Camcorder < $400

[usayit]

Ok... let start with the fact that I have not had an interest in video (don't really know why.. just never appealed to me) and that I know very little about camcorders/video. So in this respect, I'm a complete and utter newbe.

Well... my wife mentioned yesterday that she would like to have video clips of our son growing up to send to folks in our home state of Texas. I've got about $400 in cash to put towards a camcorder (not a penny more... not pulling on credit with everything that is going on). Anyone recently purchased a camcorder in this price range have any input?

I'm currently considering the Canon FS100 which is flash SD based with 48x zoom. High Definition is not in the budget nor important. I am guessing that battery life and low-light performance is higher priority. I have a bank of SD cards for my digital cameras so that would be convenient. Should I be considering a Hard Drive based camcorder?

Any input/opinions/direction is greatly appreciated.

 

[Buszaj]

MiniDV camcorders are my choice, that's the type I use. Usually, with the SD cards the quality is lower, MiniDV is good, and the hard drive ones get you HD most often. With MiniDV, you need a firewire cable and port to capture the video with Windows Movie Maker or other programs. Most camcorders are nice and small now, MiniDV ones a bit bigger than your palm. Good zoom, around 30 to 40 optical. Just checked FutureShop, unfortuanely the hard drive and DVD ones are over $400, the best MiniDV they have is 380. Hope this info helps.


http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...sku_id=0665000FS10099964&catid=&test_cookie=1

 

[usayit]

Thanks for your input.

When you capture the MiniDV contents to a PC, does it perform the capture in real time (1 hour play time == 1 hour to capture to PC) or is it similar to an HD or Flash based camcorder in which a file essentially copied in a few seconds/minutes?

 

[Psalm23]

The only problem I have with our minidv is that when my DH transfers it from the film/camera to the computer it is HUGE!!! Make sure you have a lot of disk space!

 

[Buszaj]

Thanks for your input.

When you capture the MiniDV contents to a PC, does it perform the capture in real time (1 hour play time == 1 hour to capture to PC) or is it similar to an HD or Flash based camcorder in which a file essentially copied in a few seconds/minutes?

Unfortunately, yes, real time capture. And for the size, if you do it with Windows Movie Maker the files aren't too large, but with other programs such as Premiere the files are very large.

 

[tempra]

I'm about to put an order in for a couple of FS10's for work, decided to get HDD cams as it does away with consumables etc. and transfer is a lot quicker.

One thing that you might want to check is that your current SD cards can write fast enough for video, as you have no HDD on the 100

 

[dnes]

I'm not sure but I think checking the camcorder ratings might help in choosing the right one that fits the budget.