Video Cameras

[KennyG]

To me, the two other big names in camcorders are Sony and JVC. However, you will still find very limited viewfinder availability. Maybe it's just my personal quirk, since there doesn't seem to be much demand for that feature. Canon just came out with the HF-M41 which has the viewfinder and a price of about $800. If you can do without the viewfinder, there are some great deals on the last version of the HF-M series right now. The new ones are HF-M4x but the older ones are very similar and are numbered HF-M3x. About the only criticism I've seen of these cameras is that some people think the touch screen menus are too complicated.

I have had great luck buying from B&H Photo (B&H Photo Video Digital Cameras, Photography, Camcorders) over the years. The currently have $200 to $400 discounts on the older series of camcorders.

 

[srossman]

cnet is another place to look at for camera reviews. I got up a panasonic HDC-xx700 (tm or hs) which was under 800.00. It was one of the few HD cameras that I found that would do true HD 1080p. It also had both the viewfinder and side lcd screen on it.

 

[KennyG]

Good point on checking for true HD 1080 capability. Most of the newer Canon models have that, and, in addition, they have a feature that allows them to output either 1080 or 720 on playback. Sounds odd, but that allows you to export to computer or DVD writer directly at 720 if you are making DVD (not blu-ray) which will save hours in writing to a standard DVD.

 

[2manyrocks]

KennyG's post reminded me that the other factor to consider is how much your computer can handle when it comes to editing video. I'm not so knowledgeable about this part of it, but my general impression is that it takes a pretty powerful PC to edit higher definition video.

 

[forgeblast]

I forgot to mention, sign up for Newegg.com's e-flyer they have some great deals in these and you may be able to snag something for a steal. I have used them for cameras, computers, computer parts, portable dvd player (when flying cross country with a 2 yo). everything was delivered fast and I am very happy with them.

 

[Rancher Ed]

Wow, there are a lot of cameras to look at. I still don't know for sure if we will get one but I now have a pretty good idea what to look for (I think).

I hadn't thought about editing the videos and what the computer can handle. Our computer has windows 7 and an AMD anthon II x2 processer but I have no idea what this will handle editing wise.

Ed

 

[2manyrocks]

Add video software to your list to think about as well.

I made a mistake last week while recording a piano recital. I relied on the camera's sound level meter to set the recording levels. Well, I didn't notice that the output on the sound system's board was cranked all the way up, and the automatic circuit on the camera just clipped the signal. It wasn't shown as distorted on the camera's meter, but the audio was awful when I replayed it.

Moral of story--test runs are important to make sure you're getting what you think you're getting.