digital camcorder
 

Im in the market for a digital camcorder and was hoping to get some input - with the market so competitive now its hard to distinguish the differences in quality for price and such. im not looking for a professional camcorder, just something i can have fun with and take out on trips and nights out. i was hoping to see what you have and like...

Well you didn't post any specs that you'd like to have so we're kinda in the dark as far as recommending specific models.

Rule of thumb is that between $500 and $1000 you're getting pretty much the same quality video, but with differing levels of (largely useless) bells and whistles.

once you crest the $1000 you start upping the quality but the costs increase exponentially related to the quality. To get noticibly higher quality, for example, than the $5000 Canon XL1s or XL2 you'd pretty much have to get into $20,000+ pro gear.

In fact honestly I shoot on a $75,000 fancycam and the color/clarity isn't any better than the canon XL1 or 2.

Below 500 the quality is really variable. Quality is pretty much determined by two factors - chip size and lens. If you see one camera with a 1/6" CCD and another with a 1/3" CCD, the 1/3" is the better deal - assuming the lens is as good or better than the 1/6" one.

Beyond that, post up your wish list of features and we can probably steer you to a few cameras.

Just from personal experience, stay away from anything made by JVC. Have owned 2 JVC digital camcorders and have had problems with both serious enough to have to send back to the factory for repair and even under waranty JVC doesn't pay shipping and charges a $65 fee just to diagnose the problem. After they figure out what is wrong the warranty covers the cost of repair but you are out the $65 plus shipping.

I went to the local bestbuy to get an idea of whats out there. the salesman told me that any sony with a carl zeiss lens is a quality choice. thse seemed to be out of my price range. i was hoping to spend between $300-$500. im basically looking for a camera that has that stabalizer, a good lens, and will last a long time.

i went to a sony store and liked the DCR-HC36 MiniDV handycam. does anyone have any experience with this? or with sony camcorders?

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...ycamCamcorders

Format will come in to play, too. Do you want a Mini-DV, DVD, or hard drive based camera? Most vid cams will double as still cam's too.

im led by cost, and the mini-dv seems to be the most cost efficient.

i dont care much for stills, especially when theyre only 1 megapixel.

What sort of resolution can you get on DV recorders? Last I was looking it was 320x280, which is kinda lame.