What is the best Camcorders/ video cameras

[JazzyBill]

What are people buying today?

Video Cameras with SD Cards? What are the best ones to buy? What are the best features to look for? Is there a list? I see some of the Cannon's like
Canon VIXIA HF G20 HD Camcorder and the G30

for Sony I see Sony HDRCX900/B Video Camera with 3.5-Inch LCD

 

[kanewolf]

What about a digital SLR that also has video modes? That way you have interchangeable lenses.

 

[jamesd168]

What are people buying today?

Video Cameras with SD Cards? What are the best ones to buy? What are the best features to look for? Is there a list? I see some of the Cannon's like
Canon VIXIA HF G20 HD Camcorder and the G30

for Sony I see Sony HDRCX900/B Video Camera with 3.5-Inch LCD

Never tried the Cannon, but have owned two generations of Sony. I have no complaints. Batteries don't last for long, but you can get replacement batteries from Amazon for pretty low price so I just have a bunch of them charged up and swap them out if one battery goes out.

 

[kenrivers]

I have a Canon HF G20 and have been quite pleased with video recorded with this camcorder. The HF G20 does have 32GB of internal memory (which I have yet to use) and dual SD card slots and is about $400 less expensive than the G30. However the G30 does have a 20x zoom vs. the 10x zoom on the G20. The G30 does have both a 1x Mini Advanced Shoe and 1x Cold shoe vs. the G20 which only has a Mini Advanced Shoe (Canon proprietary shoe). The G30 does have more effective pixels and an option to save as either AVCHD or MP4 while the G20 only saves as AVCHD. Two things that are nice about both are the manual controls and microphone and headphone and headphone jacks. Almost forgot that another difference between the two is that the G30 records 60fps @1920x1080p whereas the G20 records 60fps @1920x1080i.

However, as kanewolf suggested, a DSLR would give you the option of interchangeable lens which is huge advantage over the camcorder. I have a Canon T4i and the video quality is great. The T4i however was quickly discontinued and is now two models behind the current one.

I also have an older Sony, HDR-HC1, and between it and the Canon the Canon has better low-light performance.

Things I would look for, and consider important, in a new camcorder would be the sensor size (impacts the low-light performance and quality), manual controls (gives you more control over the shoot) and microphone and headphone jacks.

 

[JazzyBill]

This will be my first ever video camera without tapes. I been using many Sony and Canon's over the years. I cant wait to try one that I can record on SD cards. I wanted a decent new video camera I only saw the ones I mentioned about. Can you give me some model names so I can look them up the ones your talking about?

 

[JazzyBill]

as of now I have my eyes on the Canon HF G20 to start out my adventures with sd card camcorder/ video cameras recordings. kenrivers you sounded really pleased with this video camera. I am glad to hear that. kanewolf what digital SLR cameras models you have in mind?

 

[JazzyBill]

and Sony is out with their 4k camcorders Sony HDRCX900/B Video Camera with 3.5-Inch LCD or others. Is anyone using theses models? If so how are they working out Pros and Cons. Thanks