Camcorders

[Shawn Christ]

Our 8-year old Canon mini-DV camcorder is biting the dust (tapes won't eject) and I'm wondering about a replacement. My wife and I have two boys, ages 6 and 7, who are moderately involved in sports and activities. We take pictures but don't shoot much video; generally only use the camcorder at birthdays and Christmas. And surprisingly, I don't see many other parents using camcorders at events. But for some reason I feel like we should have one and should be using it more often.

So I'd lean toward a relatively inexpensive camcorder (<$250). For instance, at only $130, the Sanyo VPC-GH4 HD 1080 at Amazon caught my eye. Decent zoom, small size, memory card storage, and high def.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Chuck Wintle]

Our 8-year old Canon mini-DV camcorder is biting the dust (tapes won't eject) and I'm wondering about a replacement. My wife and I have two boys, ages 6 and 7, who are moderately involved in sports and activities. We take pictures but don't shoot much video; generally only use the camcorder at birthdays and Christmas. And surprisingly, I don't see many other parents using camcorders at events. But for some reason I feel like we should have one and should be using it more often.

So I'd lean toward a relatively inexpensive camcorder (<$250). For instance, at only $130, the Sanyo VPC-GH4 HD 1080 at Amazon caught my eye. Decent zoom, small size, memory card storage, and high def.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

I recently bought a Flip video recorder and it works well. 2 hrs recording time in HD with image stabilization and zoom for less than $200.

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

Another vote for Flip video recorder. Working well, not expensive.

[Brian Elfert]

One of the issues with today's video cameras is weight. The camera needs to have a little bit of heft to it for the operator to keep it steady. You'll notice that professional HD cameras are still pretty big compared to a consumer camera.

[Bryan Morgan]

Our 8-year old Canon mini-DV camcorder is biting the dust (tapes won't eject) and I'm wondering about a replacement. My wife and I have two boys, ages 6 and 7, who are moderately involved in sports and activities. We take pictures but don't shoot much video; generally only use the camcorder at birthdays and Christmas. And surprisingly, I don't see many other parents using camcorders at events. But for some reason I feel like we should have one and should be using it more often.

So I'd lean toward a relatively inexpensive camcorder (<$250). For instance, at only $130, the Sanyo VPC-GH4 HD 1080 at Amazon caught my eye. Decent zoom, small size, memory card storage, and high def.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

I don't know that I'd waste money on individual gadgets these days... it seems modern cell phones can do all this same stuff and you only have to lug around 1 device. The EVO or iPhone shoot fairly nice video.

[Shawn Christ]

I don't know that I'd waste money on individual gadgets these days... it seems modern cell phones can do all this same stuff and you only have to lug around 1 device. The EVO or iPhone shoot fairly nice video.

Good point Bryan, and the same could be said for many point-and-shoot cameras with a video function. I've considered this as a long-term option (I have a Droid/HTC Incredible) but found that phones come with drawbacks: poor zoom, shaky video, short recording length, non-HD resolution, and an incompatible file format (i.e. mpeg-4) that won't play on my PC or networked TV. I tend to use my phone for brief, candid videos that tend to stay on the phone; not something I would use to record a full-length basketball game or holiday program.

To the others: I've seen good reviews about the Flip recorders. How is the zoom?

[Bryan Morgan]

Good point Bryan, and the same could be said for many point-and-shoot cameras with a video function. I've considered this as a long-term option (I have a Droid/HTC Incredible) but found that phones come with drawbacks: poor zoom, shaky video, short recording length, non-HD resolution, and an incompatible file format (i.e. mpeg-4) that won't play on my PC or networked TV. I tend to use my phone for brief, candid videos that tend to stay on the phone; not something I would use to record a full-length basketball game or holiday program.

To the others: I've seen good reviews about the Flip recorders. How is the zoom?

Yeah I have a little Kodak Zi8 HD recorder but my wife is the only one that uses it. At the time we got it Flip didn't have anything to compare. I don't know about the current models. My little Samsung phone works fine for me.

[Matt Meiser]

We went the route of a good digital camera that shoots good video and ended up with a Canon SX30is. Its out of your price range but as a combo device maybe a little more palatable? Even our old SX130is did decent on video but wasn't really convenient as a video camera like the SX30is.

[Curt Harms]

Good point Bryan, and the same could be said for many point-and-shoot cameras with a video function. I've considered this as a long-term option (I have a Droid/HTC Incredible) but found that phones come with drawbacks: poor zoom, shaky video, short recording length, non-HD resolution, and an incompatible file format (i.e. mpeg-4) that won't play on my PC or networked TV. I tend to use my phone for brief, candid videos that tend to stay on the phone; not something I would use to record a full-length basketball game or holiday program.

To the others: I've seen good reviews about the Flip recorders. How is the zoom?

Won't play Mpeg4? Do you know about VLC? That'll play about anything. http://www.videolan.org/

[Greg Peterson]

Can't help you on the camera selection, although Panasonic (HDC-TM700K or the HDC-SD600K) gets the highest marks from numerous sources, video camera sites and video editing software sites. I have my sites set on the HDC-SD600k.

But you may want to consider editing software. I've used free software (Windows Movie and Kodak's software, PowerDirector and currently am playing with Sony Vegas. I think I prefer Sony Vegas.

Editing the videos is more than cutting unwanted scenes and shortening the clip. You become a story teller. Even if your intention is to document events you are essentially telling a story.