Camcorder Recommendations

Tiny Clanger

Tiny Clanger

Tiny Clanger

Associate
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
766
Hi there ;)

I'm thinking of treating myself to a camcorder - but to be honest, I have no idea about what I need (never had one before) so I wonder if you kind folk could give me some assistance please?

I've done some digging around on the internet (doesn't seem to be a "What Camcorder" magazine which surprised me) and tried to make up my mind about what I need.

Currently my favourite is the Panasonic HDC-TM10 - the logic being that it's HD, has a reasonable optical zoom, has optical image stabalisation and seems to get excellent writeups. However, as I said I don't have a great deal of knowledge in this area - so any help would be greatly appreciated. Budget is ~£350 (the Panasonic with a 32Gb Panasonic SD card can be had for £369) and it will be used for the usual home movies which can be used to embarrass my daughter in later life and ward off potential boyfriends (with a bit of luck!;))

So - any suggestions, recommendations or guidance will be gratefully received!

Thanks in advance for your help.

TC
 
The Panasonic is not a bad piece of kit: I had it's quasi-predecessor, the SD9 and it was great. Saying that, I have a Canon HF200 now which blows them both out of the water.

Panasonic/Canon at any price range and you can't go too badly wrong. Canon HD cams are much better, but they cost a lot more.
 
Wow - quick response - thanks mrthingyx!

One question I meant to ask (and forgot) was - clearly I'm paying a premium here for HD capability which I'm thinking of as a bit of future-proofing as well as getting good quality video. Question is - is it worth it or should I get a high spec SD camcorder and save myself some money?
 
The key thing is the size of the CCD/CMOS sensor array, really - the bigger, the better. Coupled with high data rates (Canon HD cams push 25Mbps, Panasonic ones will do up to 17Mbps when I last looked), that should make for the best image.

Most HD cams will be fine if shooting outdoors in bright sunlight: the biggest differences crop up when taking things indoors, with dim lighting or fast action.

Good SD or cheap HD? I haven't looked at an SD cam since my dad's old Sony Handycam from the 80s, so I don't really know. I've relied on my digicams to take video (my five year-old Fujifilm has done 640x480 and kept me entertained as required for that time), and whilst it's been ropey by comparison to a proper SD cam, it sufficed.

Find the camera you're interested in and stick a query into YouTube - there are loads of sample videos on there.
 
Hmmmm..... liking the Cannon HF200 I must admit - but it is more money (sigh - isn't it always the case!).

Does the Canon come with an 8Gb card? Some sites say it's part of the retail package, others don't mention it...

Will have to do some thinking and see just how cheap I can find one on the web!

Thanks again

TC
 
Sorry - it's me back again.....

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of the Canon outlet on e-Bay and the quality of their refurbished kit? Someone sent me a link to this site and they have refurbished HF100 (which seem to get a better write up than the HF200) for a very good price - with warrenty included...

As ever, your sage advice and guidance is sought ;)

Cheers

TC
 
HF100 is the 2008 model but will probably still be better than 90% of the competition.

Regarding the Canon outlet on ebay, I have no idea, I'm afraid.
 
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