Digital Video Camera Recommendation

Posted by pfadvice
June 27, 2006

Nate and I have decided we need a digital video camera to record our first meeting in Las Vegas coming up soon, so this week I need to do some research on purchasing a good quality digital video camera. Since I know practically nothing in this area, the first step is to ask family and friends what they have and whether they like their video cameras or not. I figured that many of you that are reading this also probably have some digital video cameras, so I’d also like to invite you to share your opinions on the ones you have. Our basic requirements;

Price of under $500 if possible

Easy to operate and upload to the computer.

Quality picture and sound is more important than lots of fancy gadgets

Good battery life

We aren’t looking for anything fancy — basically something that will be a good workhorse camera that will allow us to place some video onto the blog and site in the months to come. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciate to head us in the right direction…

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Information: June 27th, 2006; 8 Responses

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Reader Comments

Comment Number:: 1
Written by:: SlashChick
Posted on:: June 27, 2006 at 8:34 am

Check out Tara Hunt’s recent blog post about this same dilemma. Hope that helps!

Comment Number:: 2
Written by:: cw
Posted on:: June 27, 2006 at 2:22 pm

I wouldn’t run your life based on this website, but it seems like a decent aggregation/starting point for a lot of different products (I’ve linked to their findings on digital camcorders):

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/photo_and_video/digital-camcorders/index.html

Comment Number:: 3
Written by:: Retireyoung
Posted on:: June 27, 2006 at 5:39 pm

I recently bought a Sony handy cam. I don’t know much about them, but I read a few reviews and it seemed good value. It fairly easy to use and quality is very impressive. You can record to tape or memory stick.

I got it in Akihabara for 50,000 yen.

http://www.retireyoungandwealthy.com/video-blogging/

Comment Number:: 4
Written by:: Alison
Posted on:: June 27, 2006 at 6:32 pm

Depending on the quality you want look at aiptek’s multi-feature devices. MP3/video/still/audio/webcam for ~$100. Totally easy.

Comment Number:: 5
Written by:: pfadvice
Posted on:: June 28, 2006 at 12:30 am

Thanks everyone…good places to start. Always open to more suggestions.

Comment Number:: 6
Written by:: Chris Meisenzahl
Posted on:: June 28, 2006 at 6:08 pm

Check out cnet.com, lots of good reviews there.

Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com

Comment Number:: 7
Written by:: Kevin
Posted on:: June 28, 2006 at 7:25 pm

Canon Optura 50 with an external mic if you’re looking for something under $500 that uses MiniDV instead of DVD. B&HPhoto has ‘em for $400 right now. Manual focus ring, optical image stabilization, 10x zoom. It has a little bit of tape motor noise, I added a Sony ecm-ms908c mic ($75) and it’s silent now. Be sure to get a UV filter for added physical protection of the lens.

I bought one last year after checking out a lot of models, so there may be something better now. Be aware that about all camcorders in this price range aren’t great in low light. I almost went with a 3CCD Panasonic until I found out about their potential for some smearing issues.

There’s not a lot of camcorder review sites like camera sites. PC Mag seems to review them in the fall, camcorderinfo.com is a good site, but has a heavy Panasonic bias.

Great site, keep up the good work!

Comment Number:: 8
Written by:: Jason
Posted on:: June 29, 2006 at 8:19 am

I have been considering getting one myself for personal use. After much thought I decided that if I do get one I should get a low cost one while I get used to using it and learn what features I really want. And in the meantime prices can come down as newer, fancier models get released.