Camcorder under £100?

[Gamebird]

Spookily H&H have done an article on the benefits of videoing just as I've started looking at camcorders. Tesco/Amazon etc. have some models that look like they would do a reasonable job for under £100 but will they be good enough?

Can anyone suggest a reasonable quality, reasonably cheap model and tell me which are the essential features that I won't be able to do without.

Also what's a reasonable size memory card?

Thanks in advance. Nothing to offer this time of the morning except Weetabix, sorry!

 

[flyingfeet]

Depends what you want to do with it - for transferring to the web & storing files on a computer, the flip cameras are very popular (I get my hands on one next monday hopefully!)

 

[Olliecp77]

I wanted a cheap one but ended up spending £240 on play.com, amazon had good deals too, there are end of lines on deals with pcworld/currys. Features are confusing but I ended up with a Sony handycam SR35 30GB HDD. Quick to charge, good storage, easy to download to pc, good quality pics/video and great zoom. It's 2 yrs old and will go another good while, don't use as much anymore but it will last for years. It may be a false economy to get a very cheap one and not have features you need or not last as long. Play.com recommended a camera case and it was huge when it arrived so they replaced free so I got 2 cases for price of one!

 

[Decision_Tree]

From being forced to watch the gadget show by OH - They also say the Flip cameras are good ones to get. I think that would be the option id go for. I am tempted to ask for one for xmas and since my dad is now happliy being dragged along to events means I have some1 who can operate it!

 

[TGM]

I looked into this last year, and I ended up buying this:

Sanyo Xacti VPC-SH1

I looked at the sub-£100 models but couldn't find anything suitable as I wanted a decent zoom function and HD. I felt a good zoom was needed for equestrian sports when you often can't get that close to the action. I've found the Sanyo Xacti easy to use and able to do all the things I wanted it to, gives good quality video (at least to my non-techy eye) plus very compact so easy to push into a coat pocket when not in use.

 

[photo_jo]

Doubt you'll get anything near what you want or that will last at that price. Def worth spending a bit more if you can

 

[Rosiefan]

Good zoom facility is essential. Mine is a Sony and quite old so it doesn't have a memory card but video is greedy and the better the quality, the more gigabytes it will eat. It's not a terribly important issue when choosing which camcorder IMO though as high capacity cards are fairly cheap on line.
If no one on here can help you choose, it might be an idea to google for review sites or (what I often do when looking for inspiration) go on Amazon and look at user reviews for whichever ones catch your eye.

 

[TGM]

I've got an 8GB card for mine, and that seems to hold plenty enough for my purposes (although you do have to remember to delete old videos from the card once they are copied onto your hard disc).

 

[Saratoga]

I think the flip cameras don't have the ability to zoom? Which is a must when videoing training, tests etc i think.

 

[Gamebird]

Thank you for your suggestions. It will probably be a case of cheap or not at all unfortunately. My husband will give me some money for my birthday - he'll probably stretch to £50, and I can just about match that. It will be used for lessons, dressage and SJing mainly I think.

Are either of these any use?

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.208-1854.aspx

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.206-3976.aspx

And the other question is will videos take up a huge amount of room on my hard drive? I may need to add an external hard drive to my wish list too if so.

 

[dressage_diva]

And the other question is will videos take up a huge amount of room on my hard drive? I may need to add an external hard drive to my wish list too if so.

Yes definitely! If you're going to be taking decent length videos regularly you will quickly fill your hard drive (particularly if you're using a laptop). I would recommend either investing in a 1TB hard drive (make sure you pick a decent one that will last otherwise one day you may find the drive stops working and you've lost all your videos!) or subscribe to somewhere like smugmug.com where you could upload all your videos to an online account and delete them off your computer. I use smugmug as a back-up for all of my photographs and some videos as I'm paranoid about one day loosing them off my computer (though I already have a back-up hard drive too!).

 

[Broodle]

I don't have either of the Tesco camcorders (or any camcorder at all in fact!), but I had a look at the reviews as I'm considering getting a combined camera/camcorder for Christmas, and several reviewers mentioned that both camcorders suffered from a poor autofocus, especially when the object moves closer or further away. So, I'm guessing footage of tests/sj rounds etc would suffer from grainy, out-of-focus patches.

I hate buying electronics gear with a passion as it's so easy to get it wrong. Always end up delegating to my anal OH who just loves all the tedious research!

 

[christine48]

look on the which site, they do evaluations etc. TBH you'll be lucky to get one for that price and I think for videoing action shots they recommend HD which are more expensive, a good zoom and image stabilisers

 

[Broodle]

look on the which site, they do evaluations etc. TBH you'll be lucky to get one for that price and I think for videoing action shots they recommend HD which are more expensive, a good zoom and image stabilisers

Good idea to look at Which. I had a look at their info about pocket camcorders, and they like the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 because it has a 5x optical zoom, unlike all the others which only have digital zooms. Seems to cost around £130ish. Off to do some research on this one now!

ETS: Have now found the Sanyo one for under £80 at play.com... http://www.play.com/Electronics/Ele...CG10-HD-Camcorder-Digital-Camera/Product.html

I seem to have got a bit carried away with this camcorder search.... I'll stop posting my random thoughts now!

 

[Rosiefan]

Re storage. You can put stuff onto DVDs to free up your hard drive. Windows Movie Maker lets you do that I think and simple editing.
ETA: The reviewers on Amazon give the Sanyo a thumbs up too, more expensive on there though.

 

[Gamebird]

Good idea to look at Which. I had a look at their info about pocket camcorders, and they like the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 because it has a 5x optical zoom, unlike all the others which only have digital zooms. Seems to cost around £130ish. Off to do some research on this one now!

ETS: Have now found the Sanyo one for under £80 at play.com... http://www.play.com/Electronics/Ele...CG10-HD-Camcorder-Digital-Camera/Product.html

I seem to have got a bit carried away with this camcorder search.... I'll stop posting my random thoughts now!

I like it, and positive reviews. I'm just a bit worried by the person who said that it wouldn't work with their editing software.

There's also this:
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Ele...-Camcorder-Blue/Product.html?searchtype=genre

which I'd looked at on Tesco.com but it was 134.99 and a bit over budget. Much cheaper here!

Might I be better spending an extra £20 though and buying one that was originally £179.99? Sounds like I might get a much better camera for my money, no reviews though

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Ele...Camcorder-Black/Product.html?searchtype=genre

 

[Gamebird]

Ooooh, that last one gets good reviews on Amazon.

 

[LEC]

I have just sent you a message on facebook but on social mail at work someone is selling a very good one that is nearly new for £100. I can get you the details.

 

[Gamebird]

Lec that sounds very interesting. I'm guessing she might be selling the bits (memory card etc.) that go with it too. I'm just going to be tied up for the next couple of hours but I'll bob over to FB as soon as I get a chance and have a wee look.

 

[LEC]

I deleted the email as it came through this morning and trying to tidy up a stupidly messy inbox but have requested that she send it again to me and can copy and paste.

 

[sportsmansB]

We have a toshiba Camileo one which is super as it fits in your pocket (so when at competition can nip over and video test without having to go and get it
It is HD and very simple to use though I think zoom only 4x or something.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SmithBrothersIreland
All you tube videos on the above taken with it. Would help if we were better at the taking of the videos- its hard to video and watch at the same time!!!!

 

[georgiegirl]

we bought one from pc world which was an ex display model so it had a scratch down the side for about 100 pounds - its one of the mini looking ones with the fold out side screen and handily has a youtube programme which allows you to send it straight to youtube (cant remember for the life of me what make it is) and its brilliant!

im so glad we had the upgrade - with the old one it always looked like channel 4 racing had come to join us!

 

[now_loves_mares]

My Flip was under £100 using a voucher code on Amazon (moneysavingexpert website gave me the code to use). That's what you saw at Hendersyde. It's fine for dressage, fairly bearable for SJ and pretty useless for XC It zooms *3 which is nothing these days, but obviously is mega easy to use and not really designed for Sports. FigJam videoed me jumping and it was pretty decent to be honest. But only in the confines of an arena.

You'll struggle to get much new for under £100 and if you do, they'll generally be rubbish! The flip will do the training job if that is really all you want it for.

Someone (Kit maybe?) had a camera that did slow-mo. Think it was the Casio Exilim? Now THAT was a training aid! I think though, that was a still camera with video function, rather than a video camera. My OH has a good still camera that does decent quality video; the downside being you can't zoom in once you've pressed record. But that might be another option at the lower end of the price bracket?

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

We use a camcorder alot in training & at shows. You really need one with a good optical zoom...20x or more. Don't got for too bigger zoom though as you will get so much camera shake that you'll need a tripod/monopod to hold it steady.

If you are on a limited budget then consider buying a used one from ebay. Many people buy camcorders & only use them a handful of time, i.e. on annual holiday & then decide to sell as they are not getting alot of use out of them. You can pick up good one's for very little money. That's how I bought my current Sony & the picture quality, zon, slow motion feature etc etc are great. All this & more for £53 including p+p.

 

[Gamebird]

Thank you all. I'll keep having a wee look around, but I've got more idea what I want now! Some of the on-line retailers have large discounts over rrp (assuming that the quoted rrp is correct?) and I may be able to get an £180ish model for £100, but there are all the extras too. I like the idea of uploading straight to youtube and have seen it offered with a couple of cameras. Does that mean that you don't have to keep a copy on your hard drive?

 

[Rosiefan]

You don't need to keep a copy if it's been uploaded to the web. Beware though, most of the free sites have a limit to how much you can keep and you have to pay to expand your storage. As I said before - it's dead easy (and cheap) to put the clips onto a DVD which you can then play back either on a computer or on TV.