Purchasing New Camcorder Advice

[The_Fad]

Soon I will be purchasing my first prosumer camcorder! Exciting, right? I come to you, with this, my very first post, as one of those obnoxious people who join sites just to ask for advice (though, to be honest, after having looked around for a bit, I could easily forsee myself being a constant visitor to this fine site you folks have here). Hopefully you'll show me some mercy and help me out? Please and thank you

I'm looking for a high image quality, hdd storage prosumer camcorder for below $2,000. I know that's probably asking for quite a bit, but really the image quality can be just "Good" and not "Great" as long as the Audio quality is very good. That's my one pet peeve, you see. Audio quality.

So this is me asking for your help. Would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction? I found these two cameras and thought they looked kind of good, but they're miniDV storage which, while it isn't a SERIOUS problem, i guess, is still sort of obnoxious for me personally, and outside of that I honestly have very little idea what most of the tech speak means. Not to mention the AG-HMC70's pricetag:

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...GroupId=14571&surfModel=AG-DVC20&displayTab=R

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...roupId=112502&surfModel=AG-HMC70&displayTab=O

 

[Cassius]

It's not asking too much, it's just not asking right. I'll tell you what camera is right for your needs as soon as you tell me what kind of vehicle is right for mine.

In other words, if we don't know what you're doing we can't help. But we can give some pointers. I don't know why you would want HDD storage, flash is better. An HV30 or a GH1 could be equally right for you, I don't know with the information you've given. And I'm assuming you've already budgeted for a boom and mic.

 

[Alex H.]

To (sort of) echo Cassius, camera selection really depends on a few things besides budget. Yes, budget is important, but...

- What's your target project? Sports? Drama/narrative/short-films? Documentary? Weddings? Your kid's parties and games?
- Are you shooting professionally, or aiming towards that?
- What kind of editing system/software do you have or do you plan to purchase?
- How experienced are you with complete, manual control over a camera?
- Where are you located? (Important for the NTSC/PAL/SECAM issue.)
- Do you have auxiliary audio equipment? A camera may have the capability to record good audio, but no camera will capture good audio on looks alone. You must have a good mic, removed from the camera, and operated by an experienced boom op.

Answer these and we'll have a much better idea of what you're looking for!