Getting a digital camcorder for Christmas

[Cat]

Which one should I get. I don't want to spend more than $400. Should I go with one that stores it on a hard drive? I know nothing about this stuff so any help I would definitely appreciate!

[TheSaint]

there's a new Sony HD handy cam for around $400.

[Jase]

If you don't want to spend more than $400, you might as well go with a kodak Zi8 for $180. It's a pocket HD cam and in order to best its performance, you have to spend about $600. Only drawback really is lack of optical zoom, as it is a pocket camcorder.

But it's pretty powerful for what it is.

May not be for you but it's a suggestion.

[Kurb]

thats [email protected]

thanks in advance cat

[Kurb]

If you don't want to spend more than $400, you might as well go with a kodak Zi8 for $180. It's a pocket HD cam and in order to best its performance, you have to spend about $600. Only drawback really is lack of optical zoom, as it is a pocket camcorder.

But it's pretty powerful for what it is.

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May not be for you but it's a suggestion.

I think I want that.....

[Jase]

I'm getting one for the wife so as someone who's done the legwork on it, it has the jase seal of approval.

[Cat]

Thanks Jase

[shinner]

If you don't want to spend more than $400, you might as well go with a kodak Zi8 for $180. It's a pocket HD cam and in order to best its performance, you have to spend about $600. Only drawback really is lack of optical zoom, as it is a pocket camcorder.

Looks great if you plan on always being 5' from your subject. I couldn't understand a word Bowe said which leads me to believe that the mic blows.

The biggest issue, if you plan on editing footage on a computer is, what codec does the cam store the video in. Most of the hard drive/flash camcorders use AVCHD which really is the future. But right now, it's a pain in the ass to edit on a computer because it requires such a monster machine to edit with. The models that still use mini-dv tape use good old HDV. Pretty much every piece of video editing software handles it with ease and it doesn't require a top of the line computer to edit.

I bought a new HD camcorder back in Feb/March. Went with a tape based model because I knew I would be recording punk concerts and would end up doing editing on a computer before writing to DVDs. I could use my existing software and computer to edit the HDV based footage, whereas going with a hard drive or flash media based model would have been risky. Maybe I could have edited it, but at best it would have been achingly slow and at worst, I would need to buy a more powerful computer.

Now, if you don't plan on editing and just want to record stupid poo for youtube, I think one of these cheapies would be fine.

[Jase]

As a note the zi8 has an external mic jack so if you want to understand someone standing 20' away outside in a stadium you can use as nice of a mic as you want.

Generally if you're within 10' of your subject while outdoors then the audio is pretty good on the provided mic.

[shinner]

He looked closer than 20' to me...All I can say is, you get what you pay for.

[Cat]

Just picked up the Kodak zi8

[Cat]

This camcorder has taught me one thing already.

I talk way too much when I'm drunk. :eek6:

[shinner]

Now you just need a youtube account