I am planning on buying a new camcorder for a present to myself for Christmas and have been looking at the Sony SR42. I think I want one with a hard drive rather than the mini DVD disc, etc. Any good solid recommendtions or suggestions for me?

Trapper,

The camera looks good.
JUst be aware of a couple of things up to 20 hours of recording will be with the lowest setting. So if you are planning to do a lot of filming while away outdoors it could be easier to swap minidv tapes. And with the tapes you can go at full quality all the time.

Also, please dont be swept of your feet with digital zoom, optical zoom is what is needed for good footage digital zoom increases the pixel size and then drops your footage quality.

i recently bought the Sony DVD 508 and took it hunting in New Caledonia. when using double sided miniDVD discs you got a total of 40 minutes of recording per disc(when shooting in the highest quality mode) with the added advantage of shooting 6 megapixel still photos recorded on memory sticks. in the super nightshot mode you can record in total darkness, has a 10x optical zoom. i absolutely loved the camera and all the video and stills were great. plus it was nice to carry just one camera for both video and photo and not have to lug around 2 .

I will second what Safari-Hunt has said above.

Stay with mini DV. No hard disk camera comes close in quality.

I have tried all of them. standard def with a hard disk. Hi def with ahard disk, with an SD card and so on.

I have also tried the new AVCHD cameras. Eventually I gave up and went back to good old mini DV. The quality of this is unmatched in any other format.

And it is much easier to work with on the computer.

For convenience, the solid state cameras are good, but for quality, they are not.

What Safari-Hunt and Saeed said.
If you want to plug the camcorder up to your TV, then basically anything will work.
I've been using mini dv for years and will continue to, but I do a LOT of editing on my computer to deliver to the web and dvd.

I had to laugh today.

I went to the camera store to buy a Sony HC7, this is their latest hi-def small camera on a mini DV.

They had shelves full of all sorts of cameras - but NO mini DV!

I know the manager in the shop, and he said very few people buy mini DV right now. Everyone is buying solid state cameras for convenience.

Anyway, he sent one of his boys to the destributor while I had a cup of coffee with him, and I got my mini DV camera that no one wants to buy.

We put it to good use, as this afternoon we had some visitors to shoot. And we managed to persuade them to try the 577 T.Rex. Some shot it without too much hassle, two dropped the rifle, and one had a bloody beauty spot smack between the eyes!

All in all, quite an enjoyable afternoon

Saeed,

Mini DV getting old ?????
I suppose the shops try to keep the new stuff to move even if the old suppose to be mini dv has been working just fine.

Wow, no mini dv?? Crazy.
Just talk to anyone who does video for a living. Mini dv rules, with the exception of the Panasonic P2 cards.

I wanted to resurrect this thread to see if anything has changed. Two questions:
1. If nothing has changed, what reasonably priced mini DV camcorders would you recommend?
2. How is the mini DV easier to work with on the computer? I would have thought that the mini disk would be easier.
3. Any of these suitable fo underwater work ie. housing is readily available?
Thanks, Peter.

1.
Nothing has changed. Mini DV is still king as far as quality is concerned.

2. Mini DV is very mature, and practically any non-linear editing proram will give you satisfactory results. There is no mini disk camcorder that I know of. But, if you mean tose with a hard disk, they record in a format that one can edt on computer, but not necessarily any easier.

But, the quality is no way as good as from mini DV.

3. You can get uderwater housings for many mini DV camcorders.

Any recommendations for reasonably priced miniDV's?
How about:
JVC GR-D850 MIniDV
Canon Elura 100 (no longer made)
Sony DCR - HC38
HC62
HC48
HC96
Some of these are getting pretty expensive for the amount of use they will get.
I notice there is now an HC9.
Thanks, Peter.

I would recommend the Sony HC7. It will be cheaper, as it is being superceded by a new one.

I have tried both Sony and Canon, an find Sony much easier to use, because their controls are placed logically - to me at least.

Saeed, thanks for the advice!
Peter.

I have a Sony DCR-HC40 that has been giving me some trouble. Is it worth upgrading to the HC7? I want to use one on a family trip to Namibia this year.

I was wondering if anyone who has experience with the Sony HC7, has had a look at the HC9?
The HC7 is no longer listed on Sony's Canadian website, and I have found retail sites offering both for approx. $100 difference.Any suggestions?

Hitachi has a new Blu-ray disc HDD camcorder.Check their website.