Hi everyone

We run a small publishing business and when we visit trade shows it's often very important for us to record seminars and small interviews with clients.

But we were thinking of making a purchase of a camcorder to make the filming of certain things a bit easier. Rather than captioning up stills and having galleries on our website, we could be editing together our own basic interviews / reviews of trade shows.

The camcorder I've been looking at is the Sony HDR-HC3 which seems to have had loads of positive feedback.
I was wondering if anyone

For filming seminars from the back of the rooms, I also thought that the Sony ECM-HGZ1 directional mic might be a good purchase too...
http://www.electronics-online.co.uk/...icrophone.html
Would that be necessary?
Also, as it's powered by the camcorder battery, does anyone have any experience of the battery drainage this thing causes?

We thought we'd also get hold of a couple of spare batteries - the Sony NPFP71 ones are the middle capacity (approx 5 hrs apparently - I'm guessing under ideal conditions)...
http://www.electronics-online.co.uk/...m_Battery.html

Are the highest capacity batteries NPFP90 (7.5 hrs approx) worth the extra £40?
For an extra £40 you could almost just pick up an additional 5hr NPFP71


Finally, I was told by the sales person in the Sony Centre I visited for browsing purposes, that the batteries can only be charged on the camera.
To me that's just insanity!
But apparently Sony do have a charging cradle which can charge the InfoLithium batteries... Sony ACVQP10 AC Charger and Adaptor
http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/product.asp?id=3503
So I could have them charging whilst out using the camera.
Anyone have any experience of this item?


My final question... this camcorder records onto standard DV tapes.
Which is fine as I assume it's easier for editing and uses less power than recording onto DVD.
But how long would it take to transfer the 60min of video onto my computer via firewire?
Does it take 60 minutes - a 1x transfer speed? Or does it go at 2x or 3x?
How many gigabytes of video does each 60min tape come in at?


To me this camcorder seems ideal.
Although in truth I don't think we don't have much of a need for HD video.
My thinking though is that it's better to record in HD, then downsample / resize for our various uses - DVD, web, computer.

Anyone have any other comments / suggestions on this kit?
Or is there other stuff I'd also need to get?


Cheers
Ben

Also, lenses / filters / lights?
We'd be filming in typical tradeshow hall and seminar room conditions.


I have no idea what different lenses and filters we would and could need.
But mainly we're shooting for our own archival purposes and to edit together small interviews to stick on the web.


Thanks in advance
Ben