New Camcorder info please. What to buy

I need some help about buying a new camcorder. Therr are a zillion new ones out and I am lost. What's a flip one? What do I need to look for?

Some are small some bigger. I want one that I can do family get togethers with. I can't even find a sales man that can tell me the difference. Needs to be one easy to transfere to DVD or computer.

Thanks guys.
kathy

I have a JVC hard drive camcorder but I am using the video setting on my canon dig camera much more now. The video quality is the same but I have both pic and vid options. And it fits in my shirt pocket and the JVC camcorder does not.

I use a Canon Sureshot dig cam and it has a video setting. In a few weeks I will be upgrading it and I have no plans to buy any more camcorders. So if you are just wanting basic videos a "middle of the road" dig cam would be a good choice. The SD cards are getting bigger each year so you really don't need a camcorder with a hard drive anymore to get adequate storage.

I am using a 16gb SD card and can get just under 3 hrs of video. And I can always carry and extra card if I need more.

An SD card is much easier to upload video then off a camcorder. Most computers have SD ports now and if they don't you can buy an adapter to go into the USB port for around $15.

Windows Movie Maker is very easy to use to splice all the videos together into one with some neat effects. You just drag and drop the clips from the card. And the windows DVD burner can do the same and burn the DVD.

It would be best to find a friend that can help you upload and edit videos. And if you do not have a fairly new PC it can take a very long time and quite often crash your system when you start dealing with videos.

I have a little JVC as well. It is a hybrid so HD and SD card.
I usually just use the HD and dump it onto my TV HD or DVD.
Takes good indoor shots too.
Im happy with it. Good zoom, good picture and didnt cost much.

When I think of the huge Son one I dragged around the US in 1990.
This oner is a breeze.

JVC has great lens zoom (not digital) but the more zoom the more unstable the video will be without a tripod. My dig cam only has 12x zoom for video but I would never use that much w/o a tripod.

I have a nice JVC that you can download to the computer and a brand new flip that I LOVE. I thought it was a waste of money when hubby bought it for us for xmas. But I love it. It is the size of a large cell phone, it lives in my purse. It takes great hd images and plugs directly into your computer. The only drawback is the lack of zoom and pan. Sometimes I want to take a wider pic than is available or a closer shot. Otherwise, I LOVE the thing.

I guess it depends on what you are video taping. Infact we just recorded our daughter making a soccer goal and singing her "goal song". I am going to plug it into my computer after I do the dishes and email it to the grandparents and put it on facebook. Easypeasy.

Mary Anne

Wow thanks for all the info.
Still a little lost. But you're clearing things up for me.
I currently have a camcorder that uses the small tapes.

Question: If I get the digital camcorder is it hard to edit? Can you edit on the spot when you are still recording but have a couple minutes of free time?

I assume the cards determine the alotted time to record? I think some hold a disc, can they be easily edited?

Can it be deleted right there or do I have to delete when transferring?

Do most only record for a limited time like 30 minutes, if so what do you do if you need another 30 minutes. Do you have to transfer the recording imediately?

How about zoom, I see 3x, 4x zoom how much do you need to get close up from a distance, I am a big zoom in person. IE if my son is playing basball in the out field and I want a close up shot, from the dugout, what zoom # do I need? What #pixels are the best? My present recorder can get in very tight for good shots.

Thanks again for the input.
kathy

Most of them you can edit on the camera but I never do. It's much easier to do it on the PC.

Yes, the more memory on the card the more video you can shoot. SD cards go up to 32 Gb which is around 8 hrs of record time. Some of the newer hard drive camcorders can store 60 Gb or more. But hard drive camcorders use up batteries real fast compared to SD cards.

You can play back each video and delete them right on the spot.

The memory capacity has surpassed the battery life now. As long as you have space on your memory medium (SD card or hard drive) you can shoot video. You can carry extra cards. Most hard drive camcorders also let you use SD cards. If the hard drive (HDD) is 30 Gb and the SD card is 16 gb then you will have a total of 46 Gb of memory.

The issue with hard drive camcorders is the included rechargeable battery doesn't last long and the extended life batteries are very expensive.

That is a major reason I won't mess with any more HDD camcorders. The disk capacity is irrelevant if your battery pukes out. My JVC battery gives me about 40 minutes. The extended life batt is about $90.

More then 4x zoom and the video gets very unstable. My JVC has image stabilization but past 4x zoom it's worthless. The only way around that is to use a tripod or place the camcorder on a solid surface.

Be sure to shop Overstock.com, they have very good prices and only $2.95 shipping. They also take paypal. I just ordered a 10 megapixel Canon Power shot today for $100 less then the suggested retail.

My JVC is a couple of years old now Brent. It is am MG 330 with 30g HD and 35 zoom.
I can get at least 90 minutes out of the battery from a full charge....might be longer, not used it any longer than that in one go.
Not sure its the best out there and pretty low on functions, but it takes good video in many lights and for £150 I am a happy bunny.

I used to be really into the cameras and had some pretty good ones, but now I dont get out much and cant cope with the weight so this little fella is good for me.

Pen