If you are in the market for a new camcorder then you will want to check out these top three picks on my list of the must have camcorders on the market. These three cameras have pretty much every option imaginable for your home video needs; you can’t go wrong if you get one of these camcorders.
#3 JVC Everio GZ-MG255 camcorder is a great everyday video camera, simple to use, this camera is perfect for the basic user who doesn’t know much about camcorders. With a great feature set that is easy to navigate and very simplistic most users will only use the basic settings. There is a more robust set of advanced settings for the more knowledgeable users; it’s nice that the camera has so many features.
The Everio is relatively small which seems to be the growing trend with hand held video cameras. The Everio comes equipped with a 30GB hard drive to store your videos on. With such a large amount of storage space on the unit you should be able to record up to 37 hours of video footage; this is of course on the camcorders lowest settings. As you change settings in video quality and various other settings this number of hours will decrease but still it gives you ample storage for most uses.
You can get the Everio for around $500 bucks, you can find them here at the below sites.
Buydig – $515
Butter Fly Photo – $499
#2 Sony Handycam DCR-SR42 is a nice compact light weight digital video camcorder that features some great features and an awesome touch screen. The camcorder comes with a 60GB hard drive so you have more than ample video storage capacity; it comes with its own docking station for easy transfer form the camcorder to the computer. This is an all in one system, which is great for everyday video use; it has decent video quality and a lot of extras that make the Handycam one of the best in its class of camcorders. The camcorder comes with free software (windows only Mac cost $100 bucks) the software is basic and I suggest getting a different video editing software but if you don’t want to spend any extra you will get the free software with the camcorder which is nice.
With a lot of features for basic and advanced users everyone will be happy with the Handycam. You can get plenty of hours of footage so it’s ideal for long trips where you might not be able to transfer your video to your computer for awhile. Being a little pricier than some other camcorders ($699) you might want to look for a cheaper camera but if you do go with the Handycam you know you will get a reliable camcorder that will get the job done.
You can get one here at Sony.
#1 Panasonic VDR-D310 is the ideal camcorder for your home video needs. It’s solid, light weight, and takes exceptional quality video, offers image stabilization and only costs around $525 bucks. For the price the Panasonic VDR-D310 is probably the best buy of all the camcorders on this list, it features plenty of video options and settings and you record straight to a mini DVD. If you prefer a hard drive based camcorder then this isn’t for you, but if you just want to record video and then watch it in the family DVD player for simplicity reasons this will work great for you.
This is one of the best cameras when it comes to video quality, if you want a camcorder that will take great video indoors or outside this is the camcorder you want to buy. The only thing the VDR-D310 is missing is a video light, but this shouldn’t be a problem for most users. Since it records straight to DVD you won’t be able to do any video editing unless you take the video from the DVD to your computer and then edit and re-burn the video. This wont be an issue with most users since the basic user won’t do any video editing, but if you are one of the video editing types this isn’t for you.
You can get the VDR-D310 at one of the following stores
Buydig – $509
Dell – $560
Butterfly Photo – $524
All of these camcorders have their ups and downs to them you can check them out and decide which will be best for you and your needs. Hope this helps if you are in the market for a good camcorder.
