Mini Dv Camcorder

[Zee007]

I'm in the market for a mini DV camcorder.

Don't want to spend more than £300. Had a look round, and seen a few Canons, JVCs, Sony and the like in that price bracket.

Anyone got any reccomendations or thoughts on what to purchase (and what to avoid) - and even better, know of any good deals going?

Cheers........ :)

[Gord]

I'm in the market for a mini DV camcorder.

Don't want to spend more than £300.  Had a look round, and seen a few Canons, JVCs, Sony and the like in that price bracket.

Anyone got any reccomendations or thoughts on what to purchase (and what to avoid) - and even better, know of any good deals going?

Cheers........  :)

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Ive been looking at them to zee :o we might get cheaper if we get two :D

[Mitch]

my sister jus got a sony dvd mini camcorder looks quite good think she paid bout £365 or so

[dhs]

Try and get one with a megapixel camera and you will be able to take proper still photos as well as video. Whilst they all take a still shot without an on board camera this is saved on the tape and is a pain to download. Bottom line is you will only need to carry one camera and get your video and seperate downloadable stills. Good luck with your search.

[fergy]

I bought a Panasonic one for last xmas...bottom of the range and it is brilliant ! I would recommend it every time...was about £220, but sure it is cheaper now (if not already replaced).

I looked at ones that have mega pixel cameras etc but I have a seperate digital camera so if I was still pics I use that. The cam corders are generally not that good at still, and digital cameras are not that great at movies...that way the manufacturers get you to buy both !

Look for one with a firewire port...then you can dump from the camera to your pc...and then burn onto DVD.

[aido]

Had a quick look at some review sites and the Canon Elura 90 as it's called in the US is just above your price brackets, coming in at about £470 for the UK model (canon MVX350i), cheaper in the US if you're going that way soon Zee?

For the price ranges you boys are looking at, how about something like this http://www.cameras2u.com/products/details....duct=0103B007AA

It's a Canon and gets good reviews, just not great when theres not much light around but excellent image quality if it is ok....

[Parthiban]

If you can push up to around 400, I'd highly recommend the tiny Sony one, think its the PC53. Amazing size, and pretty good quality. Almost bought one myself recently, but then ended up going for the PC1000 because I didn't mind it being slightly bigger but the picture quality was amazing

[Zee007]

Great feedback chaps - keep it coming.

Don't want something too small and fragile. Idea is, I use the camera for track days and events - then make movies for the club. Need it to be tough (will be stuck on the side of the car and stuff).

US is an option Aido as I will be back out there soon, but they are on NTSC not PAL.

As Fergy said - need firewire capability, and good image capture resolution.

[johnboy]

ive recently bought a jvc gr-dx97rex,

nice and compact, uses a dv tape and a memory card for your photos,

comes with all connections for pc and software, rechargable Battery

under £300 from comet

will bring it to trax

john

[aido]

Zee are you actually going to be transferring the films off DV tape onto VHS, if not then don't worry about NTSC / PAL, most TV's will handle either signal nowadays, and most of my kit is NTSC natively! When you transfer it onto the computer it will just play either. They're not bothered. It's just NTSC is slightly lower res than PAL but on the flipside has a higher framerate.

And what about USB2 as an option? Personally I prefer Firewire as it's designed for media transfer so is more efficient but a lot of kit nowadays comes with USB2 as opposed to Firewire...

I'm not sure if any < £300 camcorder is going to be too tough mate, by the time you've stuck it on the car and made some ahem "home movies" with it the poor thing will be in pieces

[Parthiban]

US is an option Aido as I will be back out there soon, but they are on NTSC not PAL.

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Most stores will sell both NTSC and PAL camcorders, just need to ask. They know people come over from here to buy them so a lot of stores stock both

If you're going over there, its a good idea to check :winky:

[eXOBeX]

I bought myself a Panasonic NV-GS400B last year. Fantastic camcorder, but a touch over your budget methinks!

If buying abroad, watch out for the confusing model numbers, the Panasonic NV series are PAL, the PV series are NTSC!

[postie]

make sure you get one with dv in as well as dv out so you can view editted footage

[Zee007]

Any thoughts on this JVC one from amazon?

Clicky here

Views on the Canon Mv700i?

[dhs]

I am no expert but it looks OK to me. Has the DV in/out which is important, has a reasonable optical zoom and of course the price is good.

[eXOBeX]

Mate of mine's got the Canon MV650. Got a big Battery too, I transferred 3 hours of DV tape to the PC and only used about a quarter of it!

[aido]

Basic review here Zee of the non-I model, the I model just seems to add DV-In and Analogue In as well....

http://www.t3.co.uk/reviews/imaging/camcorder/canon_mv700

[star a]

Basic review here Zee of the non-I model, the I model just seems to add DV-In and Analogue In as well....

http://www.t3.co.uk/reviews/imaging/camcorder/canon_mv700

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i got a JVC GR-D200EK, 10x optical zoom and 200x digital zoom. it comes with 'Arcsoft showbiz2' (really useful prog, makes video cd's or DVD's with or without menu's) it's got firewire, usb and a S/AV port with a lead that has phono plugs on it (it lets you transfer older phono-out camcorder, or video to mini-dv, and then easily editable through pc via firewire) wasn't too expensive and is fairly small, it also has megapixel photography with built in flash and an 8mb SD memory card. it does everything i want it too, the DVD's i have made using this camera are v impressive the pic quality to me is as good as TV broadcast.

[marcus]

Any thoughts on this JVC one from Amazon?

Clicky here

Views on the Canon Mv700i?

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That looks ok zee.............and at a very good price as well im all so looking to get one mate, use it for the same thing as well Trackdays and so on :winky:

[Zee007]

Well - bought one. :)

Went for the Canon MV700i.

http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_fi...v700i/index.asp

Looks like a nice bit of kit. £160 ain't bad either...

Will let you know how I get on (and bring it to Trax to start to get some footage!)...

Thanks for the advice all...