I'm considering buying a HD camera, but no idea which brand/model
.
High definition?... HDV?
What does HD constitute in terms of camcorders ? Is is 720, 1080 , "p" or "i" ?
1080 i, minimum.. although full HD recording is apparently 1920 x 1440 and Canons HV20 apparently does "progressive" recording (There is a note about the Sanyo models below)
What sort of media for recording ? Least interested in HDD camcorders.
MiniDV : HDV... Anything else ( HDD, DVD , SD cards) :AVCHD (Mpeg4 H.246) ,, JVC has introduced a new standard with
THIS camcorder
Of all of them , only HDV currently has good editing support. Sony have just annouced
suppport for AVCHD
Here
What about grain-o-vision every single camcorder i handled has ? Does 3xCCD fix that ?
Grainy footage is not fixed by 3CCD , it is a sign of a camcorder struggling in low light,. It is fixed bt the camcorder as a whole : Lenses, sensor electronics and image processing. The Sony ( and Canon) single chip CMOS chips are better in low light , than say some of Panasonics more affordable 3CCD offerings
But the much costlier Sony FX1 with 3 CCDs is better at low light than the more affordable single CMOS
In fact traditionaly , 3CCD gives a better colour definition at the cost of some light sensitivity
Money. Is there such thing as "low-end" to these things ? I'm not to fork out 1000 pounds for it... ???
Depends on what you mean by "low end" All the current consumer HD camcorders are less than £1000 AFAIK ( the older HC1 wasnt ) but current models from Sony and Canon seem to be just short of £1000
Sanyo do make some models 720p as mpeg4 but I'm deliberately omitting them: certainly you can consider them if money is tight as they do apparently give a good account of them selves but I ( personally) don't rate them much for anything serious but by definition they are HD camcorders and they use cards
You do get what you pay for though, so Better low light abilities and manual control may add more
The Prosumer, Semi Pro ones With 3CCD which will give you little or no " grain o vison" ( as you call it.. cost (In some cases) multiples of £1000
!!