I love/ hate my camcorder... its a ___

In My Humble Opinion
1

Good afternoon,

I have been to productopia.com, activebuyersguide.com, etown.com and a host of other sites / buyers guides on the net looking for a camcorder. Lots of ways to compare features, lots of information as to what features to look for. But I have not found a lot of comparisons between brands in terms of quality of image (optics), etc. I have not found a reliable site (i.e. no advertising) where a review comes out and says, this camcorder bites, this one is great, this one is so-so, and so on. Sooo…. I am turning to the TM, in hopes of getting a thought or two or a good recommendation to go on.

Here is what I am looking for: I am hoping to get this as a gift for an expectant father (broofrhythmdvl - I know he hits the boards once in a while, though I’m pretty sure he doesn’t visit IMHO. If he does…um, SURPRSIE! Any requests?) What I know so far is that I’d prefer to go with 8mm, it should have a view finder and image stabilization. Other features are good, but those are the main things I’d like to focus on. I am hoping to keep this in the neighborhood of (or under) five hundred dollars.

What do you say? Any horror stories out there - things I should avoid? Any one happy with their choice and want to share? Comments or additional resources?

Thanks,

Rhythmdvl

2

Years ago, when they first came out, I grabbed a Sony.

I was very happy with it.

They have changed so much that there isn’t really a comparison with todays cams.

You should look for a cam that reproduces a nice clean picture in low light. The lower the lux number, the better.

An anti-jiggle feature comes in handy too.

My cam had 12x zoom, now they go up to eleventy jillion x zoom.
Hope this helps.

Regards, Graeme

3

Consumer Reports Online shows camcorders were reviewed on 10/99. To see the article online, you have to subscribe. One month costs $3.95 (be a bit careful, because it renews automatically).