Hi

I wondered if one of you could help with, hopefully, a fairly simple question? As the title states, I've got no idea whatsoever about the whole camcorder market but I would like to know which one would best suit my requirements. These are:

1) A camcorder which enables me to create a video blog and upload it to a website. Here, simplicity is the key. Also, I want it to look fairly professional and, therefore, I might have to do some degree of editing.

2) I'm initially looking for a camcorder which will be able to take recordings of a newsreader-style (i.e. a person behind a table) event. Following this, I'm hoping to be able to shoot outside and will probably need something able to work in a wider-screen (perhaps not the correct terminology) style.

Furthermore, are there any other things that I need to buy other than the camcorder? I presume, for example, that I would need a tripod?

Since I am a total beginner, I'm not really looking for loads of fancy features, buttons etc. As regards budget, I suppose something up to £500.

The chap in a well-known high-street store reckoned that everything in his shop would suit my purpose and that nobody would be able to tell the difference between a camera costing £150 and one costing £500. He said that the only difference was the way that the data was stored, i.e. on a DVD, a hard disk etc. and, thus, the length of recording time. To be honest, I wasn't exactly convinced by this and, hence, my question.

Thanks in advance for any advice given

For a videoblog the The chap in a well-known high-street store is right, you almost won't notice the difference and buy a mini-dv cam which is easiest to work with if your new in video and yes, buy a tripod. Especially with these very small handycams it makes a world of difference if you use a tripod or not.

Noa

Thanks a lot for your help - it is much appreciated. Following on from your comments, would you say that something like Sony's HC35 would fit the bill?

Thanks again

Remember that if you're only using it for vidblogging then quality is probably not a terribly large issue, as you're gonna be downscaling and compressing the hell out of the picture anyway : P

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It's not about what camera you use or how much it cost.

It's about what you shoot,
how you shot it,
and how you edit it :P

True, something to take into consideration. If you compress your video's to make them web ready you can use windows mediamaker which come with XP, it's "free" and does a very good job compressing.

The dc35 from Sony is a good choice, especially because it has dv in and out, that means you can transfer your film from camera to pc but also back from pc to the camera's mini-dv tape. For backup and safekeeping reasons that is an important option. Because I also have this camera (Use it mainly to transfer my tapes to pc) I can say that, for that size, it has surprisingly good image. It also has a fun option called nightmode, meaning that you can tape in absolute darkness (In black/white)

Best_Outrunner and Noa

Thanks a lot for your answers.

I shall purchase the aforementioned camcorder and, without doubt, be back! I've certainly got plenty to learn!

Best Wishes

Alan

Dear All

As predicted, I'm back!

The manual for this camcorder suggests that I should get an i.LINK cable rather than using the USB cable provided. Since I'm trying to produce a video blog, is this still appropriate?

Thanks again for the advice given to date. The camcorder seems really easy to use and the quality seems stunning for a mere £200.

Hope to hear from you both again

Yes. Always start with the best quality input no matter what the output.

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Marc

Will sort one out now.

Thanks a lot