Noobie - Which Camera?

[ukbootlegs]

Want to get a videocamera, ideally HD, and around the £500 mark.

I saw the Canon HF100 on Amazon for £529. It can write to an 8gb card.

Am I better getting a camcorder with a hard drive or memory cards?

Mem cards are obivously lighter and require less power.

How long would a video be in HD on an 8gb card?

Any other cameras I should look into?

Thanks

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by ukbootlegs

Am I better getting a camcorder with a hard drive or memory cards?

With SDHC cards now available in 32GB flavour, I'm thinking hard drives are starting to look old hat, but it's personal preference. There are camcorders with 120GB (soon to be even bigger) hard drives, so if you need that much storage that could be the go.

Another advantage of memory cards is that by using a USB card reader (they're cheap) you needn't pfaff about connecting the camcorder to your PC every time you want to import clips.

Originally Posted by ukbootlegs

How long would a video be in HD on an 8gb card?

8GB gives you about an hour.

Originally Posted by ukbootlegs

Any other cameras I should look into?

The HF100 is very well regarded by those who have one. Canon, Sony, and Panasonic have all announced new camcorders due out some time over the spring. Prices largely unclear at this stage.