Best budget camcorder?!? Canon vs. Sony vs. Panasonic

hmmm . . . it says it has low light problems and I think i'll be doing most of my taping indoors? Any other suggestions? Thanks.

ANY camcorder in this price range should have the same statement slapped on it. What I find annoying is that you rarely find the reviewers to offer a standard "low light" test. All have been "subjective."

I fear you will not be happy with low light performance in this class of camcorders. You need BIG lens to gather the light.

Bob

to do something with what the big lens sends... agree - any camcorder in this class will no do very well in "low light".

I used to recommend the ZR800 because it is the cheapest camcorder with a mic-in jac... but I no longer do because it does not have manual audio control...

By the way, some of the best lighting is indoors - because it can be controlled - especially when it is dark outdoors... What do you think you will be taping indoors? If you light it, your low light issue went away...

boya - so what do you recommend with manual audio controls and the overall best camera in this class?

None have manual audio - and the ZR800 is the only one with a mic-in jack.

Next one with a mic-jack (sort of) is 2x $... Sony DCR-HC96. Proprietary Sony "active interface shoe" (or the adapter jack from B&H Photo - and the HC96 does not have manual audio control, either.

You *could* use something like a BeachTech DXA-6 XLR adapter and control the audio there...

Too many people say they don't want to deal with manual audio until they discover they need it (to compensate for loud audio overdriving the auto level circuit)...

More research is needed to identify the least $ with mic-in jack and manual audio...

haha so basically theres no camcorder 300 and under that you recommend?

A $300 camcorder will not provide "good low-light performance". And everyone wants that.

A $300 camcorder will not provide good audio when the audio is really loud or really soft. And everyone wants good audio. If you have friends in a band that uses amplified instruments, this will be too loud and it will sound REALLY muddy. If there is complete silence or very low audio, the auto audio level circuit will "listen" and you will hear a "whooshing" sound when you playback.

A $300 camcorder will not come with a long lasting battery - none of the consumer camcorders come with one - you have to buy an extra optional high capacity battery so you can record more than 20 minutes or so before having to recharge the battery that comes in the box.

The zoom on a $300 camcorder will be only "OK"... and if you want more, you typically cannot attach a tele-lens. And you never ever want to use digital zoom - unless you want to call the resulting video capture "art". I always suggest turning digital zoom off. It is useless.

A $300 camcorder generally does not have manual focus - so you are stuck with the auto-focus mechanism, whether you like it or not.

There's a lot more, but I'll stop here... Honestly, if you are OK with all this (and the other stuff I didn't mention), then any camcorder from Sony, Panasonic or Canon (or even Samsung or Hitachi or JVC or whatever) in your price range will do... really. Just flip a coin.

What I will say is good is the miniDV tape quality of a $300 is WAY better than hard drive based or DVD based camcorders in this price range. If you can find a new Canon Elura 100, get it. There is a reason why it was "Camera of the Year" a couple of years ago. The Canon ZR 850 has slightly better specs than the ZR800, but the ZR800 has a mic-in jack the 850 does not have.

i'm kind of confused about a few things . . . a) why would i get the elura 100 isn't it outdated by like 2 years or so by now??? isn't the zr850 or 800 even better? Also, when i was playing with the sony dcr-hc38 the digitial zoom looked pretty good in the camera . . . i don't know if its different on screen on a dvd or something? But anyway . . . so I guess what i'm really saying is if you HAD to get a 300 camcorder which one would you flip a coin and choose?

the HC38 and the ZR800...

The factors I see:

with the external mic weighing in on the ZR800 side even though the audio can't be adjusted manually. And just because something is newer does not mean it is better.

The Super Night Shot on the Sony was interesting for about the first 20 seconds (shooting in complete darkness with a built-in infrared emitter)...

Everything else is pretty much the same.

For digital zoom while looking at the camera - that is a 2.5 inch screen - it will look "different" on a TV - especially a big one.

you think i should go with either the ZR800 or the HC38 then? I guess i'll just flip a coin and choose . . . i dunno what i should do . . . hmmm?!?!?

But I know audio can make or break a shot so my nod is to the 800 over the 850 every time. Even when the buyer doesn't know it, they'll want it later. If they are just a home user (no Youtube, etc use) then they could just go with the builtin mic if they show no sign that audio matters.

Bob