HD video camera recommendations?

Community Forums/General Help/HD video camera recommendations?

Ross C(Posted 2009) [#1]
Hi, i'm look to buy an HD vieo camera, and hopefully spend £300 or under pounds. Does anyone have any suggestion they could offer?

I need/would like to have a decent focus system, that keeps up with moving objects, and focuses quickly (Can control the focus speed?). It would be also rather handy, if it had decent performance in low light. I'm hoping these things are in models that are under £300? :S


-=Darkheart=-(Posted 2009) [#2]
I absolutly love my Sony Handycam that I bought 2 years ago and that (just) does HD (720P) and has a 30 GB built-in HDD (More than enough space). I see Sony have updated their range but kept most of the good things that make the Handycam so good in the first place. It's very easy to use, very high quality, robust and the battery and HD space last for ages.

I found mine for a very reasnoble price and haven't regretted buying it for a moment.

Definatly get one with a built-in HDD, pretty much all other forms (mini-DV, DVD etc.) are a bit crap, HDD is really convienient and easy.

The current Handycams are here:

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hdd-avchd-hard-disk-drive/hdr-xr105e

Darkheart


GfK(Posted 2009) [#3]
I have a MiniDV Sony Handycam. Its not HD so no point me giving specifics but Sony Handycams get my vote.


Ross C(Posted 2009) [#4]
Handy cam seems to get the votes here. I suppose HD is a bit of a luxury feature, but 720p sounds pretty good.

Just had a look on amazon. Handycams, going for around £260. Not high def, but still they look good. Thanks again guys. I'd rather buy a semi decent SD camera, than a cheap HD camera i suppose :) Cheers!


Shambler(Posted 2009) [#5]
I love my Panasonic SD9, it is very small and light and records straight to SD card. Pictures quality is superb but you need editing sofware capable of AVCHD, not all are.

It has been superceeded by the SD10 which is a smidgen above your price bracket at around £320 but for that you get full HD, 16x Optical zoom and intelligent AF tracking.

If you are going to spend around £300 I would go the extra and get an SD10.


xlsior(Posted 2009) [#6]
Technically anything over 480i is HD, so that includes 720P. :-?


Ross C(Posted 2009) [#7]
Thanks Shambler, i think i can stretch if the cam is good enough. I'll look up some reviews :) Seems i have a wee bit of choice. How does the SD9 hold up in low light conditions? And how good is the focus system?


Ross C(Posted 2009) [#8]
Lil update on the camera front. I pushed the boat out to £382 and managed to get myself a used HDR-SR11:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665291500

Seems like they retail for about £750, so hopefully it works ok. The e-bay seller guarntees it, so i'm hopeful :)