Bargain Camcorder needed - What should I look out for?

[glinda]

I should state from the start that I am a complete luddite and I don't have a clue where to start.
I would like a very simple camcorder, not too big and heavy, with a decent sound recording capability. I only really want it to record my dd on stage and I don't know how close I will be able to get so I guess I will need a decent zoom.
Not got much money so I have had a look on ebay but I don't know enough to make a choice. I can't make head nor tail of all the specifications listed.
HELP PLEASE!!!!!

bump

Tumbleweed blows past......

OK one final plea for attention and then I promise to shut up...

OK one final plea for attention and then I promise to shut up...

I would just use my mobile!
Does yours film? If not maybe you can get a friend's?

Sorry, I don't know anything about camcorders
We have some kind of Sony one, but rarely use it and it was a waste of money tbh!

I'm no expert, but several people have recommended the Flip to me as I'm looking to replace ours. Have a look on Amazon and see what the reviews say.

thanks for the replies. The flip looks very neat and simple - my dd would love the design. i just wonder how good the quality of the recording would be at that price.

It seems there's a new model of the Flip coming out in a couple of weeks. Spec may be better, but that's presumably why the other model is being discounted at the moment.

Hi
I did a lot of research on this at christmas and found this:
There are three types of camcorder.

1. mini dv, thats a little digital cassette, sounds old fashioned I know but its very good quality. This is what we got and we use the cassettes over and again. I dont know your budget but we got a sony handycam for about £130. It depends what you want it for, ds likes to upload and edit the films and put on you tube or burn to disc so we chose this. It has 30 - 40 optical zoom.

The down side of the mini dv is it uploads in real time.

1. If you just want to record and play, you can use dvd type that records straight to disc, then you can play straight on your pc or tv.

1. The last type records onto hard drive you can just transfer with cable to your pc. This is the type they will try to sell you if you walk in cold to a shop, as its the newest out, but also the most expensive.

Hope this is helpful.

I have the Flip Mino HD and I love it to bits. It's extremely easy to use. I haven't used it to record at a distance though and I'm not sure that it would pick up sound very well beyond about 10 feet. The picture quality for what I've used it for (mostly filming my astoundingly beautiful kids) is amazingly good, but again I'm not sure how it would be over a longer distance. Because you hold it in your hand like a phone there is likely to be an issue with hand shake affecting picture quality at a distance I would think. I haven't had a problem with that, but then I'm tending to record close to my subjects.

My brother and I are buying the new version for my parents' birthdays. The difference between the new one and the old is the new one records for 2hrs and the old for only 1hr.