So my GF’s birthday is coming up (it’s November 6) and I decided I can put spend up to €1000 in buying her one of these things. Her only requirement is that it should be really tiny, so you can carry it in your pocket or something. So can you help me? Time is running short, and I feel I need some help as I don’t know much about camcorder technology.
You guys in the US, feel free to reccomend stuff up to $1000.
The one I like (but haven’t used, other than trying it in a camera store) is the Sony DCR-IP1.
The Good:[ul][li]It’s small. 1-9/16 x 3-5/8 x 2-3/4" (39 x 91 x 69mm). [/li][li]It’s light. 8 oz (230 g) without tape and battery.[/li][li]It has a decent Carl Zeiss lens. 3.2-32mm f/1.8-2.3 (35mm equivalent to 46-460mm).[/li][li]It fits your price range. About $950-$1000 in the U.S.[/ul]The Bad[ul][/li][li]It uses 60 minute Micro-MV cassettes. Are those easily obtainable in Portugal?[/li]The version available in the U.S. is NTSC only, no PAL. This may be a killer for you, I’m afraid. Is there a PAL version of this camera available where you are?[/ul]
Yes it’s available in Portugal, with a price tag of €1223 in the store I found. But what the heck, it’s my sweetie so I’ll make the effort if I don’t find any other good options. It seems to be really small, she’ll probably love it.
European dopers, if you know of a store that will ship to portugal on a short notice and has better prices, please let me know.
Hmmm I just realised the store I mentioned doesn’t have it in stock. So forget that price tag.
Well, if your girlfriend can handle something bigger [insert joke here…], the mini-DV format cameras are a lot better value.
You pay a pretty hefty premium for the small size of that Sony (plus you have to use oddball tapes that may be difficult to purchase). A min-DV camera will probably have more features and cost a good deal less.
And you can get Mini-DV tapes all over the place.
Many Mini-DV camcorders are very small too. What I found was that the physically-smaller cameras were comparable in features to larger ones, but things such as betteries and screens were smaller. This leads to shorter battery life.
Then again, if you want smallness, how about the European equivalent to this one: the JVC GZ-MC100U. Records to a 4-GB hard drive in Compact Flash format.