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General discussion

Good Low-light on a budget?

Jan 17, 2011 2:07AM PST

Hi,

I'm looking for the best camcorder I can get on a (serious) budget. My main use will probably be shooting home video of my kids in a fairly low-light situation.

I've been looking at shoot & share camcorders mainly for the ease of use - I can flip it out, and start shooting video. After checking out several videos, standard def is right out, HD is a requirement, even if just 720p. I was looking at the Sony MHS-CM5 bloggie, but this video shows poor low-light performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt03J6VtNpI&feature=related so that's out. I was considering the Insignia NS-DV720P, but they recently raised the price from $50 to $120, so that's also out.

I'm not opposed to using a traditional camcorder, but it seems that for anything decent in HD I'll have to go above $250.

The important factors for me are:
1) Low-light performance. If it can't get decent video indoors, usually in the evening then I won't use it.

2) Detail/quality. I'll take a 720p camera with great detail/color over an equivalent (or somewhat cheaper) 1080p camera.

3) Price. I can't spend more than $200, and I would prefer to keep it around $100.

All that considered - are there any camcorders that I should consider?

Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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If you think $200 is a SERIOUS budget,
Jan 18, 2011 12:06AM PST

you have my condolences. Good, low light, HD performance for under $200 is an oxymoron.

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well
Jan 18, 2011 11:51AM PST

You'll have a hard time even finding a good high def USED for 100-200$ needless to say it's probably impossible to find anything new/used for 100-200 that does well in low light.

Sorry I can't really help but good luck to ya.