Video cameras - any recommendations?

[popsycal]

Our budget is 400-500 at an absolute maximum

We would like a good zoom, and good resolution (?) and would also if possible like one that can take stills and be connected to the computer to print pictures out.

Is this possible for our budget?

Any suggestions of good video cameras that you have?

TIA

bump

Pops - we bought one last august. Then it was 700 quid or so. The important thing to us was getting it to connect to computer.

I spoke to a friend who works in video, and he said whatever one i chose, I should go for a Sony - quality is always there.

Look at their website and see which ones might fit your budget.

We just bought a jvc gr-d20ek. Its on the argos website at £349 but we got ours from Comet for £299.

I would recommend it, but doubt if my opinion counts for too much as I'm not that hot on this type of stuff!

But I do know it has an excellent zoom and you can take still photos. We use ours to make movies of dd on the computer ( you need to buy seperate firewire for this). And cos it takes still photos we've no need to buy a digital camera.

It also stereo sound, widescreen mode,image stabiliser,and remote control . And for the bit I dont get :

800k pixells
16x optical zoom
700x digital zoom.

Hope this helps

ive got a jvc GR-DVL160EK (whatever that means). it was from argos and cost about 400. you can hook it up to the pc, it takes stills and theres various editing features on it plus night view, remote control, the flip out screen and its quite small and lightweight. dont know anything about resolution but its a good little cam with nice piccies!

WE have a JVC GR-DV2000E which is now a couple of years old but is a greast camera and has done alot of miles. One thing I would suggest, if you are looking at doing video editing on your computer, make sure that the camera you buy has both DV in and DV out (ie. you can write from camera to computer and back again) When we were looking, many of the cheaper model would only write to the computer. This means that when you download your footage and edited it on your computer, you then can not write back to you rcamera so you can tranfer it to a video tape on you video player. You can get around this if you only use DVD's and have a DVD writer in your computer. If you aren't planniong to do computer editing, then Im sorry because this has been quite a long entry.

Got a new super small one this winter and the Sony shop would not trade in so our two year old is due on ebay as soom as I can get it listed. Its got laser link to TV (no wires, just point at TV and it plays back, so you can record straight onto VHS) all the leads and software for pc. Takes stills (1Mpix) and we have used it less than 20 hours. Email me if your interested.

we have a sony dcryrv245 and it cost about £350 earlier this year. It was also recommended as Which? best buy.

Hi,

I got one last winter. Its a Canon mv30i. I got a great price at pixmania.com. I looked at loads and was about to go for a Sony and went to Jessops to have a closer feel of it. There I spoke with a guy who had been selling camcorder equipment for 20years and he said he would always go for a Canon. Like others here I also felt Sony was a great make but he said the Canon had more experience in camera technology.

Have a good read and try lots out to see which one feels good to hold.
Mine has a little card that you can take pictures with and transfer them to your pc like a digital camera. The pics are fine to use online but I don't think the resolution would be good enough to print.

Overall I am really pleased with my camera and its been easy to start using it.

By the way pixmania were a great site to order from. Very efficient.