I Want To Buy An Hd Camcorder For Personal And Professional Use. What’s Good?
I”m looking for a HD camcorder for personal and professional use. I want it to have internal and external flash drive memory capabilities so that I don’t have to use tapes to record them. I have a budget of $600-$1000. I’d also like to get a microphone to go with it too, in case I do any interviews with people.
Do you have any suggestions?
I presume mostly personal - there is no “professional” camcorder in your price range and the high definition flash memory compression uses AVCHD - which most professional camcorders do not use.
Prosumer and pro grade camcorders record much less compressed DV and HDV (and HDCAM and DVCPRO HD) formats. For flash memory, check the Panasonic AG-HVX200 using P2 cards or the Sony HVR-Z7 or the JVC GY-HM100. No AVCHD.
The Canon HV40 miniDV tape based camcorder is the least expensive high definition DV/HDV camcorder with a mic jack and manual audio control. The mic jack is 1/8″ stereo and the 43mm lens filter diameter and 1/2.7″ single imaging chip make it consumer grade.
If you must do flash memory, the Canon HF20 and HF200 are worth a look - I would not buy them, but the may be good enough for your needs.
Be sure your computer and video editor can deal with the video. High definition (more so AVCHD than HDV) is a computing resource hog. The software in the box is not worth installing, so you’ll need to buy an editor that can deal with those files - and high def files can be huge, so available hard drive space is important - better if the hard drive is external - different that what the operating system booted from.
For mics… wired or wireless? What is your budget? Shotgun and camera mounted or handheld? Is that a different budget? Audio Technica and NRG Research are your best bets. What sort of interviews? Will you need a video light too? Tripod? Additional rechargeable battery (high capacity) from the manufacturer…
I recommend Canon VIXIA HF20 HD Dual Flash Memory with 32 GB Internal Memory and 15x Optical Zoom.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OI2…