Sony uses their memory stick which is proprietary, but the mini-DV part is standard. Here are some links that may be helpfull. John
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/
http://www.dvspot.com/
This is going to be my first camcorder, yet I want to go right away for a excellent machine. My daughter gave us recently a grand-son. So I want to immortalize him with his best faces!
As other people on the forum, I am learning the hard way. I bought last week an Hitachi DVD-Camcorder which I returned to the store today for the now to me known reasons: poor editability, incompatibility with my eMac, etc. I am now in the market for a mini-DVD.
These are the basic specs I am looking for:
- 3 CCD. I understand that is is a major factor for picture quality. This apparently implies that one goes for a model with horizontal design.
- size in inches of the chip (CCD): important for low light filming (filming inside is for me important)
- Number of pixels: the higher, the better the picture. But this factor apparently goes against sensitivity. So one must apparently make a trade-off between these last 2 elements.
-optical zoom: the higher, apparently the higher the picture quality (better lenses)
-good point-and-shoot performance but also easiness/accessibility of manual control (focus if possible with ring, opening)
Budget range: $ 700.- to, say, 1'200.-, I mean I want a good machine.
My e-Mac store recommends a Canon product (but they only sell this brand). I did not explore yet the numerous Canon products, yet I
notice on their web site that many models are both for video and photos. This scares me, since you cannot be excellent on both counts. According to Consumer Reports, Canon also had a higher repair rate as compared to Sony (bet this ist between 2000 and 2003).
But the same store advises against Sony products, because they tend to use proprietary technology (less universal I guess). Panasonic apparently has good ratings.
I am going to do further my homework in this terribly complex jungle for an amateur. Yet I would very much appreciate good advices from the pros...Can anybody recommend to me 2 to 4 models to choose from?
Thank you
bozzinil

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