Hi, I know nothing about camcorders.

I want to make some videos of walking through alleys, streets and corridors. Quite a lot of low light / twilight stuff. Also I want to make videos of views out over the city at day and night from high up, and examine things like product labels in stores. I want to maintain an 'indie' feel, not ultra high quality, on my videos, which are for youtube etc. How little can I spend and achieve my camcording goals? thanks!