Baby on the way...Video Camera suggestions?

[kamileer]

We would like to buy a video camera before the arrival of our daughter in December. THERE ARE SOOOOO MANY CHOICES OUT THERE! I am a research-o-holic, and even I am overwhelmed. There are ones that record on digital tapes, DVDs, mini DVDs, hard drives. How do you pick? :confused:

We would love something that is good quality and going to last, yet we don't need anything crazy like high definition. Middle of the road would be awesome ($600-700???). I figured this would be a good place to post since I know so many new moms and dads have purchased them.

Which camera do you have? Please tell me what you do and don't like about it. :)

[cynder]

I'll make this fast. I work in a mulitmedia center and in the market for a camera so I have been asking around. You will hear from others who have a camera, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Sony and Canon are good brands. Sony is better but a little more cash. Mini DV is the perferred format though sellers make DVD recorders so like the greatest thing. These are still expensive because they are new to the market and according to the geeks I work with unreliable in quality and feature. Blank DVDs are more expensive and have incompatiblity issues depending on where you are playing.

I am going with the Sony Handycam DCR-HC30 since it meets most of my needs and is in my budget.

HTH!

[Renrel]

We got a Sony handcam, I forget the number, 3.5 years ago, when we went on Safari in Africa and I have been very happy with it. The only thing I have envy of is the new camaras that can also take high quality still photos, the new handycam may have improved on this as well. I have a good digital camara too but it is a pain to carry both, plus my DH's has his super digital camara with extra lens. The handcam is easy to use, has some fun special effects if you want them and night vision which could be helpful if you want to take pictures of your kids sleeping for any reason. It has the capabity of doing time lapse recording if you wanted to record your childs sleep habits to determine if there is any problem, though I never did figure out how to do that feature.

[LexyLou]

I'll make this fast. I work in a mulitmedia center and in the market for a camera so I have been asking around. You will hear from others who have a camera, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Sony and Canon are good brands. Sony is better but a little more cash. Mini DV is the perferred format though sellers make DVD recorders so like the greatest thing. These are still expensive because they are new to the market and according to the geeks I work with unreliable in quality and feature. Blank DVDs are more expensive and have incompatiblity issues depending on where you are playing.

I am going with the Sony Handycam DCR-HC30 since it meets most of my needs and is in my budget.

HTH!

Cynder-Does the HC30 have a low light mode? We don't really need the ability to tape in the dark but we would like to be able to get a decent image in low light situations...

Thanks

[cynder]

My understanding is that it does a decent job of low light recording for a camera of that size.

One thing that people tend to forget is that with shrinking camera sizes (digital or video), smaller sizes mean compromises in features or quality. Also if you are getting a videocamera, get it to do video really well. Most video/digital combos only do one of the two things really well. While it's conveinent to have it one gadget, the tech quality is not quite there yet.

[Phen]

We have the Handycam HC-20. I can plug it directly into my computer and copy little videos from it, or connect it to our DVD burner and burn the video onto DVD.

~ Phen

[moderngal]

we have a Canon something or other. i love it- very easy to use.

[wildcat]

My DH is an IT guy and knows everything electronic and spent weeks researching our video camera purchase a few weeks ago. We ended up with the Panasonic PV-GS150. I asked him and he said the reasons were best for that price range, 3ccd, decent low-light performance, miniDV (DH's preference as it's 1 hour of uncompressed digital video meaning the originals on the tape are prestine).

He also suggested checking out the Canon Optura line (Optura 85 or 90).

He did say that the only other format to really consider is minidvd - 30 mins of compressed video, the video will be good, but if you edit it on your computer, it's compressed...it's better not to start with compressed video. But, it's a lot easier to work with...don't have to fast forward, you can skip.

He really liked the site camcorderinfo.com.

He also wanted me to add this is only his opinion;).

HTH's!

[kamileer]

Great advice everyone! Keep it coming. :)

[scubasam]

After a lot of looking around, we bought the Canon Optura Mini DV and really like it so far. It's easy to use which was key for us. One of the biggest things we were interested in was image stabilization, which is really good on this model vs. others we looked at. The lowlight performance seems to be pretty decent so far but we haven't worked w/ it too much yet.

[kimthebride]

We love our Sony HandyCam - the one that uses the MiniDVs, not DVDs. It takes still pictures, is sooooo user friendly and the quality is great. I can download video from it onto our iMac and email the video clips to family around the country to see. It's great.

You can't go wrong with a Sony HandyCam!

(ETA: My SIL has the DVD one and isn't too thrilled with it because it seems you get more record time with the MiniDVs)

[kindermom]

I second Wildcat's suggestion. My DH is a videographer and we are most likely going with the same camera. The Panasonic PV-GS150 seems to provide the best bang for the buck. We also found the site camcorderinfo.com (http://www.camcorderinfo.com) to be the most comprehensive.

[JRPAGV]

We have a Sony HandyCam (CCD-TRV128), and we love it! It's so easy to use, and it seems to be great quality! I think it cost around $250.

[Kiley]

*bump....we're looking to buy one with our Christmas $.

[IUAlum]

We ended up with the Panasonic PV-GS150.

We have this as well. It's very easy to use and the quality has been great for what little we've shot so far. I imagine it will start to get a lot more use in, oh, 3 months or so.

[Lil_Mrs_0702]

We got a sony handi-cam this year for Christmas. So far I love it. It has a p-touch screen and night vision and all sorts of gadgets I'm sure that we will never use and best of all it has an Easy Button! My dad does a lot of research before he buys anything for us kids so I know it has got to be pretty high quality.
Ours has the little tape and the wires to hook it up to the computer or tv. I liked the little tapes better for now just because I have received mix reviews about the dvd ones.

[Mickey&B]

We have a Sony HandyCam

That's what we have and I love it soooo easy to use!!!

[jmvan74]

We have a panasonic pv-gs65. We love it! Easy to use and great clarity. No background noise from the camera motor.

[Can't_Wait]

I just got a video camara for my b-day at the beginning of December (we are expecting so I wanted to get one for future baby video!). I researched on the website www.camcorderinfo.com & found the reviews there very helpful. They review every aspect of the camara's performance.


I ended up going with the Sony DCR-DVD403 because I wanted a DVD camcorder & this one is rated best in its class. I love the fact that I can record right onto the DVDs & the picture quality is great. There are so many options, it is a little bit overwhelming- but I'm sure the more I use it the easier it will become to utilize all the options. You can take pictures with the camcorder but I'm not sure the quality is up to par with the quality of a digital camara.

[Hula1974]

I did a search of the whole board but didn't find a thread on this.
(Feel free to point me in the direction of one if there is one)

We are looking to buy a video camera for the arrival of our little one. Can anyone recommend one? Not sure what the latest technology is and what works in real life.

TIA!

[brooke]

My mom bought us the Canon ZR300 for xmas last year....so issues thus far, easy to use...not terribly expensive...she bought it from B&H photo - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/www.bhphoto.com

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/images/upload/Canon%20ZR300/Canon-ZR300_vanity.jpg

[Hula1974]

I did a search of the whole board but didn't find a thread on this.
(Feel free to point me in the direction of one if there is one)
Thank you to whoever moved my post. Gosh, wonder why this didn't come up in my searching. It's in the darn title!! :rolleyes:

Glad it's bumped though, maybe we'll get some more recent input.

[kmack]

we have a panasonic mini-dvd one and i am so disappointed with it! dh bought it right after dd was born and about a month later i was having trouble playing back some of the videos (they were freezing at points and i would have to shut it off to get by it). finally i brought it in to have it looked at and the manufacturers warranty only covered parts, not labor so it cost us $200 to have it fixed! i don't even know what was wrong with it, it's not like we did anything to it, it was brand new! i think it cost around $500, it just makes me mad thinking about it:mad:

[PLNUBRIDE]

My Dh and I did some major research on this a few months ago. Our DD was born 2 weeks ago and my DH really wanted a video camera. We actually ended up buying a JVC Everio (the 77 model). It does not use tapes, DVD's or miniDVD's....the camera actually contains a harddrive (holds 9 hrs of recording, each clip is its own file and no chance of recording over stuff). THe one feature that was VERY important to DH was that he didn't want to have to deal with constantly swapping out tapes. In addition, his parents live in another state so he wanted to make the process of making copies/editing and whatnot easy. I was very hesitant about the purchase...but not now.

We read all the reviews and decided this was the route we wanted to go. It was a pricey purchase (but when you think about the savings on tapes..I guess it is all relative)...but we have used it and LOVE it! The ease of recording, the color, low light recording, transfering to computer, editing and burning DVD's is great so far. We realize the technology is VERY new (hense we did buy an extended warranty) and some question the quality of the video (which by the way we were very impressed with...maybe because we have nothing to compare it to) but so far I would recommend it.

Hope this helps:)

[tgal]

I haven't read all the reviews here, but dd is now six months and I put dh on the mission to get one. He did his own research and found that Sony is coming out with a new line with large hard drives and those reviews he said beat out most of the competitors. So, we are waiing until those come out the second week in September. If you want more info, I can ask him specifics, but I just thought I would mention it.

[kat]

We absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE our Sony Handycam (mini disc). Lightweight, EXTREMELY easy to use (I never read the instruction manual!!!), wonderfully steady even when I'm not. My geek husband did all the research, and I'm thrilled with his choice.

[PaulsGirl]

We have the Sony Handycam. Love it all around. Very easy to use. :)

[April1234]

Bumping up because I need help!

We got a sony Handycam for X-mas and I can finalize the disc and put it in my dvd player and it brings it just fine in Winows media player. However, thats where the prolems begin..I cant seem to copy the files onto my hardrive and when I did somehow get them to show up in my fiel they were no longer read as media files? UGH!

I am SO frustrated! I tried to use Nero which my cam came with but it didnt really do anything but want to help me burn DVDs. Can anyone help?! Thanks!

[Wrighty26]

April1234 - I was coming in here to post the same question. Help!

[tgal]

This is a fairly new on the market by Sony, so we bought the insurance just in case we have issues with it down the road. We bought it at the end of Sept. 06 and love how easy it is to use and upload. Just plug into computer and upload everything. No tapes or discs, which is really nice not to deal with that additional expense.

You can find it cheaper, we didn't pay sony sticker as shown on their website here.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=DCRSR40&Dept=cameras&CategoryName=dcc_DICamcorders_HardDiskHandycamCamc orders

[Smittenk]

*Bumping* We have a baby on the way so we are looking for an HDD Camcorder...anyone have one that they really like?

tgal, if you come back to this thread...can you tell me which model number you got cuz your link isn't working anymore.

We are looking at the JVC Everio MG155/157 but I like Sonys...Panasonics are also out there in the same range and I have no idea which ones are better. Trying to find online reviews is pretty impossible as well.

Any help would be great, thankyou!!