[avolee]

Hello all.
I am after a bit of advice, i am after a camcorder that is as small and light as possible. one that can be worked with one hand and not necessarilly right handed is essential. the reason i ask is that the missus is recovering from a serious illness but has lost most of the use of her right arm, i have an old panasonic camcorder but she struggles to pick it up let alone use it. i want something easy to use that she can pick up and start shooting whenever she feels like it. there are that many options and reviews i`m getting more confused by the more i read so i thought i would ask what your opinions are. not sure whether i need hd and price isn`t the issue although i don`t want to spend more than i need. picture quality is the most important thing for me.

[Captain-K]

I have a Panasonic SD9 which is small and light and records in superb quality for a sub £400 device. It is however distinctly right-handed.

Having tried various camcorders while researching one to buy, you might want to look at the Sony TG3 which can be gripped with the left or the right hand, the record button being in the middle of the unit. Being a south-paw, I was interested in something I could hold with the left hand for a change. When held with the left hand the screen might be slightly obscured, and there are also some controls on the screen itself which, if the camera is held with the left hand, would require an extremely flexible right limb to operate either by reaching over or under the unit. That said, I would still have a look, as it is possible those controls could be set in advance, and only the thumb of the hand holding the unit would be required. The TG3 records in HD and is also very small and light, although I found it slightly heavier than I expected for its size.