Any suggestions on what kind of camcorder to buy?

[tlt]

We are planning a trip when I graduate from anesthesia school in Dec...it will be our 2nd trip to WDW. We love Disney and Christmas, so we are SOOOOO excited. We are thinking about buying our 1st camcorder for the trip. We know nothing about them. Any recommendations? Thanks

 

[Ityldu]

I'm also just about to get a camcorder, but I'm really lucky, because my husband won a prize and is able to choose from several top of the line digital models. I know absolutely nothing about them, but of course I chose the most expensive one since it's free.

I was in Barnes & Noble this morning and saw a magazine strictly for camcorders. It rated the top 10 camcorders and gave detailed descriptions on why they were the best. It listed camcorders in all price ranges from something like $250-$5000. It also gave a lot of details about the type of features that might be important to you and which camcorders had those features. You might want to check that out.

 

[mickey0216]

I hope that you use your camcorder more at WDW than we have. We purchased ours 3 trips ago, thinking that we would use it a lot at WDW.

We probably don't have more than 30 minutes worth of video from 3 weeks worth of visits. The longest video that we have, is of my daughter being in the "Son's and Daughter's of Liberty Parade" at the US "land" @ Epcot.

On the other hand, on my most recent trip, we shot 4 rolls (24 exp) of 35mm film and took 348 digital photographs, and no 8mm video. I should of left the camcorder at home.

 

[tlt]

Well, that is a good point, we may not use it as much as I think we would...anyone have any recommendations on digital cameras then?...we were thinking of a digital camera over a camcorder. What do we need to look for in buying a digital camera? Any name-brand personal favorites that you all suggest?

 

[mickey0216]

tlt - Please allow me to clarify my post... I was hoping to point out that we don't take much video footage at WDW. If you will be using it for other purposes and using it more in WDW than we have, they are worth the expense.

We own a Canon Digital Elph S330. It is one of the smallest (if not the smallest digital camera that does 3x optical zoom. It is a 2 megapixel camera. It does 3 different resolutions of still pictures (up to 1600x1200, which is supposed to make good quality prints up to 8x10. My color printer is not the best, so I can't confirm.) It also will do digital movies with sound, at lower resolutions.

This LINK will take you to the Canon site if you'd like more complete/technical info.

We like the camera a lot!

 

[banks37]

I have a Canon ES970 8mm camcorder. I'm very happy with the 8mm format as opposed to the vhsc format. The only thing my camcorder doesn't have that I widh it did is a side viewscreen. I'm stuck keeping my eye up to the color viewfinder. We take our camcorder down with us every trip and always use it. It's fun to watch the old trips on weekend mornings over breakfast.

 

[Carpe'Disney]

I love my coolpix 995. It has lens converters...manual mode...b/w mode. And as a bonus for my astronomy hobby, it has a converter for the telescope as an eyepiece!

 

[minnielaners]

I agree with one of the prior messages that we take many more digital photos than video tape. That said, many new digital camcorders will also allow you to take digital still pictures, although with not quite as good resolution as a standalone digital camera. Still, if I was starting over with buying equipment (especially if its on someone else's nickel!), I would look into one of these combo units. That way, you don't need to choose and its convenient to carry.

 

[All Aboard]

We recently converted to digital by purchasing a Sony TRV27. It's absolutely fantastic. Lots of features, lightweight and compact. Great resolution with the Carl Zeiss lens. Despite being quite small, it has a 3.5 inch LCD. It also takes 1 megapixel stills (not great quality for printing, but perfect for computer use). Sears price-matched the best online price I could find (about 25% less than Sears had it priced.)

CNET had it's predecessor (TRV 17) in the Top 5 list last year (number 3, in fact.):CNET Top 5

Here is the CNET Review: CNET Review

 

[MrShiny]

We have one of the Sony Digital 8mm cameras. It's fantastic! I picked that mainly because it can play my older non digital 8mm tapes, and you can find the Hi-8mm tapes it uses anywhere.

It has a firewire port, so you can hook it up to any firewire c port to edit.

The new models also have a Memory Stick slot to take still pictures. I have a still mode on mine, but the resolution (while DVD quality on TV) is low for a pc image.

I've had it for about 3 years now and love it.

 

[sunking]

i purchased an olympus 3020c...it is 3x optical and 10x digital zoom...3.3 megapixel...makes use of smart media cards...the pic quality is tremendous and the camera has more features then i know what to do with...cost me about $500 at best buy...we will be taking it to disney for the first time in a couple of weeks...

have fun!!!!
sunking

 

[cmraman]

I sold these things for 9 years and have heard every horror story you can imagine: "It was too heavy", "The battery was always dead", "I dropped it in the pool" - You get the idea.
I think that if you think you might want video, take a video camera. If you use it, great. If not, oh well. I plan to take one on my next trip. I decided to get one with a built in digital camera. It does video on mini-dv tape and stills on a memory card. The one I picked is cheap (In case I break it), comes with two batteries and is small (VERY small - about the size of a thick paperback) Here's where I bought it:
http://www.abtelectronics.com/scripts/site/site_product.php3?id=8613
I like the design of the Sharp. It is easy to use at kid level (No "tops of heads" video) and can be used over crowds during parades. Unlike the side-screen video cameras, the buttons are placed for easy access when using the screen (Since the screen is the only viewfinder) It's not as cheap as others but I figure the included second battery would run about $100 and I don't need to buy a digital camera


(No, I don't work for sharp)

 

[RUDisney]

I have a JVC digital camcorder that will take digital stills. I bought it because it is about 2 inches X 4 inches X 6 inches. It will fit into a fanny pack. We got it at the beginning of last summer for about $1100. I've seen it listed in Best Buy and Circuit City for about $800 now. Yes, I could have bought one for MUCH less, but in this purchase, size mattered most.