1) Good question.
Elura 70-Hot accessory shoe 18x zoom, Elura 90-video light 20x zoom. That's the only difference between the two. Go with the 70 out of those two.
Out of the Sony models you have chosen, neither one is better than the Canons. If you included the HC42, maybe, but I would still go with the Elura 70. I owned one myself for a couple days, but took it back due to it's low light performance. The outside and good indoor light quality was very good. I ended up getting the HC90 because of it's low light performance. I think for the price at B & H, you should get the Elura 70. It is a great little camcorder at that price.
To answer your last question, check merchant ratings at sites like Cnet.com or Epinions.com or bizrate.com. Any of these sites. The rating on these resellers will tell you alot about them. B & H is very reputable, and I have personally used them 5 ot 6 times. They have provided great service each time. (Great prices too)
Let me know if this helps, and Good luck to you.
I have been debating between a few camcorders for the past few weeks and can't seem to get any solid advice. I'm hoping you can help me...
I know I want a mini dv camcorder, somewhere in the $300-$500 range. I want to shoot events trips and try my hand at some amateur movies/documentaries, just for fun. So I guess what I want is a good all-around camera that isn't going to break down on me, has a decent battery life, and produces a good picture. I don't really care about the digital stills so I'm just ignoring that feature. I also plan to do editing on my mac, so I don't care too much about effects and stuff.
What I'm down to (I think) is the Canon Elura 70 or 90, and the Sony Handycam dcr-hc 21 or 32. So there are a few parts to my question.
1. Sony or Canon? (as far as these models go)
a.If Canon, what features does the Elura 90 have over the 70 that would make it worth the extra expense?
b.If Sony, is the 32 worth the $100 more?
2. To what extent are these features important to me, for what I'm looking to do with this camcorder?
And lastly, looking through this forum, it seems like people can't speak highly enough about the Sony hc90. It's listed at a cost that's totally out of my range, but I found it for $500something on USAphotonation.com. I found this site through Google, as well as a few others (fotonation or fotoconnection or something too) that sell these camcorders for DRAMATICALLY less than anywhere else. Are these sites to be trusted? I had planned on buying my camcorder from B&H but these prices seem too good to be true...and I'm wondering if they are.
Sorry this is such an increibly long email but I've been back and forth on this decision for a long time and would appreciate greaty any help I can get. Thank you so so so much.
~Lindsay
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