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New to Camcorders, please help with first purchase :)
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Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Ok, we are finally going to get ourselves a Digital Camcorder, but there are so many styles, different media types, and price-points that I am confused at which is a good buy. I see that there are DV, Mini-DV, Flash, and well a grip of different types, which is good?
What we are going to do with it is film home movies, trips to Disneyland, etc. Nothing HD or to make a theatrical movie or anything, but something good for less then $400 that doesnt cost a fortune in storage! Any help or hands on experiences would be awesome, and myself and the wife thank yoou in advance for the help.
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iMac G4 / Macbook
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Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Ok, so after reading a little and loving Canon, I am looking at the ZR-700 Mini-DV camcorder. Anyone have any experience with this one?
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iMac G4 / Macbook
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: lexington,ohio,usa
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My experience is with the Canon zr-65 and zr-85. I have two of the former, and 1 of the latter. They are very good consumer cameras. You can just take it out of the box and start shooting. With a little reading, you can easily learn some of the additional features, and you should be quite happy with the results.
One thing I noticed from the zr-65 to the zr-85, Canon dropped the external mic input. I use the cameras to video weddings for fun and profit, and use a wireless mic during the ceremony to capture the vows from the bride and groom. I can only use one of the zr-65's for this purpose.
I'm not sure about the zr-700. This may not even be a concern for you.
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Germany
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miniDV
firewire ("iLink") connected...
no other "formats" are supported by the iApps, so stay away from miniDVD, flashmem, harddrive recording-gizmos...
in-camera effects? would do that in post/iMovie, never on tape - how to get rid of effect, if you decide later, you don't want it? I would spend more on optics/3ccd ....
I wouldn't use a camcorder as a still-cam, personally, I prefer TWO devices, specialized in ONE job...
ext. mic-in is nice, built-in mics are often... not so good.. 
think about a second battery, make sure, a firewire cable is supllied...(most camceras are sold with usb cable only => useless with iApps)
and get a tripod....
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Columbus, OH/Chicago, IL
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Originally Posted by k_munic
miniDV
firewire ("iLink") connected...
no other "formats" are supported by the iApps, so stay away from miniDVD, flashmem, harddrive recording-gizmos...
in-camera effects? would do that in post/iMovie, never on tape - how to get rid of effect, if you decide later, you don't want it? I would spend more on optics/3ccd ....
I wouldn't use a camcorder as a still-cam, personally, I prefer TWO devices, specialized in ONE job...
ext. mic-in is nice, built-in mics are often... not so good..
think about a second battery, make sure, a firewire cable is supllied...(most camceras are sold with usb cable only => useless with iApps)
and get a tripod....
All points are excellent advice. As is edavis comments about Canon. I have 3 Canon mini-DV camcorders of various capabilities and I have had good results with all of them.
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I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
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