Camcorders - Recommend me something!

[Matthew]

Hi,

Looking to purchase a camcorder for airshows, holidays and just general family events.

I know pretty much nothing about them, other it would have to be 1080 resolution, have a slot for SD card and have a good optical zoom/image stabiliser.

Looking to spend upto £150 (thats the top of the budget).

Can anyone recommend me something decent?

 

[Chrisgti6]

We bought a JVC one in 2012 for about your budget. I have to be honest, the video quality from my iPhone 6 is much much better than that of the camcorder. The only good thing on the JVC is the 40x optical zoom.

For that budget would it be worth looking into a second hand DSLR of some sort?, they usually shoot very good video.

 

[MarkCup]

For me audio is as important, if not more so, than video quality.

For that reason I'd get a dedicated camcorder...and make sure it's one with forward facing microphones.

 

[Matthew]

Thanks guys.

Been reading up and the SONY Handycam HDR-CX405 seems to be getting good reviews, and is £150 bang on.

Had a look on YouTube and it seems to record very good quality video (full 1080).

Agree though @MarkCup audio is a biggy, especially at airshows etc. Wonder if I can attach an external mic on that.

 

[MarkCup]

Doesn't look like attaching a mic is an option on that version.

I myself run with one of these now;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003QKBVYK/?tag=cliospnet01-21

Combined with a decent quality furry dead cat windshield what it picks up and the clarity of it is incredible.

It does mean you need to combine and synchronise your video/audio files which is a minor pain considering how much it increase your options for capturing audio.

 

[Matthew]

Didnt know that! So if you attache external 'furry muff' mic, you have to sync video and audio?

 

[MarkCup]

Didnt know that! So if you attache external 'furry muff' mic, you have to sync video and audio?

Yes but only if you don't have an external mic input on your video recording device.

If you do have and can plug it in then it should write the audio as part fo the video file.

Using the Zoom though means you have two completely seperate recording devices so the video and audio have to be combined.

It's not tricky to do with the right software, so long as you can have a visual waveform and you mark the audio with a clapper-board like clap or two.

I perfer having a seperate field recorder now...I'm conisdering moving to a Zoom H2 or H4 to give me multi track options so I can stick various mics any/everywhere!

 

[Matthew]

Oh sack that off then - way too much trouble for me. Ill stick with the standard mic on the devise.

Does the one I linked look ok, spec wise? Read up and its sensor is really good apparently.

 

[MarkCup]

Oh sack that off then - way too much trouble for me. Ill stick with the standard mic on the devise.

Does the one I linked look ok, spec wise? Read up and its sensor is really good apparently.

Looks good enough to me. I've only had Panasonic ones myself...I tend to buy last year's models once the latest one is released with features I'll never use...that way I get video and audio as good as it gets without paying for stupid face identity/tagging software or YouTube uploading functionality.

Big battery and a big SD card capacity are a must. No matter how big you buy them both, you will always want/need more!

 

[Matthew]

Cheers Mark. Looks good enough for me tbf. Although it only takes 'micro SD' by the looksof it? That would make my large SD cards (that I use with my DSLR) redundant...

 

[MarkCup]

Cheers Mark. Looks good enough for me tbf. Although it only takes 'micro SD' by the looksof it? That would make my large SD cards (that I use with my DSLR) redundant...

http://www.johnlewis.com/panasonic-...ntelligent-zoom-2-7-wide-lcd-monitor/p1989464

Any good? If I had £150 in my back pocket for a camcorder I would buy this one with little hesitation.

 

[Matthew]

I'll check it out, many thanks Mark.