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cenutrio · Jun 12, 2008, 04:23 PM

Hi guys, my brother is after a good HD camcorder. His budget is up to $1,200, but he wants a price wise choice, meaning that he is willing to pay a premium, but only if it makes a real difference. In my opinion a maximum of $1,000 would do for a great camcorder, but it is just my opinion.

He wants HDD or flash to storage, no tapes. A minimum of 1 h recording full quality would do, and firewire connection for downloading the movies to his computers.

It would be great if there's an optional gasket for the camera because he is kite surfer, sailor kind of guy, and may bring the camera for recording in the beach or from small boats. He uses either Macs or PCs, so it must be multiplatform.

Any clues? any advice or link will be very welcomed.

Also, now that I'm into video camcorders, I've been for quite a while thinking of buying a small flash camcorder. One of those that you can attach to a helmet and use it for recording yourself riding mountain bikes, surf, windsurf, etc. anything crazy. I have no clue about these, brands that have them available, prices, etc. I can assume that quality must be a little poorer, but it is the kind of moments that you can record with one of these, what I'm interested in for. Ideas?

richwig83 · Jun 12, 2008, 06:05 PM

Sony HDW-750PC ( HDW-750 HDW750C ) HD Camcorder with Colour Viewfinder

cenutrio · Jun 12, 2008, 06:17 PM

Man, he is after a good family camcorder, he doesn't plan to film a new Star Wars saga....

mduell · Jun 12, 2008, 06:48 PM

Canon VIXIA HF100

2-3 hours of 1080 (24p, 30p, 60i) HD video on a 16GB flash card (~$70 and dropping). He can buy a Firewire card reader if he wants Firewire. Records in AVCHD, which is supported on by some apps on Windows and of course iMovie '08 on Mac OS X.

- - e r i k - - · Jun 12, 2008, 08:40 PM

You can't really get past the new RED "family" camcorder now can you?

SPECIFICATIONS:
NEW 2/3" MYSTERIUM X SENSOR
1-120 FPS (180FPS BURST)
UP TO 100 MB/SEC REDCODE RAW AND RGB RECORDING TO DUAL COMPACT FLASH
4.8" LCD
8X T2.8 RED ZOOM LENS
FULL AUTO OR FULL MANUAL SHOOTING MODES
HDMI and HD-SDI
FIREWIRE 800 and USB2
STILL MODE
COMPATIBLE WITH MANY RED ONE ACCESSORIES
WI-FI CONTROL

t6hawk · Jun 12, 2008, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Canon VIXIA HF100

Records in AVCHD, which is supported on by some apps on Windows and of course iMovie '08 on Mac OS X.

I believe iMovie 08 will only recognize AVCHD on an Intel CPU. I have the Sony HDR-SR12 and a G5 iMac and iMovie 08 PPC doesn't recognize the .mts files. Toast 9 though does a good job of converting the AVCHD to something iMovie 08 PPC will recognize.

Helmling · Jun 12, 2008, 09:21 PM

My 2 cents on the Sony Hard Drive camcorders:

It is annoying to manage the video files on the hard drive and the imports are agonizingly slow because they have no firewire.

t6hawk · Jun 12, 2008, 11:13 PM

So far the Sony HD camcorder has been pretty fast for me. It's getting much harder to find newer camcorders with a firewire port on them. All of the top rated ones I came across were USB2 only.

moep · Jun 13, 2008, 01:10 AM

The Sony HD-TGR1 might also be worth a look: Amazon. Really small and compact while maintaining decent picture quality.

cenutrio · Jun 13, 2008, 04:22 AM

He is pretty new to Apple computers, he is got an intel MacBook Pro.

So far, the Canon VIXIA HF100 seems like a pretty good possibility.

No clues yet, on the waterproof/sports small camcorder though.

bearcatrp · Jun 13, 2008, 09:58 AM

I'll second the Sony SR11/12. I have the SR11 and this camcorder takes awesome footage. I especially like the ability to manually focus in low light. Works great with iMovie 8. I import to iMovie 8, save, then import to iMovie 6 to edit and add transitions I purchased from geethree. Just be ready to deal with large files if you use AVCHD.

The Godfather · Jun 15, 2008, 10:08 AM

GO-HD - 720P High Definition Camcorder w/ Optical Zoom: Aiptek Shop

Pro: If it falls in the water, there's money left to buy a replacement.
Con: It is 720p

Chongo · Jun 15, 2008, 11:38 AM

If he wants to burn anything to DVD, get something that works with iMovie HD. With the new iMovie you have to jump through hoops to get it over to iDVD.

Veltliner · Jun 15, 2008, 01:22 PM

Canon hf1-100
Sony SR11/12

Why not tape? Capturing avchd on a mac isn't pulling across the files and off you go. You need to convert to an intermediate codec, which sends your mac number crunching for about exactly the same time as it takes to import hdv files from tape.

AVCHD is much better now, but still cannot match hdv in good camcorders.

Canon's hv30 is the best budget camcorder and sells currently for under 800$.

jrramsey · Aug 20, 2008, 01:51 PM

Try the Sony HDR-CX12. It comes with 4GB but can easily be upgraded to 8 or 16. HD is outstanding. Very light weight. Easy to use. 10.2 Megapixel stills. Converting to the Mac is a little more of a challenge since it only connects through USB. Still, the video quality is excellent plus I picked it up for $729.

moep · Aug 20, 2008, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

You can't really get past the new RED "family" camcorder now can you?

Heh, I used to think that those things are ridiculously overpriced until I saw these two videos:

http://www.vimeo.com/1343189
http://www.vimeo.com/1340684

now I’m considering saving for a scarlet.

But realistically I’d suggest your brother to look into the Sony HDR TG3

A friend of mine owns this camera and the quality is truly amazing for how compact it is.

Veltliner · Aug 21, 2008, 02:15 AM

Check out camcorderinfo.com

Pretty good reviews. They also have sections about camcorder buying.

davidg14 · Aug 21, 2008, 09:14 AM

A friend of mine owns the Sony HD-TGR1.
He is very happy with it.

ben11 · Sep 1, 2008, 05:01 AM

I read a ton of stuff on forums about this and I went for the Sony HDR-SR10E HD Digital camcorder. I do all I need to do then keep the original tapes until in the future I can actually burn proper HDDVDs and watch it through a player.. while researching I came across this
http://www.checkcost.co.uk/camcorders/c/4354/
Here I found a lot of sellers for this product and could compare the prices they offered. Read the expert reviews and make a good deal..

Veltliner · Sep 8, 2008, 04:30 AM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

You can't really get past the new RED "family" camcorder now can you?

SPECIFICATIONS:
NEW 2/3" MYSTERIUM X SENSOR
1-120 FPS (180FPS BURST)
UP TO 100 MB/SEC REDCODE RAW AND RGB RECORDING TO DUAL COMPACT FLASH
4.8" LCD
8X T2.8 RED ZOOM LENS
FULL AUTO OR FULL MANUAL SHOOTING MODES
HDMI and HD-SDI
FIREWIRE 800 and USB2
STILL MODE
COMPATIBLE WITH MANY RED ONE ACCESSORIES
WI-FI CONTROL

It's still a dream camera, and not yet available.

But I'm itching terribly to get one.

Chongo · Sep 8, 2008, 10:59 AM

The Samsung HMx10 is selling for around $350 US. It is flas based with 8G of memory and used MP4. It is a 720p camera.

Big Mac · Sep 8, 2008, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by Veltliner

Canon hf1-100Canon's hv30 is the best budget camcorder and sells currently for under 800$.

I second that vote. I have been very happy with my HV20, and the HV30 is just a bit different from it.