Topic awaiting preservation: Which camcorder to buy?

Since it seems there are some video hobbyist here (or even more serious persons), I want an advice, if possible with detailed explanations on why your decision would be this or that (relating to brand and model of a camcorder):

- If you had US$ 1,000 to spend on a new camcorder, which one would you buy?
- What if you had $ 2,000 ?

PS - Don't ask me to use google and search for reviews in Internet because I have already done that and I have already some thoughts about the matter. But I want to hear from the experts of Asylum.

Viol what ya panning on doing with it exactly, depending on that will go a long way towards choice.


few tips thou as to features


1.Get Mini DV Format if ya budget will go that far 3ccd model
2.if ya can afford it try to get one with a colour view finder and lcd screen, lcd screens suck, i always shoot using the small viewfinder unless at some strange angle. it gives you a more accurate idea of what it will look like on screen than the lcd ever will.
3.play with some cameras, find out which one you feel most comfortable using,

look for things like how is the zoom---comfortable to use, easily responsive etc.

try to see if things like the auto focus or other important features such as exposure cointrols are easy to reach when actually shooting.

Let me know exactly what ya planning to do and i will try and put some suggestions up for ya.

hope this helped tom

If I had $1000:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_DCR_PC101/4505-6500_7-9651046.html?tag=pdtl-list

I've tried one of these out, and I like the touch screen LCD and some of the other features. The reviews for this model, though, are pretty varied and extreme. PC Magazine gave it a rave review, but CNet's not as excited...


If I had $2000:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Canon_GL2/4505-6500_7-20224838.html?tag=pdtl-list

Oh yeah! $2000 is PRO-sumer camcorder territory!

I'm happy with my JVC GR-DV3000U... Complaints are that it's a little bulky compared to what most are used to, and the auto-focus is a little slow for my taste.. Perks: Everything else. I don't have any links though.. cause the place I bought mine from was pretty bad actually. They tried to con me into a whole lotta other shit. I recommend knowing exactly what you need to buy and what you don't, because you never know when they'll try to pull an extra few hundred dollars out of your pocket.

I am not sure yet if I want to spend around one thousand or two, to buy a new camcorder. My main use is personal, to record my trips, my family, my daughters, images from the USA, because in one year, I'll have to go back to Brazil and I want to take the recordings with me.

Currently, I have a Sony DCR-TRV 110, it's digital, but it's a first generation, I think, one CCD, with only 270k pixels actual. The images are very useful but they left much to be desired.

After some research in Internet, reading some reviews, if I decide to spend around one thousand, I was thinking on the Sony DCR-TRV38 MiniDV camcorder, because it's the model like my current one (the shape of the camera) and it's a one megapixel CCD (gross), 690k actual CCD. Another option would be the Sony DCR TRV80 that's a little more than 1k but it has a better CCD.

If I decided to spend a fortune, like around 2k, I am between the Sony TRV950 or the Canon GL-2, being the latter my probably first choice, but it's a hell of an expensive camcorder and although it has all the features I want, I am a little biased towards Sony when talking about camcorders. Mine has never had a problem and it is almost four years old and I have read some bad reviews about the Canon GL-2 as for its maintenance and dependability. Both are 3-CCD.