Any suggestions--video cameras?

Question

I got a video camera for Christmas. It was only about 60 dollars and I love it! I love editing and making movies. Does anyone know a good camcorder that would be decent in making movies(not a cheesy play with it, but a good camcorder) I don't want to pay a ton of moeny, but that's what eBay is for. It would also help if you told me a good editing system to go with it, but if not, its okay.

I just need a dependable, good brand named, video camera that would be more than the normal home videos type.

Any Suggestions?

Answer 1

I use a Panasonic PV-GS83 its cheap and has all kinds of features. Its pretty cheap on ebay, and has very good video quality.

Manufacturer Description If you want to enjoy shooting videos, enjoy viewing them and enjoy creating your own video collection, you'll love the Digital Palmcorder camcorder. This convenient camcorder also lets you add previous recordings to your video collection. PV-GS83 Highlights Advanced Imaging Technologies for Capturing Beautiful Videos Pure Color Engine The Pure Color Engine converts the CCD output signal from a complementary color signal into an RGB signal at an early stage and extracts the low-frequency luminance component from the RGB signal. This innovative engine also achieves truly superb color reproduction for high-zoomed pictures. 32x optical zoom This 32x zoom can fill the screen with even a distant subject. This lens is not only the powerful zoom offered in a home-use digital camcorder, it also features low distortion. And because it's optical, there is no quality loss -- you get the images in all their natural beauty. So Easy to Use, Even Beginners Get Beautiful Results Large 2.7-inch widescreen LCD The large, 2.7-inch LCD monitor displays bright, clear images. You can see even tiny details. It's more fun to shoot and view images on a wide monitor, and it's easier to picture just how the images will look on a TV screen. One-Touch Navigation for easy, intuitive setting and shooting With One-Touch Navigation, just press the center of the joystick to display an operating menu. The operations you use most often are right on the monitor, so it's easy to change settings or operate the camera without looking away from your subject.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-PV-GS83-...

http://photography.search.ebay.com/PV-GS...

Answer 2

You did not provide a budget.

MiniDV (digital video) tape provides the best available video quality because DV does not compress the video as much as MPEG2 used by most internal hard drive and flash memory based camcorders. The worst camcorder video quality is captured by DVD based camcorders which burn to .VOB files.

If you get a miniDV tape based camcorder, your computer will need a Firewire 400 port, and a firewire cable that will connect the DV port of the camcorder to the firewire port of the computer. Firewire, IEEE1394 and i.Link are all the same thing.

Low end:

Canon ZR800, ZR950

Midrange:

Sony DCR-HC96, Panasonic PV-GS320

High end (and high definition):

Canon HV20, HV30

Sony HDR-HV7, HC9

DO NOT BUY A DVD BASED CAMCORDER. Worst video quality and the discs are a pain.