what would you say is the best camcorder in the word?

Question

I'm going on a trip with my bf + his sister to their hometown, Nicaragua. I know there's alot of things i want to tape (their house/land is gigantic!) and i need the perfect camcorder. I need one with a battery that lasts looooooooong, crystal clear video recording with sound, night vision, built in light, and portable.

I have a very low budget so, if anyone can, let me know the #1 cheap best camcorder and a #1 expensive camcorder (but not all expensive ones are the best ones)

+ which form is better? the minidv, minidvd, tape, hard disk, etc....?

i'll be gone for two weeks so it needs to last a long time without all these tapes + cds lying around


thnx in advance :)

Answer 1

Firstly, stick with Mini-Dv. The hardrive camera's are a good idea, but the technology is still resonably new, and they have the potential to 'crash' (just like any computer) With Mini-Dv you have an automatic backup with the tape. The mini-DVD's tend to be quite expensive, and pretty fragile, with the only bonus being that you can slap it straight into a DVD player, which isn't that benificial if you want to edit it. You can record 90 minutes in long play on a standard minidv.

As for battery life, most camcorders come standard with a 60 - 120 minute battery (depending on the camera) so if you want a bit of extra juice you will prob have to pay for a second battery. Most camera's will take a generic battery (except for Sony which require their own brand). Battery lengths differ but there are some 5, 6, & 7 hours outthere! They are big though, and look funny sticking out the back of the camera. Might have to sacrifice style for functionality.

As for nightvision, and built-in lights, most camera's these day's have nightvision in some form as standard, but stay away from 'colour night vision' as it tends to have a strob sort of effect. With a built-in light, you might be able to find a camera with one, but I have seem too many around. Once again, you can buy a light for most camera's seperately and attach it.

And now for specific models. I own a Sony HDV 1080i HANDYCAM HDRHC3. It shoots in widescreen and standard, has an awesome quality lense, and honestly, is the best consumer video camera I have ever seen. It is Hi-Definition, and some people will argue that unless you have a HDTV then you this feature is pointless, but I have never seen a sharper or clearer picture. It's awesome on automatic, but you also have plenty of manual controls if you feel a bit more confident. It's a really really good value camera. I'm not sure about price (I'm from Australia and would have paid a lot more than you will have too) but I have seen them pretty cheap on Ebay (brand new).

If it's still out of your price range, then prob go with any panasonic that has 3CCD. Basically, 3CCD means you get richer more defined colours. One camera I would reccomend staying away from is a JVC. I'm sure there are some good ones out there, but I've only had bad experiences.

Anyway, good luck!

Answer 2

For the best camcorder I would recommend the Sony HDR SR1, it has a 30GB hard drive and records in HD, it also has a 4 megapixle camera which can come in handy. This camcorder can record up to 4 hours of HD or around 30 hours on SD, which means that you would need to bring along a laptop to transfer your video to if the hard drive runs out of space, it also costs around $1500. The best cheap camcorder would be the Canon Elura 100 MiniDV Camcorder which records to minidvs, this is convenient if you don't mind carrying around the minidvs and its also very good for editing. This camera only costs $300, which is good if your on a budget.

Answer 3

The CANON HV10. It's a high defintion camcorder, almost small enough to fit in a pocket. It takes very nice, crisp video, and it's not that expensive either.

Answer 4

I wouldnt count on finding all of those things in an inexpensive camera, but for $1300 the Canon HV10 is a great value and shoots in HDV.