... Just got the HD-1 for Christmas and haven't given it a full work-out yet but everything about it seems perfect thus far. My computer 'recognized' it right away and I can manipulate the great pictures it takes with my photo software. It charged easily via usb connection and the battery lasted all evening at a family gathering. It is a lot of camcorder for the money! ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Aiptek HD-1 720P High Definition Camcorder with Built-in 1GB Storage (Silver)
... I like the camera a lot - easy to use; facial recognition is a great feature; good zoom; picture quality is high. However, I have no idea why there is NO FIREWIRE CAPABILITY! This has to be one of the worst business decisions since Coke went to New Coke. Downloading video to edit takes forever let alone it being useless for live streaming. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Sony HDR-SR10 4MP 40GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 15x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
... After some research, I bought this item with accessory bundle. The item is about as advertised, although it is very small for my hand and zoom knob looks cheap and flimsy. I would have preferred less play and solid looking plastic, even. The screen looks grainy at night with lights on. (By the way, I am not really critiqueing the camcorder. I don't really know much about it, and I just upgraded after using tape camcorder that's about 15 years old.) I just thought the view screen looked grainy in such a situation compared to my canon camera. I have not yet hooked it up to the TV. Other website reviews and comparisons recommend Canon camcorder and I thought it was the best to buy.
I want to talk about the bundle items and service, which, ended well and me feeling pretty good about the buy. The main 2 items in the bundle (bundle costs about $40 extra) are 8GB sd card and extra battery. The included SDHC card is, however, class 2 card. Other websites recommended class 6. I believe the numbers mean something about recording or replay speed. I recorded about 150 mb of video on this card and it took about 3 minutes for my computer to start playing it. I can not say why it took this long, but it could be because the card is class 2. The camcorder manual says class 2 is acceptable.
Before you choose this bundle or buy extra sd card, do more research.
Now about the battery: Big Value Inc. clearly says that this battery is after-market. When I put this battery in the camcorder, there was a question mark over the battery icon. I couldn't tell how much time was left in the battery.
Because of these reasons I called Big Value. I was going to ask for refund and just buy the camcorder by itself, and then buy canon accepted battery. The Big Value asked me for reason (stating this is for evaluation only and they will make full refund if I want), and offered a refund of $40 and keep the items in the bundle. I find this quite acceptable and feel I made pretty good buy. My wife is happy enough to live with extra battery that does not indicate time left. I plan to do more research on SD card speed and buy appropriate items. My computer is old enough so that it does not have SD card slot (about 800 mb RAM). Maybe it is better SD card reader that I need.
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Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Canon FS-11 Flash Memory 16GB Camcorder w/48x Optical Zoom BP808 Battery/Rapid Charger 8GB BigVALUEInc Accessory Saver Bundle
... So far so good. I have had this camaera for over a year and have recorded many many hours of video. Controls are easy and user friendly and well placed. Zoom is very good and so is the video and video playback quality. It is versatile since you can also take pictures and save them onto an SD card. Picture quality could be better but is perfect for the unexpected shot. Night light sucks though, you litterally have to be 2 ft in front of it to see anything in the dark. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Canon ZR850 1MP MiniDV Camcorder with 35x Optical Zoom
... I purchased this camera mainly to have a professional look when shooting weddings and events. I felt like I could produce a decent video using a normal consumer camera that would satisfy the customer just fine, but because most consumer cameras are so small the customer might not feel they were receiving a quality product. This camera with it's professional look came to my rescue. People are now treating me much more seriously with respect because of my "high-end" camera look.
Because this was a sub $2,000 camera I wasn't expecting a whole lot. It wouldn't be fair to compare it to a $10,000 or $20,000 camera, which I think some people were trying to do, especially with the poor reviews for low light conditions, plastic construction, and poor audio performance.
I was pleasently suprised with the performance of this camera, it out-performed all of my expectations. I left everything in the default HDV settings and turned it on to shoot my kids playing indoors under bedroom light conditions. I was amazed with how smooth and clear everything appeared, especially with the low reviews I read about in low light, it blew my other camera (Canon Optura 50) out of the water.
It also exceeded my expectations with audio, from what I read the shot-gun mic on this camera isn't the best, but I was greatly satisfied with it's performance. I could hear the subject speaking clear with little motor or background noise.
This camera looks and feels great, there were some reviews bashing it's construction, but whenever I take it out of the bag, people are impressed.
This is a great camera if your looking for a camera like this one (which I was) or an affordable professional looking camera with good quality this camera is great when comparing it with other consumer cameras.
If you're used to working with industrial high-end expensive cameras, you'll probably be disapointed with this camera as it is limited in manual controls (no manual iris, xlr outputs etc...) and only has one 1/2.9 single-chip cmos censor, but that's one reason why it's thousands of dollars cheaper.
I don't regret purchasing this camera one bit and I feel this will satisfy most all of my production free-lance needs ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Sony HVR-HD1000U MiniDV 1080i High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
... In my opinion, the camcorder deserves 4/5 stars. The HD picture quality outdoors (rain or shine) is PHENOMAL. I got a similar picture in SD. It wasn't quite as sharp as HD but still an EXCELLENT picture. The sound quality is amazing. I had no problem with wind noise when outside on windy days. The camcorder itself is lightweight and I found the menus and buttons to be user-friendly. I read several negative reviews on the included Sony software but had no trouble installing it or using it. It does have limited capabilities but it was sufficient for me. The camera itself does have a "divide" option for cutting video. You choose where you want to divide and it will create and save a new clip. It also has excellent focus capabilities. It focuses very quickly when zooming in and out as well as moving left/right and up/down. I was overly impressed with its performance outdoors. Shooting indoors took me back a few steps and it could be that I expect too much in lower-light conditions. When the lights are on AND sufficient natural light is available through windows, the quality is REALLY good. During evening/night hours and during the day when its cloudy outside, the picture left me disappointed. The picture was grainy and the more I zoomed, the grainier it got. I did adjust the exposure and white balance which helped the situation but still left me wondering what I was doing wrong. I also played around with the different scene settings (sunrise, sunset, candlelight, etc...) but found the "auto" option to work the best. I would gladly welcome any suggestions or recommendations on helping the low-light situation. It's the only disappointment I have and it could very well be the operator. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Sony HDR-XR200V 120GB HDD High Definition Camcorder w/15x Optical Zoom
... I've just begun testing this camcorder, and it seems to work very well. Be aware of two limitations: (1) maximum file size is 4 GB, so the manual says it will create a new file at that point if you are continuously recording. (2) the MOD file format is indeed MPG, and can be copied from the camcorder and renamed as .mpg and edited. However, even when acquired in 16:9, the file has internal tags that tell all Windows software that it is 4:3, so it appears "squeezed" on screen. The solution is to shoot in 4:3 only, or to use DVDPATCHER to change all tags to 16:9 (be sure to keep the other parameters unchanged). Ultrafine has 9100k and Fine has 8400k data rate. The software provided for conversion only converts to WMF at low data rates, so is not useful. Oh, and JVC was completely unhelpful in this regard. They referred me to Pixela technical support, even though the software was not the problem. (I would quote the rather dismissive email, but that would be illegal, according to JVC.)
I do not have an assessment of battery life yet. Menus I would assess to be a bit cumbersome, with scrolling and selection buttons far apart from each other. Overall, though, a good camera -- very narrow in body and light in weight. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on JVC Everio MS130 16GB Dual Flash Camcorder (Black)
