hi sebred,
people have recommended these sites for buying mini dv tapes, so i thought i'd pass the info along.
http://www.tapeandmedia.com/mini_dv_cassettes.asp
http://www.taperesources.com/
http://www.tapestockonline.com/mini-dv.html
i hope you enjoy your new camcorder.
indera
oh and people have said to get the firewire cable from www.buyextras.com i did order 2 from here today and the total bill was $8.85. i needed one for the camcorder and one for my external hard drive.
I have gathered a lot of great info from this forum. Now for what its worth I have a chance to give something back.
I bought the Elura 90. Why? I considered the Pany gs250 and the Canon Optura 60. I read so many good things but I also read a few bad things. The bad reports of noise and pore low light etc. turned me away. After all the pros and cons and for the cost of those cams (if you buy from an authorized dealer) the Elura 90 was just right for me. It is a step down but when you look closely its not a big step down at all. It has mic in, headphone in, lots of manual control, 20x zoom, true 16:9. Almost all I was looking for and a great family cam.
For the few hours I have handled it and for the 15 minutes of tapeing these are my observations. In day light it has good clarity and good color. At night in a well lit room same applies. In a room with just 2 shaded lamp lights on it gets grainy, colors get a little muddy but it looked ok for family stuff. I saw no trailing effect but no one was making any fast movements. I have to try it again with some fast hand movements. I tested it for motor noise in a very quiet room with doors closed. A low but clearly audible high pitch hum can be heard. With the slightest bit a of ambient noise the hum is no longer distinguishable.
When the record button is pressed I sometimes heard a clunk. I realized that it was when my finger pushed against the battery. You must be careful how your fingers are placed. The battery when locked in place still has some play and will move if pressed. On play back you hear a clunk sound.
Be careful with the zoom toggle also. If you slide your finger off it quickly it has a slight snap back effect which can be heard in play back.
Cam was purchased at Onecall.com. Asked for 3 day shipping. Ordered on Friday arrived on Monday. Good place to deal with.
Ordered Panasonic AYDVM63PQ tapes from Zotzdigital.com. Again asked for 3 day shipping. Ordered on Monday arrived on Thursday. Good place to deal with.
Ordered extra battery (1450mAh), battery charger, lens filter kit and cam carry bag from Bluenook.com. Great prices and all I purchased seems to be fine. Asked for 3 day shipping. Ordered on Monday arrived on Saturday. Not as professional as the above dealers but would order from them again.

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