when do new camcorders come out?

Question

is now a bad time to buy a camcorder? when do new models usually come out?

Answer 1

i answered your question yesterday! anyways consumer cams have upgrades every few months compared to prosumer cams, which come out with new models less often. since your going to be using it for filmmaking, your probably not going to be interested in the consumer models (at least most of them). for the prosumer models, it doesnt really matter as much, because its not a race to see who can make the smallest, lightest, easiest to use cam. so its not a bad time to buy camcorders. however, most new prosumer models now are HD models, so if thats what your looking for then get one of those. hope this helps!

Answer 2

There's no sense waiting. New models are announced regularly, but might not become available for many months later.

I enjoy the Canon Elura 100 I bought this year. It's got good reviews and available at Amazon or Circuit City.

Keep in mind a few things when considering a new camcorder:

1. How much are you willing to invest?
That includes buying SD card, spare battery, smaller carry case or any accessories you don’t already have like a new tripod or case. If you set your max budget at $500, then you can get decent video quality for a $400 camera and spend another $100 on the accessories.

2. Who will use it?
In my household it is mainly me. But if you have to share with wife/kids, think about how the camera might get abused — which might be a legitimate reason to reduce your max budget.

3. Where will you use it?
Many consumer reviews complain that sub $500 camcorders typically don’t perform well in low light conditions. They are right. BUT if you are smart about where and when you use the camera, low light probably wont be an issue. Take advantage of natural light. Turn all the lights on in a room indoors, even during the daytime. Pick a well lit part of the room and try to steer your subjects there. Plus, some camcorders have a built in light or a shoe for an external accessory.

4. Do you want to digitize your old analog 8mm or VHS tapes?
If you have past experience recording to 8mm, VHS, VHSc, those old family memories are slowly deteriorating and Do-It-Yourself digitization has never been easier. Consider a camcorder with an A/V input to allow you to transfer from VCR or anaolog camcorder to MiniDV. Once on MiniDV, import into your Mac or Windows movie editing software will be easy. The Canon Elura 100 is one of the few sub $400 cameras I could find that had A/V input along with decent performance features.

5. Embrace widescreen and watch movies the way they were meant to be seen!
I’m a snob when it comes to DVDs. Every movie in my collection has to be widescreen. If my child receives a kid movie in full screen, I’ll sell it on Amazon and replace it with the widescreen version.
Widescreen television adoption is increasing and becoming more common place. So, get a camcorder that records real widescreen, not the fake full screen with black bars inserted at top and bottom. And be sure it has widescreen display because oddly some do not.

6. Don’t try to kill two birds with one stone.
Many camcorders now boast a 1.3 megapixel still camera capability. Popular advice still tends to be that you should invest in a separate, good quality digital camera. The camcorder still camera feature wont provide as high a quality as you can get from a dedicated digital camera. I carry both when I’m out with the family.

7. Don’t burn directly to DVD.
Sure camcorders with a built in mini DVD seems like a great idea — burn directly to a media that I can play in my DVD player without hassle. But many users complain that the video quality suffers.

8. Built in Hard Drives are cool, but expensive.
These will eventually make life much easier, but at this time it’s an extremely expensive solution.

Set your budget and stick to it. There are alot of nice cameras available, but be practical and keep focused on your definitive needs.

Hope this helps. Good luck

Answer 3

now ones will come out every day but the problem is that technology is moving so fast now that what is good today may be not so good tomorrow

Answer 4

This is a challenging question, and one that confused me for quite a long time.

Answer 5

Awesome question

Answer 6

Never thought too much about that

Answer 7

every year