Suggest the best 15x HD Camcorder in the market

<p>I know much about medium format and 35mm cameras, but I am not so knowledgeable about recent models of camcorders. I want to buy a 15x HD camcorder for my upcoming holiday trip. Can anyone suggest one with good optics and reliable in function? My budget is around $350 to $450. I will greatly appreciate your advice.</p>

<p>$450 will not get you "the best", but perhaps good enough.<br>

Search Sony, and JVC, or Canon lines of consumer pocket size HD camcorders.<br>

Select one that has AVCHD format.</p>

<p>Personally, I do not find camcorders useful for vacation trips. I do make my stills into videos:<br>

Boatride on the Seine: <a href="

Open Air Market in Paris: <a href="

Holocaust Memorials in Paris: <a href="

The holidays are coming up so I was wondering the same question. "A leading consumer magazine" has no videocamcorder, even the ones costing $1400, rated above good (half red circle). Two mini camcorders, the Sony Bloggie and Kodak Playsport, get the same rating, as do several P&S still cameras.

 

After examining samples on the web, I will venture to say that the $255 Panasonic ZS7 (no better than the discontinued ZS3) produces 720p video that is just as good as anything in your price range. This model has the best HD video among P&S cameras, with zoom autofocus, shake reduction, and stereo sound.

After further research it seems that the $770 Panasonic TM700 is better for video than the ZS7, but not by a wide margin considering the price difference.

<p>TM700 is a 3-chip camera like professional gear. <br>

<a href="http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Panasonic-HDC-TM700-Camcorder-Review-37681.htm?top3">http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Panasonic-HDC-TM700-Camcorder-Review-37681.htm?top3</a><br>

The thing about video while traveling is: What are you going to shoot that has sound and motion? I've looked at home-made travel video on youtube and find a lot of jerky hand-held long shots with no story-telling. Are you going to comment on what you are seeing when you are filming? Will you do something like the travel channel?</p>

<p>Steve:<br>

I am primarily a still photographer and very rarely use video camera. Last I used two years ago. My main applications of camcorder will be to document the people of the area I will visit. But most important application will be to take video of my parents and record their conversation, since they will not be around very long. I looked at Canon Vixia and in the web some of Vixia models have good report. </p>

<p>Recording your parents is a very fine idea. I recorded several hours of my father a few years ago. Now my father is senile so there is no one "there" to talk to. This is very sad but I am very happy that I did the video when I could.<br>

Here's a video I made from this: <a href="

Documenting the people is also good. Most camcorders want good light to produce good images. If you have an incident light meter set it at ISO 100 and EV mode and you want about EV 6 for good images. Not too hard to get indoors near a window or door. EV6 translates into 1/30 at f1.4 at ISO 100, so you can use your still camera to approximate this.<br>

I'd advise getting a cheap lightweight tripod (around $20 US) as well. Once the camera is going this will be very stable compared to hand holding the camera.<br>

I advise against any camcorder with a hard drive because the the drive may add noise to the audio. If you zoom while recording you may get motor noise from that. I prefer to work with SD cards that I can remove when processing the images. If by some terrible chance you drop the camera then getting the video from the card is more likely than from hard drive or internal memory. Video uses up memory very quickly (17mb per second in HD with some of the Canon camcorders) so get the biggest cards the camera will take.<br>

5-7 feet is a good distance when using the internal mikes. The mike will hear your hands moving around on the camera- a good reason for a tripod. Try to get one with a headphone jack and take earbuds to monitor your sound. You don't want to hear crackling and other distortion. Many Canon camcorders also have microphone inputs. I have the Rode Videomic and like it a lot, but you need an accessory shoe to hold it.<br>

When possible I set my camcorder shutter to 1/100 for sharp frames. You can use a gray card with the manual exposure mode to get more precise control.</p>

Yes, Canon Vixia HF S21 is #6 rated on the camcorderinfo.com website.

 

I predict many people are going to buy 720p televisions, not higher, so taking 1080p video might be a waste of storage space. Few computer monitors are as wide as 1920, and the trend is toward smaller devices, leading to the same conclusion.

<p>Youtube only goes up to 720p, and my 3 mbps DSL connection won't handle that. <br>

On my average monitor I don't see any gain at 1080, but we may be stuck with capturing at 1080.<br>

One suggestion would be not to use wide screen unless the subject requires it.<br>

Typical editors can output at 720p from 1080.</p>

I found a 1080p video on YouTube (from the MPAA) but it looked the same as at 720p.

 

Just ran across this on the DPreview Nikon forum: "The [Nikon P7000] video quality is better than the dedicated camcorder I had that shot at 1080p, so I sold the camcorder."

 

CBS still broadcasts HD at 1080i, but most other broadcasters are using 720p, or making plans to upgrade pseudo HD to 720p.

<p>I think the P7000 chip is about .56", much bigger than the 1/6" on consumer camcoders. I have a P5100 that shoots surprisingly good video, but it's strictly a full-auto game. I like to be able to change the shutter speed, white balance, and sometimes the focus, so I still use my camcorder. I do find that on the P5100 the sound of the focus adjusting shows up on the audio when the ambient sound is very quiet.</p>

<p>I think the P7000 chip is about .56", much bigger than the 1/6" on consumer camcoders. I have a P5100 that shoots surprisingly good video, but it's strictly a full-auto game. I like to be able to change the shutter speed, white balance, and sometimes the focus, so I still use my camcorder. I do find that on the P5100 the sound of the focus adjusting shows up on the audio when the ambient sound is very quiet.</p>

<p>Here's some of the <a href="http://hubpages.com/hub/Top-Rated-Camcorders">top rated camcorders</a> of the year. Maybe that will help.</p>