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Srutko1226
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Posted: Sat Nov 15th, 2008 11:34 pm | 1st Post |
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My daughter and her husband asked me to buy them a camcorder for Christmas. They are having a baby and want to make memories.
I haven't bought anything like this in years. Our first one was as big as a Volkswagon. The more I look the more confused I get.
Any suggestions?
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Cubechick
Funnel Deck Cruiser
| Joined: | Sat Jul 21st, 2007 |
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Posted: Sun Nov 16th, 2008 02:23 am | 2nd Post |
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I don't know if I can be of much help in your quest, but we recently bought a new camcorder. We wanted something good for our Alaska cruise next June. We bought high-end, a Sony High-def HDR-SR11--about $900.00. It's da bomb! Here is an excerpt:
"Shoot video and still photographs like a pro. Sony''s HDR-SR11 Handycam camcorder has everything you need for a superior video and photo experience. Its Face Detection technology, made possible by the ClearVid CMOS sensor (with Exmor technology) and BIONZ image processor, helps make sure people look their best in videos and photos. Capture extremely detailed video in Full 1920 x 1080 High Definition resolution, as well as stunning 10.2 Megapixel still photos. Records directly to a built-in 60GB hard drive or your choice of removable Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick PRO Duo media."
Problem is, it is so high-tech, that we will need to buy a new computer to edit and store the high-def video on Blueray disk. Not to mention, we need to buy a Blueray DVD player. The hard drive stores a billion hours of video. So far, we have been just playing back the video off the camera to our tv. It also takes excellent still photos.
However, there was a huge selections of less expensive and presumably less complicated video cameras we saw when shopping--some no bigger than a deck of cards (in the $300-$500 price range). HTH
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Calmac
Frequent Cruiser
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Posted: Sun Nov 16th, 2008 12:23 pm | 3rd Post |
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We bought DS a camcorder a couple of years ago. We opted for a fairly basic Canon model but were very impressed with the results (even although our son was 11 and hadn't taken any video before). One downside with Sony products is that they use their own memory-sticks which are only used by Sony - just something to consider). There are some camcorder comparison/review sites but I don't know what they are offhand. For still cameras I like http://www.dpreview.com
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Srutko1226
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Posted: Sun Nov 16th, 2008 08:44 pm | 4th Post |
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Thanks to both of you for your comments!! I don't want to buy something too high tech. I'm afraid they will give up and not use it.
Sony has some in my price range.
I 've talked to two people and they have yet to try anything but watching the results on the tv.
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kimdave68
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Posted: Sat Nov 22nd, 2008 03:42 pm | 5th Post |
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Use http://www.camcorderinfo.com as a reference guide.
I like Canon and HATE Sony. Sorry Sony fans but their consumer camcorders are not the best. I won't go into further details as it does little to help the original poster.
Don't buy one that records to tapes or optical disks (like DVD's) as the latter is a pure gimmick. You probably do NOT want a HD corder as well because you need decent software AND a good computer to playback and edit AVCHD format video. But it does look good!
Hard drive based corders give lots of record time but leave the video with the camera so if it's dropped or the hard drive dies you lose all your videos. For consumer devices I prefer camcorders which can store the videos on a SDHC memory card. This can be removed immediately and inserted in any PC with a SD reader for viewing/editing. 480P (SD) corders' content has no problem playing on any modern pentium based PC. AVCHD on the other hand REQUIRES a CORE2 based system with a 1.5GHz CPU speed MIN to play without stuttering. No Pentium 4 CPU regardless of speed can play it back.
Ultimately what fits your budget and use is up to you. If you intend to watch videos on your TV set just about any corder will do. In that case a hard drive model will probably offer the most convenience for capacity and viewing immediately.
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