I’ve got the itch: that all too familiar feeling where I’ve got newfound money burning a hole in my pocket. All except for the money part, that is. After many months I’m finally poised to start a big video editing project, and it’s got me thinking how much nicer and sharper the end result would be if I’d shot all the footage with digital video. Thus, I now find myself with the itch to upgrade from Hi8 to MiniDV. One major stumbling block — sidestepping the issue of budgeting such a purchase — is that there are so many companies and cameras from which to choose, with no clear-cut winner on top.Normally I would be focusing on a Sony product, but my initial research had me considering the Canon ZR300. It bugs me that the Sonys all seem restricted to 10x optical zoom lenses, but here was one with a 22x optical zoom! Plus it reportedly had great color, “true widescreen”, and a good price. My mind was almost made up, until I found the lukewarm review at C|Net. A lot of their complaints meant little to me though: I don’t care if a camera is bottom-loading since I won’t be using a tripod; still photo performance doesn’t bother since I already have a digital camera; I don’t care if it doesn’t have a lot of bundled software since I already have Final Cut Express and iMovie; the lack of a microphone jack is meaningless since I don’t shoot EFP standups and have never used a separate mic. One thing which was hard to discount though is the reportedly poor low-light performance. Since most of the footage I’ve been shooting over the years is relatives blowing out their birthday candles, low-light performance would be important. Equally unfortunate, poor low-light performance seems pretty common with all makes and models of camcorder.
I actually went out to Best Buy last night, just to check out the ZR300. Instead, I was instantly attracted to the very sharp picture of the Panasonic GS250. It’s sharper since it’s a 3 CCD camcorder, which also means it was a few hundred dollars more. I liked the adjustable viewfinder and I liked the feel of the camera, especially the little joystick control on the back — I could toggle through the menus easily with my thumb, rather than needing both hands to operate as with the Sony touchscreens. Unfortunately, it had poor low-light performance too, perhaps even worse than the ZR300 despite being almost twice the price.
Further research on the GS250 soon led me to the Sony DCR-HC90. The user reviews I read seemed to suggest this might be the best camera to get for low-light performance. It was more than the ZR300 but equivalent to the GS250 — despite not having 3 CCDs.
But before I could make plans to go back to Best Buy, or go price-shopping online, I read that Sony is coming out with a high-def consumer camera this Summer. It almost feels that if I’m going to upgrade I should really upgrade, even though I presently have no HDTV with which to view any HD footage I would be shooting. The stumbling block here would be that the Sony’s HDR-HC1 will list at around two thousand dollars! Then again, by the time I finally make up my mind that price will probably have dropped considerably. I can’t exactly say this news brings me back to square one, considering I don’t think I ever left there.
