Camcorder Advice

[katnapinn]

Sammie wants to get a camcorder for our trip to CCR. What type does everyone have ? Pros VS Cons ? I've looked at the ones with 60 plus Gigs Hard Drive and that seems the way to go but...... What brand and model?

[Rockdoc]

The be all and end all of any camera is the lens and you want the best you can afford. You might as well forget digital zoom as it soon makes the image fuzzy so get as big an optical zoom as you can. You also ought to go for as large a diameter of lens as possible so that it transmits the maximum amount of light to the CCD.

In terms of storage, I'm not sure that I'd go with an HDD or tape system. What you need for videoing on a bike is battery life so that you can shoot a long stretch of biking road and then edit it afterwards. The less work the battery has to do the longer it should last. That makes me lean towards a flash-memory system. SD cards are physically small and cheap so wouldn't be a hindrance on a trip.

Keith

[STYLNLT]

Well for me, I've kept that extremely simple and have been using a small Samsung Digital camera that fits perfectly in the right side of my tank pouch, that only requires a single hand to pull out, turn on, switch from pics or video, and if need be in a big hurry, be able to shove it back into its pocket.

It costs me all but $140 and films till I run out of SD space. It uses 2 AA's so if I do run out of juice, I simply reload.

Most importantly, I can feel the buttons threw my gloves.

[cws]

Try http://www.camcorderinfo.com/
If you really want a camcorder (and not a camera with video capability) and its to use on a bike, and maybe if you want HD capability, have a look at the flash memory models:

1. Panasonic HDR-SD9 (I have the SD5 and use it on-bike)
2. Sony's HDR-HC7 (I think)
3. Canon's new Vixia HF-10.. (haven't looked into it yet... but sounds promising)

There's plenty of options...
you need to think if you want Standard Def (SD, can be either 4x3 or 16x9 format),
or High Definition (16x9, in either 1080i, sometimes also with 1080P, or maybe just 720P).

have fun looking!
cheers

[katnapinn]

Try http://www.camcorderinfo.com/
If you really want a camcorder (and not a camera with video capability) and its to use on a bike, and maybe if you want HD capability, have a look at the flash memory models:

1. Panasonic HDR-SD9 (I have the SD5 and use it on-bike)
2. Sony's HDR-HC7 (I think)
3. Canon's new Vixia HF-10.. (haven't looked into it yet... but sounds promising)

There's plenty of options...
you need to think if you want Standard Def (SD, can be either 4x3 or 16x9 format),
or High Definition (16x9, in either 1080i, sometimes also with 1080P, or maybe just 720P).

have fun looking!
cheers
Chris.... Thanks for the input, After a few hours of research I think I'm getting the Canon HF10. turns out a friend has one and let Sammie & I use it yesterday. 16 Gig hard drive with a 16 gig SD card. Very small &
easy for Sammie to use on the bike. List price at over $1000.00 was a lil steep but I found one online for $569.00 :eek: It should be here Wendsday