Hard drive digital video camcorder? - desired specs below?

Question

300$ - 400$... battery time, comes with easy to use software for edits, good quality in low light, good zoom, SD card in it for pix, I DONT want a mini one - a shoulder mounted on would be pref. weight is not an issue.

Answer 1

The affordable shoulder mount cams are obsolete. They were large because they had to be. Modern "mini" cams are lighter, more portable, and have superior image quality. To my knowledge they do not make an HDD (hard drive) cam as a shoulder mount. The only shouldered cams nowadays are prosumer or professional cams, and they don't use HDD because of the inferior image quality.

One of the entry-level prosumer cams that is shoulder mount would be the Canon XL2 (standard def) and its HD equivalent. A new one will start around $3500-$4000. The slightly smaller Panasonic DVX100 is around $2300.

I don't mean to be negative, but you won't find what you're specs require in your price range. Most software that comes with the camera is substandard. You're better off with iMovie (Mac) or Vegas (Windows). Pro editing suites start at $200 or so for Final Cut Express (or Windows equivalent), or $1200 for Final Cut Pro/Adobe Premiere.

If you want a nice camcorder near your price range, I would suggest the Panasonic GS-320 ($400 or so with discounts). It has everything you want except the shoulder mount. It has 3 CCD chips for great color reproduction and the best low light performance in the price range. It can take pictures, it comes with software (see above), and it uses the much-preferred mini-dv format for editing. Mini-dv is the best affordable option for good editing because it uses the least compression, meaning you get higher quality video. Plus, you can archive your tapes is anything goes wrong during an edit.

I know this isn't what you want, but it's your best option in my opinion.