Camcorder recommendation
 

I would love for some recommendations for a camcorder. With Sophia being under a month I would love a camcorder to capture as much of these treasured moments. I am not looking for crap, and on the other end I am not looking for the top of the line.

I am unsure on budget, but I see no reason not to go up to $500. If less or drop more i am reasonable, less is always better, but I want to buy quality.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

The Panasonic PV-GS320 is a great camera for the price; it has a 1/6" 3ccd sensor (good in low light and also has vivid color reproduction). It does use miniDV tapes, but I've not seen many good HD cameras yet in this price range. I'd also say you'd want to consider buying a decent tripod to go with any camera you purchase, as the differences between hand-held footage and on a tripod can be night and day.

Something handier to also consider would be the Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra Camcorder. It records what I think is 640x480 resolution video for 60 minutes, and is easily transferable to computer (but would not have the same quality audio or video).

Not to plug, but I'd highly recommend to check out B&H Photo, they are a great and reputable online dealer, and have a large selection of camcorders to browse.

The GS320 is a good lil' consumercam. Be sure with it and any other minidv cam to pick a brand of tape, and stay with it. If you swap brands all the time, the different lubricants on the tapes will mix, become sticky, and clog the heads, which is expensive if you don't know how to clean them yourself.

I also strongly agree with NeoRete's nod to B&H. That store is freaking awesome. They carry anything you could ever possibly need, generally have the best prices of any of the reputable stores, and their customer service is top notch.

I second the recommendation for B&H.

So, what features DO you want? HD? If so, 720p? 1080i/p? What kind of media would you prefer?

I recommend maybe looking into this guy. $180 for a Kodak that records 720p HD to SD cards. Due out in Sept. Depending on how much above $500 you are willing to go, check out Red One for up to 2540p H-H-HD goodness! :p

I was thinking less minitape. I plan on going to B&H this week.

Oh man, you live in NYC... you can GO TO B&H... *jealous*

So back from B&H and after long chat I decided to try their recommendation out. After all I have 15 days to try it out and if not I can swap it out with a different cam. They recommended the JVC GZ-MG330.

A couple of quick questions about that cam, Xazy...

1) What resolution does it record in? It seems to be standard-def?

2) Dolby Digital AC3 audio can be tricky if you want to edit them on your PC at all. I've had this issue from my Sony. The codec is NOT open source and is very hard to find software that supports it.

YMMV!

Resolution is 640 x 480 and not sure about the audio i was going to try using avid express but i really do not know the program.