HD Camcorder recommendation

romangatang

My fiance and I are getting married in Las Vegas in September and while there, are planning to visit the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon among other attractions. Ideally looking for something that's pretty easy to use as I usually use my phone and a compact camera for photos/filming. We would quite like to make a video diary (as cheesy as that sounds) so a feature I would like is the option to be able to view the flip screen while filming.

We have a budget of around £150 - I've looked at various camcorders in this price range on Amazon and I'm none the wiser. I don't think there's anywhere local to try camcorders out so recommendations or hints and tips of what to look out for would be very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance

Jeannine

I've just bought a Sony HDR-CX280e which was £130 from Argos (may have just been discontinued there, hence the low price but now £162 on Amazon) and although I haven't used it much yet, I think it is a great little machine. Very light, easy to handle, excellent specs. Full HD...happy to give more details if needed...:)

AnthonyUK

I have a Panasonic HC-V110 red at £129.99 (also available in black) from argos;only basic and reasonably good HD quality but has all you need for basic point and shoot with some manual control ie focus and exposure, it also has a to-black or to-white fader. You might need an extra battery or two which would be useful (as the one supplied is a little short on duration), also you'll need a long 3m mini HDMI lead (also available from Argos) if you want to enjoy the full 1080 HD quality on your HD TV plus it doesn't come with a separate battery charger either (it's an optional extra). It just comes with a standard AV lead (yellow phono video/red white stereo phono plugs and triple 3.5in AV plug), a USB lead and AC adaptor. You can however plug it's usb lead from the mains adaptor into the camcorder for charging or into a PC.

There is an optional accessory kit from Panasonic (go to https://www.panasonic.co.uk to order online, or order on other net suppliers or visit your nearest Panasonic main dealer) that goes with this for around £60 which has the requisite charger, carry case and a spare battery and is a good investment. There is two bigger batteries available for this, although not cheap, which will give longer record times.

romangatang

Thanks to you both for your replies. I will check both of your recommendations. Seems as though there are a couple of good models with decent spec in this price range. Helps to have a couple of suggestions to check out though.

What is the average filming length you get from a full charge of the battery with these camcorders?

AnthonyUK

This panasonic model with standard supplied battery runs for at least 40mins which is a little bit restricted. The other two higher capacity batteries you can get for this run for, dependent on quality record setting, 1hr 15m in medium quality mode and 1hr 20min in high quality mode and for the biggest one;even longer for the biggest capacity battery of the two dependent on the quality record setting.

romangatang

Thanks for that. I would buy a couple of larger batteries. We will probably only be filming around 2 hours max. a day and will be able to recharge when we get back to the hotel each day.

AnthonyUK

Also with the Panasonic camcorder there is a CD of editing software called HD Writer LE to chop cut edit add music and commentary to and title your videos on a suitable pc before transfer of the finished movie to dvd or bluray and a CD ROM manual for your camcorder.