What do I want from a camcorder?

[Caligula]

I want to buy a digital camcorder, but don't know where to start.

I just want to be able to take still, digital photos of the kids which can be downloaded on to a computer and be able to film them so they can be downloaded onto DVD or video.

They seem to range from about £150 to infinity. Where should I start?

if thats the main thing u want it for why not buy a digi camera that can take some video

How much video though? I want to be able to record at least 15 minutes at a time. Would a digital camera enable me to do that?

And does anyone know what a megapixel is??? !

the amount of mega pixels is the amount of little dots the picture is made of...

so you can enlarge a picture with more mega pixels to be bigger without it looking like its made of tiny squares.

I think 4.o mega pixels (or may be 5.0) allows you to print a photo quality A4 picture, but you need at least 7 mega pixels to be able to print a photo quality A3 picture (not that you would need that many photos in A3 surely!)

I have a 5.0 megapixel digital camera and its great!

You have two choices.

1. Buy seperate digital camera and camcorders. The reason is all digital cameras are useless at recording video and are only good for photos and all cheapish camcorders are no good for photos!
2. Buy an expensive digital camcorder as cheaper ones are no good for taking photos of any quality worth printing.

From a money point of view you may want to buy seperate cameras. The cheapest digicameras worth buying are about £200 and £350 for a camcorder. an equivalent all in one solution would probably cost about £800-1000, but you've only got one camera to lug around!

PS I'd agree from a photo point of view you need about 5 megapixels and from a camcorder it gets a bit more complicated! Once you've decided which way to go I can help a bit more.

Cheers all. What about for photos just for computers? Do they still need to be 5 megapixels?

It does sound like I need to buy just a camcorder and keep my old APS camera for photos...

Photos for the computer will be fine with a 3 megapixel camera and even 6x4 prints. They'll be of simialr quality to your APS if you get a good one.

Saying that, whoever said that digital photos should be printed is kinda right! I still like printing my favourite pictures to put in an album.

As for the camcorder, let me know if you'd like it widescreen, able to edit on your computer, burn dvds etc and your budget and I'll do my best to help!