Camcorder

Updated on June 04, 2007
D.C. asks from Elmhurst, IL
11 answers

I'd like to buy my husband a camcorder for father's day. I've never purchased one before. What features should I be looking at? Any recommendations? Thanks!

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

Featured Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

B.O.

answers from Chicago on

HI, the best place is www.deals2buy.com , pricescan.com you can see the prices compare them:) hope it helps.

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.S.

answers from Chicago on

I got one for my husband for Christmas. I went out and did research for months trying to find the best quality for the best price. I went to alot of Camcorder/video recorder websites and read the reviews. Picture qualty is important, clarity of the picture, sound, battery life,warrentees, ease of use, quick reaction time for those quick to catch moments, memory devices (tape, cd, dvd). I found panasonic or sony to have the best quality for the price. Good luck it took me a couple of months before I found the one I wanted. I also bought it online to avoid the stores. Make sure you check the rerturn policy in case something goes wrong.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.C.

answers from Milwaukee on

Oy! That's quite a tricky task! It can be very complicated. My husband, an IT computer nerd and I just got one, and so far we like it-the JVC GRD770. It got good reviews. My hubby recommends a mini DV. Make sure you check these things at a store:

1.) Pan around the room and look for streaking on bright areas such as lights.
2.) Zoom in on shadows and look for noise - this will be lighter colored "speckles" which show up and disappear rapidly - think grainy video or "snow"
3.) Pan from light to dark areas to light areas quickly to see how the camera responds to lighting changes. Point the camera at the lights (but not the sun!) and then at the floor to see how quickly it responds. Look for washed out areas in bright scenes, and grainy or muted colors in dark scenes.
4.) Point the camera at a solid color - like the floor - where there is little contrast and see if it can focus well. Some cameras have difficulty focusing if there isn't enough detail in the scene.
5.) Try the near-far test: have someone stand close to the camera off-center, and watch to see if the camera focuses on the person, the background, or gets confused. (goes back and forth or out of focus...)
6.) Check battery life. Ask the salesmen if the camera requires a special battery made only by the manufacturer, or if it uses a "standard" camcorder battery.
7.) Mini DV will give you the best picture quality. You can get others which record to hard drive or SD card, but they will probably compress the video - which means you lose some detail.

And finally, cost does not mean quality! Compare, compare - I was surprised that the JVC - the second cheapest camera - performed better than cameras twice as expensive.

Good idea! Good luck!
M. (and Nathan)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

P.H.

answers from Chicago on

Their are so many features that you have to consider. Do you want a MiniDVD, MiniTapes, Regular Tapes (they are the size of a cassette), or the newest Hard Drive Camcorders. Another thing to consider is do you want to use your to be able to take pictures too? I personally have a Mini DVD with a 4 mega pixel camera in it as well. I bought a Sony and I paid almost $1000.00 for it but I bought the top of the line for mini DVD. It is nice because you can put the mini DVD in your DVD player and play right off of that. No converstion into DVD needed (that costs usually $20.00 to do at Walmart or Walgreens). Those were some the key factors for me. I am a loyal Sony customer, they tend to run a little higher but the quality is wonderful! If you go to Bestbuy.com or Circuitcity.com one of them has were you can compare the features and hear feedback from other customers. Do research first and shop around for the best price once you find the right one for you. Hope it helps!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.K.

answers from Chicago on

We used consumer reports to research ours. You can go to your library and use their copies for free

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

G.C.

answers from Chicago on

D.,

we just bought a camcorder and went through the same thing. I thought the "tape" option was a little old school, but I went to ABT and they told me it was still the best quality- even the mega $1000+ cameras are tape. With the right cable you can still burn the tape to a DVD on your computer. I went for tape with the best image quality within my budget. I ended up with a nice sony that we love.

good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

E.B.

answers from Chicago on

We have a Panasonic PV-GS35 and I think we paid about $300 for it a year and a half ago. It's a great camera, and I love the anti-shake feature. There are definitely more expensive cameras out there, but let's face it - we're taking pictures of our kids, not African wildlife or making independent films. And, technology becomes obsolete so fast these days that it hardly seems worth it to spend $1000 on it.

Our camera uses digital tapes and we upload them onto our MacBook and use iDVD and iMovie to make dvds. You can usually get your best deals for cameras online. We got ours through a store called B & H Audio-Video and were very happy with them.

Have fun!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.B.

answers from Chicago on

Whatever you do don't buy a JVC. I wasted my money on this piece of garbage that only works if the weather conditions are right. I constantly get a message that says, "condensation operation paused". Reading online it seems that many people who have this camera and other models by JVC have the same problem. It's a $500 paper weight that occasionally films events.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.S.

answers from Chicago on

If you can afford it, I would look for one that records to a hard drive or has a DV (digital video) out. This way they are much easier to hook up to a computer and you don't have to mess with little tapes and converting footage over, and can just burn DVDs with your computer and edit footage too if you want. I would probably also look for one that has a still camera in it too so he can use it for double duty.

If those are out of your price range, be very careful about getting the ones that record to DVD because although it is easy to pop them in your DVD player, if you want to do any editing on the computer, it is very difficult and you need special software.

Also, a great online place to order is Newegg.com. They sell computer parts but they have the best prices around, great customer service and superfast shipping.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.M.

answers from Chicago on

Hi D.,

We just bought a Sony HD RUX5 . We bought it a few weeks ago at Best Buy. It's expensive ($999), but it has a digital camera in it along with HD DVD's. My husband did tons of research and if you have a HD TV, this may be the way to go. The pictures and video come out great.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.

answers from Chicago on

I bought a new camcorder last year - it's a good time, because prices are good and they have lots of features. Here's a caution, though: you can't trust the item descriptions or the salespeople at Best Buy or Circuit City to be correct, and they both charge a hefty restocking fee (I think it's 20%) to return most camcorders if they've been opened. Make sure you take the time to read the online reviews and check out the product spec sheets on the manufacturer's website. And maybe order from an online source like Amazon - I got zero service from the stores anyway. (The online reviews on the circuit city website were very helpful, though.)

We ended up with a mini-DV style recorder, because it was the only one that would allow us to convert our old analog tapes. If I hadn't had that restriction I would have chosen straight-to-DVD, although it was more expensive. (maybe should have anyway, since I will never have the time to sit down and convert the old tapes.) We ended up with a Canon, which I love - packed with features, and it's light and small. It also takes photos, but the photo quality is not the greatest - more like a camera phone than a camera.

For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions