hello everyone,

I’ve been reading threads from this forum for the last few days and I must say that you guys are very knowledgeable and informative. Hopefully you guys can help me solve my dilemma…

You must’ve heard this at least 1000 times but I too am an aspiring filmmaker. During my high school years, I’d be willing to direct anything. Give me a tight story and a miniDV cam, a VHS-C cam, even a 8mm cam and I’ll shoot it. At that time I didn’t care so much about technology at the time (such as the difference between 1CCD and a 3CCD) and was more concerned with telling a good story. Now I am entering my 2nd year of college and I’ve been in search for a DVcam for my video production classes. The more I learned about camcorders the harder it became to choose one. I went from a TRV70, to a TRV950, to a VX2000 to being stuck between a VX2000 and a DVC80. And now, the dark horse(who we also know it as the DVX100) is sneaking up my alley.
Please help me choose the right cam that I can benefit from in every condition.

So when I break everything down, it looks like:

VX2000-great res, great lowlight, but lacks ext. mic and on board XLR ports…plus its 3 years old!

DVC80-newer cam, good res, on board XLR ports and ext. mic…but not as good as the VX in lowlight

DVX100-based on what you guys say, great everything (esp. 24P)…EXCEPT the price(keep in mind I am a typical broke college student hehe)

Besides good lighting, postproduction, acting and pacing…which cam will give me great performance and longevity in most (if not all) circumstances? Should I buy a VX and get the extras down the road, get a DVC80 and not be happy with lowlight, or sacrifice everything I own for a DVX100? I have become a victim of getting caught up in technology and forgetting about how to make good movies. Guys help me pick one out so I can get my head straight. Sorry for the extra long post, thanks in advance !!

The DVC80 is every bit as good as the VX2000 in low light. Trying to find low-light differences between these cameras is splitting hairs. The only advantage the VX2000 has is in slower shutter speeds (the DVC80's slowest shutter speed is 1/30th). But if you use those slower shutter speeds you get a funky blur on your video. So for "practical" low-light performance, either is going to give you near-identical results.

I'd say the DVC80 is a much better value than the VX2000 in just about every way. It's newer, with more controllability and a much better audio circuit. The VX2000 is due to be replaced by the VX2100 (in Europe at least). If the price is the same (or very close) the DVC80 is the easy winner.

As for the DVX100, it has many upgrades over the DVC80 -- but it also costs about $700-$900 more (based on reported street prices). You'll have to decide if that's worth it to you. If you're interested in making movies on video that look like movies, nothing compares to the DVX100 (right now). You'd definitely get more, but you'll pay more, and only you can decide if it's worth it to you.