What would be a good model of camcorder for filming birds and wildlife?

Question

I want to buy my Dad a camcorder for his birthday and he is keen on filming wildlife. I am looking for a camera within a £200 - 300 budget. I would like to know what specifications I should look for in terms of resolution and zoom for this subject. What special features would be useful for filming birds against the sky. Which cameras are good for managing light etc outdoors? What would be the best camera I would probably get for this sort of money?

Answer 1

I would suggest the Canon ZR family - they have good optical zoom and are small... another option would be digital binoculars.

http://www.opticsplanet.net/digital-came...

Consider including a monopod or tripod with it - humans were not built to be very steady, especially when zoomed in on something using optical zoom like this - and ignore digital zoom - it is useless.

Answer 2

buy a minidv model with good optical zoom.  Also buy a tripod.

For the money you are talking about you won't get brilliant pr kit.  But with a tripod and tape based system (miniDV) you have the best available quality.    Forget DVD and HDD.

Think tripod.