Hi, I'm new here, and am looking to buy my first digital camcorder... It's primarily for a trip I'm going on soon, and would like it if someone could possibly give me some recommendations on which camcorder to get as there seem to be soo many out there. Preferably, I'm looking for something that has a good battery life, a long recording capacity and isn't too expensive (around £400 max). Doesn't have to be amazing, but equally I don't want anything that gives poor quality images and will fall apart within months..! Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks a lot!
I would go for a Sony, Panasonic, Cannon. In particular Sony have a new range of which the DCR-HC44 might fall into your budget. It has true wide screen recording. It also has a totally automatic mode for point and shoot but also allows you tweak a few settings if you want. Its of solid build, produces a v.good picture even in low light and can take still photos although a stand alone digital camera is always better than a camcorders stills. If you want to spend a bit more the Panasonic GS-180 is a real nice camcorder. It has 3 CCD's producing a brilliant picture. It's a little bigger than the Sony but also allows you more tweaks(more manual settings). Then you have the new JVC hard disk drive models(Everio). You may not get the newer models for £400 but last years GM20 can be had for around that. It's a 20GB model. Its generally accepted that the picture quality from DV Tape is superior than the HD models as they record in mpeg2, however the convience of this range cannot be argued. In my opinion I would wait for this new hard disk technology in camcorders to develop a bit before I take the plunge. Best of luck with your new purchase.
Make sure it has a way to adjust the Input Volume,(Recording Volume) I wish someone would have told me that. I wasted 400 bucks. because mine dosen't adjust.
don't bother with most cameras - don't be fooled by the options that are advertised with most low budget camera. Most people advertise widescreen format (fake widescreen), cool color and pixel effects (which are not very cool), and high resolution (a 1 chip camera can only go so far.) Make sure the camera has adjustable white balance adjustable sound levels manual focus manual exposure preferable a mic slot. if you're looking for something with long battery life, don't. You can just buy a big battery somewhere else. i would recommend the sony dcr pc100 - just because it's been used in so many cool movies - festen by thomas vinterberg, i think it was used in the fairly recent ellie parker with naomi watts. and it's a solid camera, i want it. the pc100 may be hard to find, but you can probably pick one up for around 500 us dollars. as for the panasonic gs180 mentioned above - i believe it doesn't have all of the necessary features. Such as the mic slot. You definitely need to buy an onboard mic. The in camera sound ruins the whole experience in watching a home movie. Sound is key. Get another mic. Preferably the Rhode Videomic, which surpasses all low budget mics.
