Buying a camcorder...

[jj-cyclones]

I am looking into buying a videocamera and I really don't know a thing about what to look for...

Is the Optical Zoom the main thing? I found a sony with 40x optical zoom for $175...

Any help would be great!!!!

 

[pulse]

It depends on how much you like to zoom in... 40x optical is pretty good. Also have to consider the format it records in and how long it can record for. Offloading/downloading it if its on a hard drive vs. recording directly to a DVD.

 

[cloneluke80]

get one with a hard drive, hitachi hybrid records to dvd or hard drive. You will love it.

 

[scottie33]

I got a sony dcr-sr42 with 40x zoom and 30 gb harddrive and it takes excellent video footage and alright pictures...they work but the quality isn't the greatest with pictures. I love the simplicity of hooking it up via usb cable to the computer and its just drag and drop with the files and its fast to transfer files. its got touch screen for watching videos and deleting files. I love it a lot and have prolly 14 hours saved on the harddrive and it holds up to 20 hours of video too
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[cyclonedave25]

I would get a harddrive camera, like a couple others suggested above. It makes life a lot easier.

 

[jumbopackage]

Camcorders - Independent Camcorder Reviews, Ratings & Comparisons

What it boils down to is your budget, and if you want/need HD or not.

I like the hard drive based ones, but if you're looking to archive video, you are going to need a good backup solution, so factor that into the cost of your media.

HDV or DV tapes give you a ready-made archive, which I sort of like.

 

[jj-cyclones]

Thanks everyone for your help! :notworthy: