With $450, what digital video camera should I get?

December 26, 2006 5:42 PM

With $450, what digital video camcorder should I buy? I really like the Sony DCR-DVD 105 but I'm unfamiliar if that's the best camera for my money.

I noticed I can get that camera online for around $400, which leaves me some money to buy an extended battery. Optical zoom is certainly important, which is why I chose the 105 > 205. Are the benefits of the 205 more important than the relatively weak optical zoom? I'll be using the camera for amateur-type things -- family events, fun stuff, etc. Nothing professional. Thanks!

posted by seinfeld to shopping (5 comments total)

Some good reviews here.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:46 PM on December 26, 2006

The Wife got me a Panasonic PV-GS150 for my birthday and I have been very impressed. It uses 3 CCDs which leaves you with a much better quality image. Problem is, I'm pretty sure it costs more than $450. However there is a slightly earlier model, the PV-GS120, that has a lot of the same features which might better fit your price point.
posted by quin at 8:52 PM on December 26, 2006

Small.

Fast.

Better.

Canon Elura 100.
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-Elura-100-Camcorder-Review.htm

In all seriousness, I'd be careful getting a DVD-recording video cam right now. I've been researching this recently and it seems the technology is still pretty new (and it looks like DVD recording is becoming passe in favor of camera's with Hard Drives built in--JVC is leading the consumer video movement on on these, but they're all over $400.)

The drawback to both DVD and hard drive recording formats is the video must first be digitized and compressed to write to those formats (as opposed to recording images straight to video/DV tape). And it all depends on the video codec and format that your camera encodes to.

DV cameras have saturated the market and the quality for a cheap ($300-400) camera is going to always be better than a DVD or hard driver recording format.

The Elura was recommended to me previously, I purchased one, and I have used it many times and been impressed with the optic quality it delivers for such a small, inexpensive camera.

The bottom line, I wouldn't want my family memories saved on anything but the best video quality that I can afford. The Elura will give you that.
posted by jkl345 at 9:42 PM on December 26, 2006

Is there any particular reason you're leaning towards DVD? I think after the novelty wears off it'll get annoying.
posted by cillit bang at 1:37 AM on December 27, 2006

DVD seems so simple -- everyone has a DVD player so taking it off the camera and onto a TV is simple, without plugging the camera in.

The Canon does not seem to have as nice of an interface as the Sony.. Perhaps I'm wrong?
posted by seinfeld at 12:19 PM on December 27, 2006