I am going to buy my first camcorder today...I don't know what I should look for, ie. what is the lowest optical zoom that I should go for?<br>what is the lowest pixels I should go for?<br>what is the lowest memory that it can hold should I go for?<br>what about memory sticks, can any camcorder take any size, 1GB, 20GB, etc?<br>How would I know if it can take still pictures too?<br>As you might have guessed by now, I am on a very tight budget but need one bad. So I want something of quality that I will be satisfied with, basically not a piece of junk, and at a later date I can spend a lot more money to get top quality.<br>PLEASE HELP, it is appreciated. Thanks!
So many to choose from, so little time...
When you say you're on a budget, to get a semi-decent camcorder, you're going to have to spend around $400-500. Assuming that's OK, here's some specs to consider and a little explanation:
I personally would stick with miniDV tape format for your camcorder - it's not proprietary and readily available. I'm not a fan of recording directly onto DVDs or similar for a variety of reasons. Memory sticks are Sony proprietary and are generally used to store pictures, not video. They aren't large enough still to make video storage realistic.
Look for at least 10x zoom and a minimum illumination rating of 7 lux or lower.
Make sure that your camcorder has a FireWire (i.e. IEEE 1394) connection for your computer. S-Video is nice to have also.
I would make sure that the LCD viewfinder was a size I was comfortable seeing.
Lastly, if you want to convert your old VHS tapes, make sure that your camcorder supports analog to digital 'pass-through' technology.
Here a couple that you might consider:
Canon Elura 85
Sony DCR-HC32