In the market for a new camcorder?
Apr 29 '01 (Updated May 26 '01)
The Bottom Line Picking a new camcorder these days can be a bewildering experience. The good news is that there's one for you regardless of your budget.
This review will focus on choosing a type of camcorder. Choosing a type of camcorder has never been more complex than it is today. In the old days, you had a choice of full sized VHS, VHS-C, Super VHS, 8mm, and Hi-8. Now, you have all of these to choose from plus MiniDV and Digital8. How do you decide?
Do you want to edit your videos?
Well, I can tell you a few things that will help you narrow your choices down considerably. Are you interested in editing your videos on your PC? If so, this immediately rules out all analog formats. Well, there are a few devices you can buy that will allow you to edit analog video on your PC but Digital is really a better format to start with if this is what you want to do.
Analog, still an option for the budget conscious
If you don't want digital editing capabilities, and you're interested mainly in just a good, basic analog unit, there's good news. Analog camcorders have hit rock bottom prices. They have never had more features or been more affordable than they are right now. Just the other day, I saw a Sony Hi-8 camcorder for about $299. Hi-8 used to be a high end format used mainly by semi professional videographers. The prices in those days were very reflective of that fact.
I've had quite a bit of experience with camcorders both analog and digital. If there is one brand name I can recommend over all the others regardless of the format, it's JVC. The JVC units all have great auto shooting modes that will work just fine if you don't like to tinker with all of the settings while at the same time, they also give you full manual control when you need it.
What does this mean? Well, they have manual exposure, manual shutter speed select, manual white balance and manual focus. This is rare on camcorders that are aimed at the typical consumer. JVC is practically (AFAIK) the only company that does it.
How much control do you need?
This is the question that will determine what brand names you have to choose from. If you prefer a point and shoot type of camcorder, you pretty much have your pick of any brand name out there starting out at around $200.
However, if you are a control freak like me, your choices will be narrowed down considerably. Unless you have more than a thousand dollars to spend, this rules out Sony right off the bat. I don't know any Sony camcorder under a thousand that has full manual control. Panasonic has a measure of manual controls on their MiniDV camcorders but you're limited in what you can do. You're once again down to JVC, RCA and GE the latter two are basically JVC camcorders that have the RCA or GE name slapped on them.
For those on a budget
If you don't want to spend more than $500, you have a great selection among analog camcorders (Provided you can live with a point and shoot unit). Camcorders with built in flip out LCD screens are very popular but they're battery hogs and the feature is not really needed to make good videos. You'll almost always spend more for an LCD screen. The larger the screen, the higher the price.
If you've narrowed it down to a choice between VHS-C and 8mm, your decision is pretty straight forward. VHS-C camcorders require a tape that's basically a smaller version of a full sized VHS tape. When you're ready to view your footage, you pop the tape into an adapter that comes with the camcorder. This adapter looks like a full sized VHS tape with a little door on top that flips up to accept the VHS-C tape. You then insert this contraption into your VCR and it works just like a normal tape. The major drawback of VHS-C is that the tapes are quite expensive considering that they're usually only 30 minutes long in the SP mode. You can triple their recording time in the EP mode with a significant loss in picture quality.
8mm is the clear leader in terms of length. You get 120 minutes on the typical 8mm cassette which is similar in size and appearance to an audio cassette. The audio quality on 8mm is slightly better than VHS-C. Picture quality is about equal.
For those who want it all regardless of cost
If this sounds like you, both Sony and Canon have several camcorders selling for anywhere from $2,000 to just under $5,000. Sony's latest addition to their digital lineup the DCR-VX2000 would probably rank high on any advanced semi professional videographer's wish list. Canon also makes two very highly regarded MiniDV cams. XL-1 and the GL-1. If you've got the money, these 3 units are highly worthy of consideration.
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Member: Brian
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