Camcorder Purchase

[Lazarus]

Guys,

looking to get a new Camcorder and need some advice from those in the "know"

Looking to spend around the £300 mark - preferrably digital Camcorder.

also, good places to purchase said item from would be welcome.

 

[Ixoth]

I have this: http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Pro...x.asp?ComponentID=25711&SourcePageID=164233#2 and been quite pleased.

 

[GDW]

Unfortunately at that price you are only going to get bottom of the range in the decent brand camcorders. I bought a Canon MV700 ( a newer version of the one in the above link) at around that price to replace a borked top of the range Sony Hi8 Camcorder which had lasted me 7 years.

The Canon is fine, it has all the functionality you need for basic everyday films and will easily link up to the PC with a firewire cable to be recognised by Windows XP, so that you can edit and burn to DVD using appropriate software ( I use ULEAD DVD Moviefactory) I tend to avoid makes such as Sharp ,Samsung or Panasomic and stick to those that produce good cameras.

Just PM me if you have any questions about it

 

[Tom]

Right, don't buy analogue, as you'll never be able to flog it. Just have a look around the internet, plenty of reviews going. Don't buy 2nd hand, these things aren't robust.

Think carefully about how you use it, and the likelihood of it being damaged. Most household insurance policies will not cover camcorders, so you may want to consider some kind of extra insurance for it.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

What price can someone expect to pay for a digital camcorder that captures at a decent framerate (ie 30)?

 

[.Wilier.]

Were looking for a new one too, although we were planning around the £700 mark, after our JVC DV3 threw its hand in for the second time (Im damned if Im paying £300 just for a repair)

Ive found that PixMania do some very reasonable deals.

To be honest, finding decent review sites has been a pain in the arse, most reviews are done by buyers rather than tech sites.
Of the ones I did find, these were the best:
Camcorder Info
DV Spot
Simply DV


The camera Im looking at is the Sony DCR-PC109E

Just as a side note, I wndered how much I could ebay our 5yr old JVC for (baring in mind that 5 years ago, it cost a tad over a grand) and the best I could find was an unbidded, brand new with many extras JVC DV3 for £100

 

[Tom]

What price can someone expect to pay for a digital camcorder that captures at a decent framerate (ie 30)?

An NTSC camera would do that, but why do you want that? Even the top range Sony HiDef camera records at 24/25fps.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Because 25fps is horrible and hurts your eyes.