Can anyone recommend a good Camcorder within £300 please?

StanleyJ

Hi,

I am looking to buy a new camcorder (this is my first one).I have a budget of £300 (which i know is less) and am looking to get a HD camcorder. I have seen a couple of them but am unable to make up my mind. I would be really grateful if any one of you could recomend a good model for that price and if possible the best place to buy it from.

Appreciate your help as always,
SJ

StanleyJ

I have had a look at Sony HDR CX115, Panasonic HDC SD60 and Canon Legria R16?

Any suggestions please?

bosseyed

How do

I bought a Pansonic HDC-TM10 back in 2010 (marginally better than the SDC you've already looked at I think)

http://www.parkcameras.com/11766/Panasonic-HDC-TM10.html?referrer=Froogle&utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=pid11766

which is now just under your budget and has proved itself a very capable HD camcorder over the last few months.

In good light the picture quality is stunning, really crisp and detailed with good colour. I often output to my TV using a mini HDMi cable and it looks wonderful. I would say that in lower light the results are less impressive, but that seems to be the issue with all camcorders at the price bracket. Its not catastrophic but the quality does take a slight dip.

Its really easy to use and comes with 8Gb (I think!) of built in memory, which is good for around and hour and a half of full HD footage. Switches on quick too for speedy recording (have been using that a lot recently trying to catch my sons first crawl - little bloke keeps giving up just as I get the camer out :rotfl:)

One thing to be aware of - what will you be doing with the footage you take? My laptop isn't man enough to either process the footage or watch it back at the full framerate, so I have to burn HD footage straight to DVD to watch on the TV. There is an option to convert the HD footage down to a standard DVD format (assuming you want to give DVDs to people without a DVD player capable of playing HD footage or don;t own one yourself) but it takes hours, so you're better off filming in a standard definition if you're likely to do that.

The panasonic software for burning DVDs etc is actually pretty good.

So generally a pleaseing buy. Nice and small too, so easily transported. Some good reviews on amazon for it, but still at £400 on there so you're better off looking elsewhere to actually buy it. On the link above its £300.

Couple of good reviews here

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/camcorders/panasonic-hdc-tm10-609518/review

http://www.trustedreviews.com/camcorders/review/2009/12/14/Panasonic-HDC-TM10/p1

Good luck!

StanleyJ

Thanks for that info bosseyed. Reviews are quite good. but they are out of stock in that place.

Iconic

StanleyJ wrote: »

Thanks for that info bosseyed. Reviews are quite good. but they are out of stock in that place.

Looks like it's back in stock;)

I bought the Sony HDR CX115 just before Christmas for under £200 (including the VAT back) and I am quite pleased with it.

However as the price of the Panasonic HDC-TM10 and Sony HDR CX115 are now about the same I would now get the Panasonic.

I have found upgrading to HD very expensive and I am still to be convinced it's worth it!