Tell me about camcorders, please?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a 9 year old who has wanted a “video camera” for about a year. I bought him a regular camera already, and the irritating bit is that he has a better eye than I have, which seems to me not fair. However. He uses the function on his camera for making short videos, but it can’t do sound.

He has already got plans to make a film about a kid who learns how to dance, and a series of how-to films about cooking. He storyboarded them and everything. I gather that his plan is to load this all up onto youtube so everybody in the world can see his films. Really.

Okay. So I am not at all the kind of person who buys a digital camera for a 9 year old – but I am not the kind of person who buys a camera for a 7 year old either and he was and is quite serious about that, too.

Add to this that he has a language disorder and enormous difficulty expressing himself when speaking so any method of expressing himself is Much To Be Desired.

So I went and looked at camcorders, and the price of the mini-camcorders is something I can manage, as long as it’s the “big gift”. But I can’t tell the difference between one and another, really, I am way out of my league in trying to figure out what to get. It doesn’t have to be super brilliant quality, but I also don’t want him to do his best and end up with crappy results because the camera can’t do any better.

Anybody have a rec for a camcorder for a 9 year old? Or at least some advice on what I should be looking for?

Forgot to add – I am in the Netherlands but will be home in the US for the holidays so I expect to buy it online and have it shipped. Or possibly I could send my mother out to buy it from a bricks-and-mortar. But I will have to tell her what to get, she would buy something shiny.

2

Nearly any camcorder by a major manufacturer will give excellent results. There are a few tradeoffs. I do not know the relative picture quality of these formats. They all should allow connecting directly to a TV to view, though your son is probably going to do editing. They are all very compact nowadays, you would probably pay a premium for a super-compact model, which isn’t necessary. Also, a lot of bells and whistles drive price up without improving basic functionality, but it’s hard to separate them out. Also consider whether you need Hi-Def format; probably not for most purposes.

Direct-to-DVD is great if you just want to take the DVD and pop it in the DVD player. If your son is going to do editing, this won’t be an advantage. And capacity of the DVDs (maybe they are mini DVDs) might not be enough.

Hard drive. I’m guessing this gives the best quality. Need to connect to the computer to archive the content and make DVDs or whatever, but you’re probably going to do that anyway.

Mini-DV. This is digital tape. I have one of these by Sony. I connect to the computer to download and edit tapes. The tapes act as their own backup, just stack them on a shelf.

If you are abroad consider whether you want it to have PAL or NTSC output when connecting to a standard TV.

Your son sounds exceptional. I wouldn’t give one of these to my 10-year-old but would to yours :slight_smile:

ETA: I recommend B&H Photo & Video, very good selection & service, very reputable. I have spent a couple of thousand dollars on camera and video equipment there.