View Full Version : Can Anyone Recommend A Camcorder
shanker
01-11-2006, 10:06 PM
My 13 year old son has just handed me his christmas list and at the top is a digital camcorder:mad:
I don't know too much about camcorders, but I've had a look at them on Amazon, Froogle etc; and they don;t seem too wildly expensive. I don't want too spend masses of cash on something he might get fed up with on Boxing Day so can anyone give me some ideas of a decent reasonably priced one.
BigJim
02-11-2006, 08:08 AM
I've had a couple of Canon camcorders and they've both been okay. I've got a 13 year old JVC one that's still in good working order (but big), so I reckon that most of the known brands will give a reliable product.
One of the things to look out for is the size, unless its small and easy to take everywhere it wont get taken. The problem is everybody's tempted by the extra features that you get on the larger models. I don't know if you still get non-digital camcorders, but probably best to get a digital one and shell out for a firewire card for the PC.
shanker
02-11-2006, 10:08 AM
Cheers for that Jim, I was looking at 2 - Canon and JVC. I know Canon SLR cameras of old and they were always pretty good quality and JVC usually a quality brand, but still open to other suggestions.
What do you mean by Firewire card? I have a Firewire connection on my laptop - should that be enough or would I need an additional card?
Steptoe
02-11-2006, 10:12 AM
give pricerunner a whirl ;)
BigJim
02-11-2006, 10:13 AM
Firewire connection on your laptop should be fine. You normally have to add a card to a desktop PC to get a firewire port.
You should also be able to pick up some basic video editing software quite cheap. (I'm no expert, played about lots, but easily bored)
shanker
02-11-2006, 10:52 AM
Thanks again.
This one looking favourite at the moment and comes with a decent software bundle
http://redirection.alatest.com/apps/reviews/1845433/10000/Camcorders/JVC+Everio+GZ-MG+21/
Pannasonic make the best camcorders but are a bit expensive(£700 - £1000).I bought one about 8 or 9 years ago and it's still great.This months WHICH mag has done a review of 24 current models.The best value for money Pannasonic is the NV-GS180 they quote a price of £366.The recomended best budget buys are a Canon MV890 £190 and Sony DCR-HC24E £230.The make to avoid is Samsung.Hope this helps.
Shanker, that JVC is in the WHICH test, 18th out of 24, 3 star to 1 star rated(44 points, good stablford!),The panas.NV-GS180 rated much better in all areas,4 and 5 stars and scored 61.The £1000 Panasonic scored 67 to top the test.
Marcus
02-11-2006, 12:52 PM
This year for Christmas I'm hoping for an apple, possibly even an orange as well!
MisterS3
02-11-2006, 01:47 PM
Go digital hard disk....
My parents bought a vhs-c camcorder about 16 years ago..still works but we never ever got round to editing all the vhs-c cassettes on to vhs.
And last year they went out and bought a sony with digital tape camcorder (funny how they never ask me before buying anything like a pc or camcorder but then i have to pick up all the crap when it doesn't work!) and now they have started another mountain of digital video cassettes.
And when i tried to burn it to dvd using the software provided, i need about 8gigs of temporary space!! Rubbish...
Buy one which either burns straight to dvd or to harddisk. Far easier to manipulate and back up.
I've never owned a camcorder myself, so i'm not sure if this is true in practise or if there are some pitfalls of harddisk/dvd based systems. But seems like the best way for me.
Anyone?
PowerPenguin
02-11-2006, 03:04 PM
This year for Christmas I'm hoping for an apple...
:no: Buy a real laptop!
As far as the camcorder goes, if he's planning on beating people up and filming it, don't buy one!
Seriously, what does he want to film? Some Digital cameras have video recording, useful if you only want to record 60 seonds footage.
Dave
shanker
02-11-2006, 03:36 PM
Thanks for all the advice.
Well certainly check out the Panasonic BCGC.
PP don't worry about him beating anyone up he's not really capable :p
He's talking about going to college (a few years off I know) and he's interested in film and camera work. He's got a standard digital still camera, but is quite creative and looking to advance from that.
PowerPenguin
02-11-2006, 04:05 PM
PP don't worry about him beating anyone up he's not really capable :p
He's talking about going to college (a few years off I know) and he's interested in film and camera work. He's got a standard digital still camera, but is quite creative and looking to advance from that.
That's Ok then! Nice to see someone buying it for the right reasons! Sounds like quite a cool thing to go into, can be a hobby as well as a career.
Dave