What should look/ buy for in a camera?

Question

Im looking to buy a video camera soon at circut city / electronic store so me and my freinds can make videos also i wanna record game play and my sisters graduation comin up so i need to know what to buy.

Answer 1

Mini dv and 3ccd.

Answer 2

I like the Everio GZ HD7

It records to hard drive, so no more buying tape

it doesn't use AVCHD, which you can't edit with (you and your friends making videos)

It has a lot of easy to switch automatic to manual controls, (for making movies again)

Additional details:  I also have a soft spot for Canon cameras, like the poster below.  

MiniDV is dead to me as soon as I can afford external Hard Drive Recorders like the Firestore.  

If you get a miniDV machine, pick one brand of tape and stick with it.  Buy hundreds and thousands of tapes of that brand so you aren't tempted to buy other  brands because it does matter.  If  you buy Sony stay with Sony ALWAYS.  If you buy something else, NEVER buy Sony, for reasons I won't bore you with here.

Answer 3

Since its for your personal use, you can buy the sony handy-cam, visit http://digitalcameras.fateback.com/Camco... for photos of different camcorders

Answer 4

What is your budget?

Low end: Canon ZR800, ZR950

Midrange: Sony DCR-HC96, Panasonic PV-GS320

High: Canon HV20, HV30; Sony HDR-HC7, HC9

3CCDs is OK - but not a requirement. If the total surface area of a single chip (CCD or CMOS) is the same as the total surface area of the 3-chip camera, the quality will be comparable. MiniDV tape provides best available video quality - and while I agree that the JVC-HD7 is a great camera, it is just too bad it is from JVC. You are wise to stay away from other camcorders that compress to their internal hard drives (or flash memory) using MPEG2 for standard definition and AVCHD for high definition.

Don't even consider the DVD based camcorders - too many problems with the discs and editing and really bad video quality...

Since you want to record game play, that may be a challenge and you may have locked yourself into the GS320 or the HC96. You need AV-In. Got to sony.com and panasonic.com and download the manual for those cameras to see if they have AV-in. Most cameras don't.