Camcorder Recommendations?

[masters58]

Am thinking of getting one--I know, last minute thinking (we leave in a week) but for those of you that have taken one, did you use it? Was it too much trouble? How many tapes did you take? If I get one, I dont plan to taking up too much space on parades and stuff, mostly family and their reactions. 5 year twins first time to Disney (other than in my tummy!)

Are the camcorders easy to use? Recommendations? Thanks for you time!

Jen

 

[ksloane]

Bumping this as I would like to have input on this too - not so much for disney but for "life." Really wanting one, but don't want to buy one and regret it later because I don't like quality of videos or can't get videos off camera easily (last experience with a friend's).

 

[graciespeaks]

We have a Sony Handycam (digital 8), it is very easy to use and does a great job! It is pretty lightweight, also.
We are going on our first DW vacation and plan to take it, but I do worry that I wont use it, I have been guilty of this on other vacations.

 

[amarberry]

We just got a new videocamera in the last couple of weeks. DH researched it so I can't really tell you why he thought this one was the best for us, but we got a Panasonix PV-GS500. I think we paid a little over $600 online. DH is an engineer and pretty tech savvy, so I usually defer to him about this sort of stuff. My only requirement is that I wanted one that was pretty compact.

In addition to a video camera, it can also be used as a digital camera (I think this is probably pretty common with video cameras now??? I just like that we don't have to haul around both). I think he also said that this one had a higher rating for interior lighting shots. I also remember him mentioning that the Panasonic and either the Sony's or Canon's (can't remember!) were the best rated videocameras.

Sorry...I'm the tech idiot in our house, so this probably didn't help too much.

 

[allyn]

i think there's a camcorder recommendation thread about once a week. so you may want to search through older threads.

i recommend panasonic camcorders. they always seem to have the best quality for value in my experience.

a couple of sites to visit: http://www.easycamcorders.com/ and http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

my only other recommendation if you have enough money is to spring for a sony hc3 high-def camcorder ($1100). the quality is amazing and if you have a high def tv you'll really appreciate the picture quality.