Which camcorder should I buy?

A warm welcome to all. Here we talk about films, which people put onto YouTube or Vimeo and embed here. The idea is to allow useful, friendly discussion.
User avatar
Dave Watterson
Posts: 1867
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:11 pm
Location: Bath, England
Contact:

Re: Which camcorder should I buy?

Post by Dave Watterson »

Hi Peter

In this case I am the "they" ... and you are right, I probably should go through all the stuff on here and delete things which are no longer relevant ... though there are lots of older posts which have great content that is ageless. Spend an hour now and then exploring the forums!

But actually you hit perfect timing.

I had to buy another camcorder in a hurry a few weeks ago. My little Sony Handycam (the purchase I made after the initial discussions on this thread) started to have the "sticking tape door" syndrome that afflicts several Sony models. Most of my movie work involves reading in miniDV tapes, editing and/or subtitling them and recording back out to miniDV plus there are 150+ cassettes on my shelf here ...

Apart from a few very high-end camcorders you cannot buy a new one with miniDV capability. Luckily a forum friend came up with a suitable second-hand camcorder which is on my desk and working right now recording one of the films in the British programme for the UNICA international festival next month.

The market is even more complex now that it was five years ago... with several different "HD" options and, of course, everyone is using memory cards - the 3D nonsense is adding a smoke-screen. What is a delight is that there are so many, small, reasonaby priced HD cameras like the one you have got. Use it well on your holiday.

Mind you I would be a bit wary of carrying a handbag out there ... or is the message that the camera is likely to end up in your wife's handbag?!

Dave
Post Reply