget to get a HF100 with a 16GB card, and for the CX11 that would be about £140 over budget with a 16GB card.

You could also consider the Samsung HMX20C for under £400. It uses SD cards and has 8GB built in.

Try and handle the camcorders you're interested in yourself if possible as you may have a preerence for how they feel in use. Also check the camcorderinfo.com site that Cortaj mentioned, it's got a lot of useful info in the reviews.

[Hitby]

So, given the choice between the Panasonic HDC-HS9 (£529.99) and the Sony HDR-SR10 (£559.99) which would you go for? I have to buy from Jessops as they're set up already on our purchasing system

edit: Also the Canon HG-10 at £549.99?

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by Hitby

So, given the choice between the Panasonic HDC-HS9 (£529.99) and the Sony HDR-SR10 (£559.99) which would you go for? I have to buy from Jessops as they're set up already on our purchasing system

edit: Also the Canon HG-10 at £549.99?

The Canon for me. Shame you can't stretch to the HF100 though.

[Hitby]

cheers, for what reasons would you choose the canon? That really is the max budget as I'm not paying

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by Hitby

cheers, for what reasons would you choose the canon? That really is the max budget as I'm not paying

I think the SR10 and the HS9 are overpriced. For me, the Canon is best value for money out of the three. Those who own it seem to like it, too.

The caveat is I don't really like harddrive camcorders. If I were you I'd be asking Jessops (which you say is the vendor of choice) whether they'd be willing to sell you a discounted HF100. Ask who they're willing to price match and see if you can find it cheaper at one of their nominated competitors?

Cheers,
Andrew.

[Hitby]

I think I'd prefer a HDD HD camera to be honest as it appeals more than paying for memory cards etc. I'd appreciate input from anyone who has previously had to make this decision.

Thanks again

[Hitby]

The HF100 is memory card only, is it a significantly better camera than the others listed for quality? Assuming I want to stay with a HDD based camera, and all three are similarly priced why would the HG10 be preferably, is it not an older design?

Again, I appreciate any input, this is a pretty confusing decision and I'd like to order tomorrow if I can

[Hitby]

Originally Posted by Courtaj

I think the SR10 and the HS9 are overpriced. For me, the Canon is best value for money out of the three. Those who own it seem to like it, too.

Andrew.

Hi Again Andrew,

Not taking into account VFM (as I'm not paying) which is generally thought of as the best camera of the three? Still the Canon? Which is better at night or with the green look night mode?

[A n d r e w]

Morning,

The HS9 doesn't have a night shooting mode, so you can rule that one out if such a mode is important to you. The HG10 and SR10 do, but I haven't seen the results so can't say which would be better. To answer your earlier question, the HG10 is replaced by the HG20 / HG21, both of which improve on the HG10 but have a much higher price-tag. The SR10 has a 1/5-inch sensor whereas the HG10 has a 1/2.7-inch sensor - almost twice as large, so expect better results from the HG10 when shooting indoors. Both have 40GB hard drives. The Canon records AVCHD video at 15 megabits per second in its highest quality mode while the Sony does it at 16 megabits per second: I doubt there's any discernible visible difference though (technically the higher the mbps the better). The HG10 has a viewfinder and the ability to plug in an accessory microphone (giving access to audio options far superior to those offered by any built-in microphone): the SR10 has neither.

Which is considered the best? Well, that will always depend on who you ask! I'd say that on paper, the HG10 looks to have the better spec of the two. Reviews suggest the pictures are better, and it has the added bonuses of an electronic viewfinder (handy when shooting in bright conditions) and expandability in being able to add a microphone should the need arise.

Hope that helps,
Andrew.

[Hitby]

That's great, thanks for your input, looks like I'll probably go for the HG10 then

Appreciate the advice

[Hitby]

Dare I ask what the TG3 is like in a quality comparison with the above?

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by Hitby

Dare I ask what the TG3 is like in a quality comparison with the above?

Smallest of the bunch, records to Memory Stick cards rather than HDD, expect picture quality on par with both the SR10 and HG10 in bright light outdoors, though the HG10 should yield better indoor results (larger sensor). The caveat here is I've never used a TG3 outside of a store and am merely piecing together what I've heard about it.

Like the SR10, the TG3 doesn't offer a mic input. Forgot to mention both Sonys have a touch screen menu interface. Some like it, some don't.

Andrew.

[Hitby]

I'm now swaying towards the SR10 due to the slow motion function which is probably a gimick but looks very interesting...

[Hitby]

Well, I'm not entirely sure why but I've gone for the Sony SR10... I hope I'm happy with it.

To be honest, my previous camera was an SD DV JVC jobbie from a couple of years back so I'm sure it'll be an improvement (I hope!)

[Hitby]

After reading a bit more (as you do) I see that the Sonys have, in the past, had problems with Macs. Please tell me this is no longer the case?

I will only be using the camera with a Mac, should I have gone for something else?

Picked up the camera this afternoon. I haven't had time to play with at length but I shot a 15 second video and it imported straight into iMovie with no problems at all (Macbook Pro, iMovie 8). I will play at length tonight

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by Hitby

After reading a bit more (as you do) I see that the Sonys have, in the past, had problems with Macs. Please tell me this is no longer the case?

If you're using iMovie '08 you'll be fine.

[Hitby]

Thanks for your help Courtaj. Out of interest, have you added any of your camcorders to a Harmony remote at all? Just wondered if there are any in the database?

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by Hitby

Out of interest, have you added any of your camcorders to a Harmony remote at all?

Nope. Never heard of such a thing until now.

[Hitby]

I've set up the dock that came with the SR-10 so that it's plugged into my Onkyo. Looks like I 'll have to 'learn' the remote commands so that I can use my Harmony to control playback etc straight from the camera.

Incidentally, I shot a few minutes of footage while waiting for the wife to finish work and the quality is astounding (good lighting). The low light performance isn't great as expected