Camcorder Advice

[mike_w]

Right then, I'm on the hunt for a digital camcorder - seeing as I have no idea what to look for, asking you is probably the best idea! So... what should I be looking for when searching for camcorders? Any brands/models you can recommend? Or ones to avoid?

Unfortunately, can't provide a price range right now, but I don't think it needs to be a top of the range whizz bang camcorder.

Any help is appreciated!

Mike.

P.S. I have no idea whether this is the right forum to be posting in, so apologies to the poor mod that moves it in advance!

[mike_w]

Nobody?

[Bob Crabtree]

Mike,

The reason why you've had no responses, I'd guess, is that what you've asked is one of those, "how long is a piece of string" questions.

I'll rephrase your question, and make it relate to a few other areas, after which I think you'll understand why no one has ventured an answer:

Car
I'm on the hunt for a car. What should I be looking for when searching for a car? Any brands/models you can recommend? Or ones to avoid?

I don't know how much I want to pay, but probably don't need a Ferrari or a Roller as my first vehicle.

Hi-Fi system
I'm on the hunt for a Hi-Fi system. What should I be looking for when searching for a system? Any brands/models you can recommend? Or ones to avoid?

I don't know how much I want to pay, but probably don't need a top-of-the-line B&O job for my first stereo.

House
I'm looking to buy a newly built house. What should I be looking for? Any building firms in particular you can recommend or reckon I should avoid?

I'm not sure if I want a bungalow or a chateau, but what ever it is, it probably won't need 70 bedrooms, trout stream and helicopter pad.

So, what should you have said?

What you plan to shoot on the camcorder - family, friends, hols, events, wildlife, drama, whatever.

What you plan to do with the footage once you've shot it - put it on DVD; uploaded it to the net; play it from your PC via a network media player; put it on boring old VHS, whatever.

Whether you expect to shoot hand-held, shoulder-mounted or on a tripod most of the time.

What you want the camcorder to record to - Hi8, VHS, MiniDV, DVD, solid-state, whatever.

The timescale in which you are looking to buy

What your max/min price-range is.

With those sorts of clues, we'll have something to go on.

Bob C

[mike_w]

Well, I suspected that might be the problem, but unfortunately, I'm asking on somebody else's behalf, so it is a bit harder than usual to get that sort of information.

I would expect it to be hand held, and it would probably be used to put things onto DVD/played on a computer (although I'm not too sure about that). As for what is being shot, I expect 'family events' e.g. birthdays, Christmas, holidays, etc. It probably needs to be fairly simple to use as well.

As for what I want the camcorder to record to and the price range, I'll have to get back to you on that one! The timescale would be within the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for the reply!

Mike

[Funkstar]

For ease of use i think some of the Sony Handycams with the mini DVD-R drives would be worth looking into. They might not be the best bang for buck, but the sony cameras are good quality and easy to use.

I don't own one myself, just going by what i have heard from others and read over the years.

[Bob Crabtree]

Okay, I think this is what I'd suggest - but, of course, it's going to involve the buyer in a bit of brainwork themselves by trying to create a bullet list of features that appeal.

I'll give a few for-instances.

The ability to take higher-res still images might be an important consideration but, probably, only if there's no half-decent digital stills camera in the house or if the user wants only to have one camera with them that doubles up for video and decent stills.

Will a working DV and/or analogue input be important? I'd never buy a camcorder that didn't have both, but not everyone will want to put edited stuff back onto the camcorder from the PC, or (using an analogue input) record stuff that can then be transferred to the PC for editing.

Will size be a big issue? There are some amazingly small camcorders about, and these are great if you want to ensure that you've always got the camcorder with you (or know you'll get more use out of it if it's not a hassle to carry around). But, small camcorders tend to be harder to hold steady, can have stupidly small buttons, and can be so small that someone with large hands finds them awkward to use (irrespective of button sizes).

How important is the quality of what's captured? If it's a prime consideration, you'd likely want a three-CCD model. That said, a single-CCD MiniDV camcorder will give better results than analogue alternatives (Hi8 being one of the few) and way better results than from most older analogue camcorders that the buyer might have seen.

Optical or electronic image stabliser? A huge amount of footage shot is unusable because people don't bother to learn even basic camera handling techniques - but, slightly less of the footage will be unusable if the camcorder has an optical image stabiliser, rather than electronic. And, if the user does take care, then having an optical image stabiliser will mean a whole lot of their footage is likely to be good.

Is the recording format a major consideration? My view is that MiniDV offers the best quality and the greatest flexibility - and certainly does on a bangs-per-bucks basis. But as Funkstar has said, there are DVD-based models available and, in theory, they give a fast-and-dirty way of getting footage onto a DVD that can be played in a set-top player or PC.

Trouble is, the 8cm disc are still priced way too high; the editing of DVD is still clunky; and the quality can be an issue, both in terms of what's recorded and after the DVD footage has been edited - you can't get frame-accurate edits with MPEG-2 footage.

Sorry, but, really, there is no substitute for a little bit of self-help, and I think that the would-be buyer needs to indulge in some of that.

Know, of course, that our sister site DVdoctor.net is a great place to find out what people think of particular models of camcorder - just go to the forums and search by model number. But, the bottom line is - it is going to be necessary for the would-be buyer to do a little bit of thinking (or for you to do it on their behalf).

Bob