Camcorder geeks: I'm looking for one, need advice

[supernova]

What should I look for? What should I take into consideration as I look at them? There is a bewildering array of attributes.

I'm looking for a camcorder that can do at least two things:

Take stills
Take decent movies
Probably long battery life (I like convenience)

Is there one that has better pic quality than another? If you've use one, what model is it? What do you like/not like about it?

[supernova]

1. I don't want this to slide

I'd really like some help here guys. I'd like to get one before xmas so I can film my family doing embarrassing things. ;-)

[TK421]

2. I wish I could help, but I haven't owned one in quite some time

[supernova]

3. Thanks, TK

what kind did you have?

[TK421]

4. A Panasonic, though I don't remember the model...it crapped out on me

after four years or so

[TK421]

5. My friend owns a newer JVC, and he swears by it. He's a filmmaker

and seems to be happy with it, if that helps any...good luck

edited: I think it was supposed to be JVC, not JVS..oops! Thanks,Forrest

[ForrestGump]

6. I could've helped, a few years ago, but

things change so quickly -- most camcorders are only on the market one retail season before being at least nominally replaced -- that I have no idea what's out there. Going digital (mini-DV) is probably the way to do it now, and the newer lithium-ion batteries are way better than the old nicads or even NiMHs.

Sony is usually overpriced because people seem it think its the best. I don't know if this still happens, but when I bought my Hi-8 camcorder back in the early '90s, the Sony version (the very popular TR-101, one of the few camcorders to be sold for years before being replaced) was way more expensive and had a shorter warranty than the identical Nikon version that I bought. The TR-101 was also available from Ricoh and, I think Yashica...can't recall but, anyway, the point is that identical camcorders used to be sold under several marques (and, actually, they were made by another company all together, one nobody's ever heard of). This may not be true any more, but it'd be worth doing some Web research to find out for sure.

When I got that Hi-8 camcorder I found the rec.video and other newsgroups to be invaluable...much of that kind of up-to-date info has probably migrated to the Web during the ensuing 12 years. My more recent camcorder is the Sony TRV-900, a very nice digital camera that's almost as good as the three-chip professional kind but, unfortunately, with a price tag to match. I don't think they make it any more, but I've seen them on eBay at prices still rather hefty -- unusual, in that camcorders don't hold their value well and are not always the most durable items. The TRV-900's replacement (possibly the TRV-930?) is certain to be a nice unit, but may be really, really overpriced. I'd imagine that there are camcorders every bit as good, in meaningful features, avaiable more widely for a fracion of the price. I wouldn't be in a hurry to buy a used camcorder, not unless you needed it for something like fitting an existing underwater housing, or something esoteric like that. Cameras, yeah, but camcorders are more delicate, generally, and more easily abused.

I wish I could help more substantively, but I have no clue as to what's on the market now. I'm kind of partial to the tiny ones that Sony had out a few years ago, just for convenience and (always my concern) airline-transport-suitability. My bias has always been toward Sony (or the same unit under another name, as I mentioned above) for the same reason that my still camera gear is all Nikon: it's the standard for the applications for which I bought the gear, and additional equipment needed to make it all function right is more often than not tailored to one brand. Any of the major brands should be okay, these days. Certainly Sony, JVC, Hitachi, and the like.

If you find some candidates, please feel free to run the specs by me if you want to...I MAY be able to help you narrow it down, if we're lucky. Oh, as for where to buy the thing: if you don't buy it locally (Costco might be worth checking, in addition to the usual consumer-electronics suspects and department stores) you'll be safe going via mail order with B&H Camera of NYC...there're lots of other mail order places, but not all of them are honest, whereas you can't go wrong with B&H.

Good luck!