Suggestions for a new camcorder About This Page:

[disneydani]

Looking for some advice and suggestions.....

I would like to purchase a new camcorder and I am, admittedly, clueless about it. I want it to be as portable as possible without sacrificing quality. Any recommendations would be appreciated!

danielle

[BJ Wanlund]

I also am looking at some kind of camcorder, but I'm clueless as well.

BJ

[DVC_Increda_Man]

I was waiting to see what kind of answers you would get to this question myself,
and since you are asking this question, you must have already looked at some
camcorders and found them all different.

I love video because you can create what I call a "Living Memory". A moment in
time to view as many times as you want.

Camcorders are a Big step up from cameras and can have a long learning curve,
A add or sales person may tell you camcorders are easy as a Point and Shoot camera,
Don't you believe it for a minute!!!! You can point and shoot all you want, but what
you do with the video then can be hard and frustrating.

The different video formats can require large software editing programs and
State of the Art Computers to be able to edit the video and make a DVD or put
it on the internet.

The best advice I can give you is to "Study the Video Formats" that the camcorders
records in and what media the camcorder uses to store it to.

This will give you a better idea of what you will need in
"How powerfull will your computer need to be??" "Software needed to Edit the
Video" Software will come with the camcorder but its usually very basic and not all
that good. Once you learn what each of the formats need for editing, you
can make a better choice on which camcorder to buy.

Don't be afraid of camcorders, it can be hard but very rewarding.

[LoriNSC]

I just bought a Cannon DC 330 & LOVE it. It uses mini DVD's. It's small & lightweight. I took it to Magic Kingdom & videoed the afternoon parade on July 1st. Great quality. It has a fireworks setting-which I haven't gotten to use yet. I was going to video the spectromagic parade & fireworks there but DS & his girlfriend was sick & we ended up at the celebration hospital after the afternoon parade. They both had strep throat & we didn't get to go back. Oh well-will have to wait until next year's trip...

[dmpyron]

I am waiting for Christmas. I think that by then HD cameras will be down under $800. I've seen a few that I think are candidates for this magic number. Both Sony and Toshiba have attractive looking HD camcorders with 160 GB drives for around $900.