... I was very impressed with the quality and size of this cam. Though it lacks a lot of features of higher priced cameras, it makes up for it with size and ease of use. The biggest feature that is missing is the ability to manually control focusing and other features, but at the same time you can pull it out of a large pocket, open the cameras screen and start recording within just a few seconds. The 30 gig hard drive is enough to hold a ton of video. Since I received it, I have shot video all day at the SD zoo, Wild Animal Park, Sea World, Disneyland, and a couple of family gatherings, and still have a lot of space on the drive. I would suggest a couple of upgrades for this camera that can be purchased separately, one which is a necessity, which is an extra battery. You will only get a 1.5 hours of recording time at most. If you like checking what you just recorded it can be much less. These batteries can range from 30 - 75 on the net from my own research, some generic ones come with wall and car chargers, which tend come in handy. The other upgrade I would suggest would be lens filters and extra shooting lenses. I was able to get a 3 piece lens kit and a 2 shooting lens kit that fit this camera for around [...]. Most these lenses are just to broaden the scope of what and how good you can shoot something. The one lens I would make a priority wold be the uv lens it will protect the cameras lens and slow the degradation of the lens from uv light, and gives a little to the shooting quality. Another good purchase would be a lens hood, just to cut out more sun and glare. If you spend between an [...], you will go from having a decent fun camera to a pretty good and functional camera. Overall, for the couple hundred I spent on a refurbished model and the [...] I spent on upgrades, it well outperformed similar classes of cameras I researched, and most importantly I enjoy using it. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on JVC Everio GZ-MG330 30 GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 35x Optical Zoom (Red)
... Ordered camera on gift card. Recieved the camera in a timely fashion, but it kept acting up. It would quit working and show low battery with new batteries, along with lights going on at the wrong time and generally odd behavior. The obvious thing to do was to ship it back for a trade in, but I'm as broke as it gets right now and couldn't afford return shipping. So, having limited choices I chose to open it up, voiding any return claim. since the front lens parts seem to be glued on, it wouldn't open all the way, but would pry apart enough to see the problem. The positive lead from the battery box had been pinched in between the case and the metal memory card cover during assembly, and was apparently grounding out on it. Long story short, moved the lead, put it back together, works fine. So I have a camera and a small adventure. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Jazz DVK141 3.1MP Digital Video Camera (Red)
... We bought this camcorder before our first child was born in January. Due to the horrible faults of this product, we have lost precious video memories of our son's first six months! We have tried multiple disc formats (DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and brands (TDK, Maxell, Sony), and every time we receive a message of "Disc Error" or something similar and all of the data is lost. It cannot be replayed on the computer or DVD player. When we actually got one disc with video saved on it, it was impossible to copy the video onto the computer or another disc to share with family. We have wasted countless hours trying to figure this thing out! And Samsung help gave pointless explanations of "bad discs," "wrong disc format," "you overfilled the disc." Count on losing whatever you want to record. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Samsung SC-DX103 DVD Camcorder
... This camera is a great bargain and so versatile.
The optical zoom is incredible. I was able to film a drowning swimmer being rescued down on the beach from my 12th floor apartment!
Not only is this an excellent camcorder, it also makes a great webcam when connected to your computer with a Firewire cable
The USB streaming is useless: for some reason it won't let you record the audio track over USB even though it installs an audio driver when you plug it in, and the camera will go into standby while it's in use if you're not recording or playing the tape, so I recommend sticking with Firewire.
Note that if you buy this camera, keep the application CD that comes with it in a safe place. Sony does not offer drivers for download for this camera and when you call tech support to request them, their customer care doesn't know where to get them either. I was only able to find them by scouring random seedy websites.
One of the best features of this camera is that it records digitally on standard Hi-8 video tapes, which saves you a lot of money over the more expensive digital tapes. This is the only video camera in the world that does that.
Another great feature of this camera is its onboard stereo microphone. You can use this camera as a digital sound recorder by recording the sound and then dumping the video to your computer and extracting the audio track over Firewire.
I've had two of these cameras and I will buy another if something happens to the one I currently have. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Sony DCR-TRV280 Digital8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom
... I wanted a camcorder that was small so I could take it with me most places and very simple yet took good video. The DCR-SX41 has been all of this. Yes, if I wanted the best picture, I would have spent four to five times as much and gotten an HD Camcorder. Simple, is what this camera is. When I have finished taking video I just plug it into the computer and record straight to a DVD. How much simpler can you get? The built-in memory takes apporx 2 hrs of video at the highest resolution, and you can add an additional memory stick to increase your storage. The last camcorder I had was a Sony that recorded to a small tape. It took good pictures but was a lot of trouble getting it to a DVD. I see all of these reviews where people are complaining about this camera not working with Mac's. Well Sony tells you up front that it is not Mac user friendly. If you are looking for something to take on vacation or taking video of the grand kids (that is what I do) you will love this camera for its simplicity and price. I am over 60 and not the most computer literate individual you will find. The picture is not HD, but it is as good as any non HD video I have seen. I would most definitely recommend this to my friends. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Sony DCR-SX41 Flash Camcorder w/60x Optical Zoom (Red)
... I got the camera from different retailer but I love it.
It beats the hack out of Panasonic HDC-SD9 (borrowed from a friend for a test drive)in PQ department.
It's much better on low light as well. Of course it gets grainy but if you play with presets you can get dissent picture. I like the form factor! It fits perfectly in my pocket and loads faster than my canon elph digital camera even when not in standby mode.
I figured that the zoom on the flip out screen is more presize
And guess what it's 1080p as appose to 1080i only for the SSD models from samsung.
Anyway I thought I'm going to miss the remote that I have on my old canon minidv camera but PS3 recognizes the camera as usb drive and I can use the PS3 interface and remote - doesn't get any better than this.
I guess it uses h264 main profile level 4 which is enough - I've seen it go even over 20 mbit/s which should be the cap. And I've seen not many scenes if br disks to go over 25 mbit/s.
I'm finding cool features every day ...and I yes I read the manual and review from camcorderinfo.
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Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Samsung HMX-R10 HD Flash Memory Camcorder w/5x Optical Zoom (Silver)
... Way too expensive for what you get. The resolution is awful even on the player's screen. Don't think about watching it on your PC full screen or upload it to YouTube. ...
Check Amazon Price and Read More Reviews on Archos Helmet Camcorder for Generation 5 Archos Portable Media Players
