Apologies if this has been covered before but I have looked and cannot find it. I am completely new to digital camcorders and wish to buy a reasonable cost one to record generally and, in particular, golf swings. I want to be able to look at the golf swing in slow motion (frame by frame) on my computer or tv and need it to be clear! My local golf professional uses one for his lessons and says he never has to spend more than a couple of hundred pounds! (sony DCRTRV19E). My pal has a sony DCR HC22E but not sure which one to buy? Help will be much appreciated!

Andy

If all you want to do is play back a golf swing, then to be honest you're not really going to appreciate the difference that the big bucks cameras have to offer.

You sound like you want something simple too. If you were into all things video editing, you may have wanted to invested in a high speed video camera. This will record at rediculously high frame rates so that you can easily slow things down and see everything in glorious detail. This is a) expensive and b) technical. So that's equally a no go.

So what's left is a cheap camera. Your best bet is to get a reliable Mini DV camera. WarehouseExpress.com are selling the Canon MVX200 for 299.99. You'll also need a tripod.

To play back in slow motion on a PC, you'll need some sort of video editing application. I would suggest you buy Adobe Premiere Elements. Camcorders don't tend to have ainbuilt slow motion playback.

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Thanks Marc, my budget is really set aound £200 and I need to stick to this. Another of my professional golfer friends reckons the shutter speed is all important for the golf bit ( he says I need 1/8000 of a second) but I am really torn between getting something good enough to play slow mo on computer or tv and something that just is a bog standard camcorder. Jessops have several on sale but still not sure of the most important features to go for ie shutter speed etc!

To be perferctly honest comparing the shutter speeds on cameras on your budget is a bit like comparing the performance of two people carriers; someone will have an opinion on what gives the better perfomance, but they're both pretty lame compared to a Lotus. The difference becomes almost negligable.

I doubt you will get a shutter speed of 1/8000 of a second on a low end camera. The highest speed will probably be 1/2000. What you should therefore ensure is that you get a camera with which you can manually change the shutter speed. Typically Sonys are geared twoards point and shooters and may not have this manual setting, or is burried in the menu.

You're probably looking at around the £500 from new mark before you get a shutter speed of 1/8000. I've had a look around however, and it seems Panasonics tend to offer higher shutter speeds at lower prices.

According to Amazon the Panasonic NVGS27B does this at under your budget, but you'll probably be compromising on other areas. In fact in the under £200 price range I could only find Panasonics meeting your criteria.

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Thanks for your time and good advice Marc, off to the sales now!!!!