Digital Video Camera choice...

Zefan · 22 May 2006 at 14:59

I'm looking for a as cheap as possible (For 18th Birthday, parents aren't going to spend more than £250) Digital Video Camera. I'm absolutely clueless, all I want to do is record me and my mate when we live at a ski resort in the winter so we can transfer it to a laptop and upload it. I know there are loads of different types of storage - mini HDD's, DVD's, Flash.... can anyone give me a heads up on what's good and bad about these types of storage and what sort of price I'm looking at? I have the feeling this is one of those "you get what you pay for" situations

Thanks for any help fellas.

Retorted · 22 May 2006 at 16:53

As i've suggested in another thread, I'd stick to MiniDV. It's more standardised than other formats, more reliable and better quality. Other formats such as DVD or flash require compression to store the video, usually in mpeg format. You may or may not find this more convenient.

I still use a Panasonic GS5B which i've found to be superb. It was bought a few years back and has more than halved in value since. It's probably been discontinued now, but i'd recommend looking at Panasonic's more recent line of MiniDV camcorders.

Hope this helps

Dangerous · 22 May 2006 at 17:05

As already said stick to MiniDV as its a very good format. Tapes are very cheap about £2-3 each so you can keep all the old footage without reusing the same tapes.

Semi decent camera will set you back about £200 ish

Zefan · 22 May 2006 at 17:09

Any specific recommendations on camera, make model etc?

Dangerous · 22 May 2006 at 17:16

I tend to stick with Sony ones as I like them but I also have some cheap JVC ones, So not really.

elroberto · 22 May 2006 at 20:28

I've used some cheap Panasonics in that sort of price bracket. Not bad, but you can't go wrong with them for that money. I told my Parents I wanted a Video camera for christmas, unfortunately the one I wanted was a Sony HDW-f900. Suffice to say the old scrooges didn't get me one!