Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests beating the dead horse (camcorders)

EDIT:
let me rephrase it: what camcorder you have/would like to have and why?

...so we had these very informative threads about camcorders awhile back. but with all the off topic stuff going on, they are, like, gone and stuff... so if anybody cares to help a fellow CEGer w/ a choice of a camcorder I would be eternally greatful. I'm looking for a quality camcorder but don't need fancy high end stuff.

thanks

Do you want to edit movies and such?

How much do you have to spend?

edit -- probably not much

how much is always a tough question -- I always start w/ rock bottom expectation and always end up spending a lot more

basically, I need to film my daughter performances every so often. I need decent zoom, because it's not always possible to get close to the scene, and I need to film her hands on the piano.

other than that, it's all for fun w/o doing any fancy stuff.

ttt

I've had a Canon GL-1 for about 9 months now. Video-wise, it's been a rock solid purchase. It's a DV camcorder with most of the internals of the Canon XL-1 (best out on the market today; they've even been compared to TV studio cameras), you just can't interchange lenses.

I've taken it to Greece, Italy and Costa Rica, shooting everything from the regular tourist crap to fast action shots hanging off of ropes and zip lines in rainforests. Works like a champ. The color and clarity is simply amazing, along with the options you've got to play with. The only issue I've had with it was fishing offshore in Costa Rica. I took it on our swordfish boat and tried to do some video of the fishing action and film a school of dolphins that we ran into. The ND (neutral density) filter seemed to really throw a fit with the sun's reflection off of the water. The subsequent video looks underexposed part of the time, then overexposed others. I did have a CPOL filter on the front of the lens, which may have led to the problem. I've had some similiar issues with waterfall shots, though and didn't have the CPOL filter on it at the time, just a UV/haze filter (you should ALWAYS have one of these on the front of your lens. Saves you from purchasing a new camera if you bang the lens into something. A $30 filter is MUCH cheaper to replace).

In every other lighting condition (even shooting through glass at museums) the thing simply scares you with the level of detail and clarity it provides. I've got some closeups through glass of some ancient flintlock pistols from Castle St. Angelo's in Rome. You can see individual nicks and grooves in the scrollwork on the barrel, not to mention the slighest bit of oxidation around the hammer!!! Like I said, the level of detail and clarity it gives is ABSURD. The color stays true, as well. I've played with cheaper camcorders from Sony and JVC and have had color wash in certain lighting conditions.

If it helps, I was looking in the $700-$1100 range. After tinkering with these (Sony, JVC, Panasonic) for a while and ending up totally unsatisfied, I finally started looking a bit higher. After playing with the GL-1 for about an hour, I was sold.

They aren't cheap, but they are one heck of a camera and should have a good shelf life. You may also want to check out the Elura model line as well. They're pretty good for the money.

My family has a Sony DCR-TRV320 Digital-8 camera we got about two years ago. I love it. Since it's not available anymore, I won't go into much detail .. but be sure to check Sonys out in your search. Through the years that my friends and family members have had certain Sonys, they're still proving extremely reliable and work great.

Be sure to check out any returns or refurbs. Ours was returned because the previous guy didn't want so many features. We saved over $300 off its original $1K price!!

I have the Sony DRC-TV720 and love it. My dad got a nice Sony with a 1.5 megapixel digital camera built in, (mine isn't even a megapixel ), I love mine, and love his too.

I've worked at Circuit City and Best Buy and still have friends who do, so I am fairly knowledgable on the subject.

Last year I got a JVC s-vhs for around $350. It's not digital but has a fairly decent optical zoom. Compared with my friends panasonic minidv, it's easy to see where the extra lines of resolution go, although the panasonic doesn't have the same color saturation it seems. The overall consenus among the larger manufacturers seems to be:

1.Sony
2.JVC
3.Panasonic

HTH

-Pete