I got my Optura 300 two days ago. I was so busy lately that I just put a Mini DV tape into it that I had from my daughter's birth 20 months ago. I had borrowed my brother's JVC camera for that event. Yesterday, I wanted to capture and play around with something on my computer. I found the part where I was about to touch my daughter for the first time in my life. I actually paused and told my wife that I just realized that I was going to capture the first time that I ever placed my hand on my daughter. I reached out and touched her. Well, I placed that tape in a special place to keep it safe. It was strange to see her on the first day of her life again. I got tired while reading the manual and constantly going back to capturing video. I went to bed at 3 am. I never captured that clip. Well, I just turned around and saw my wife recording the kids. I asked her what tape she was using. She said the one in the camera. I jumped up in a panic. She recorded over that moment. Lesson learned. Hide the toys from the wife and kids.

Steve, I see you're selling your Optura 300 in the classifieds.

What are you going with next?

Tommy, I really like the Optura300 and have absolutely nothing bad to say about it......but my curiosity has been piqued with the DV400 Panasonic and I'd like to add it to my stable of owned cameras......it seems like a gem of a camera- but if the Optura doesn't sell- I wont be disappointed at all!

Steve, I guess you're referring to the new Panasonig GS400? It does seem like quite the cam for the price! I want one to compliment my DVX100A.

The Optura 300 is a nice cam and I wouldn't blame you a bit if you kept it (and got a GS400).

Good luck with the sell.

I first learned about CraigsList.com yesterday. I got on there and got addicted to what people are selling online. I contacted a woman who was selling everything after getting divorced. She listed a Sony High 8 camera for only $65.00. Now, that model is ten years old. But, I figured that if it were in good shape, I would have an extra cam to let the kids play with. One that we are not afraid to knock around. This woman gave me her cell number on AOL. I called her. She lives in a nice building on W 57th St. in Manhattan. She told me to come over anytime that I felt free. I could have been some nut for all she knew. I went with my wife. She was an occupational therapist it turns out. She had all of the things laid out that she was selling. So cheap. I could not believe the camera. It was in the original box. She asked me how to use it to get out the only tape that she ever used out of the first three she bought. It was of her dog that died two years ago. The battery was dead. It would not eject. I figured she would say no deal. I showed her how to hook it up to the outlet. It had weird proprietary plugs. We got the tape out. The camera is a Sony TR500 handyCam. This camera had every extra. It had not a scratch or prints on it. It has the original box with Styrofoam. It was like it just came out of a time warp. I took it home and just went through everything. It includes the Camera, three batteries one of which has a price tag of $59.99 from Best buy and is unopened, the wires included are the power adapter, RCA jack wires, S-Video and that wire that connects to the old antennae on the back of the TV. It has three filters. A clear UV filter, polarized filter, and ND filter (I don't really know filters). There is a European plug converter. It even has an infared remote that takes a watch battery. The strap was never put on yet. She also gave me the two left over tapes that were never opened. The kicker is that she had her husbands receipt in there. $1826.89 was paid ten years ago. It has the lifetime extended warranty on it. Any video taken with it can be transferred to computer through the video card that I have on my wife's Dell or through my Canon Optura 300 as a pass through camera with mine connected with firewire to my new AMD computer. For $65 bucks, this is a weird deal. BTW, My wife has dozens of the same tapes. Her camera broke. She wants to convert hers to DVD with my burner. Two days ago we were speaking about who we may know with a High 8 that we can use to run her tapes through to the computer. We took this camera out and used it. It records excellent quality video. We were laughing after seeing the quality then comparing it to the new Optura 300. It is not much different to the untrained eye. When recording indoors in lamp lighting, it is grainy. The hallway outside my door is brighter and it does well there. Outdoors should be kool too. Its not a 24P but it is something the kids can play with. As a side note, I was able to return the battery that was unopened. The cam came with three batteries. I called the woman and asked her why she had one new battery. She explained that she could not locate the two others so she bought that to get the tape out that had her dog on it. She found the other two batteries when she returned from best buy. She had no idea how to hook up the power adapter either. I told her that she could return the battery for cash. She told me to just keep it. I exchanged it for a spare for the Optura 300 I have. I was going to buy a spare Optura battery so that makes this camera pretty much free. I good knock around camera to have. A little off topic here but just a reflection on a good deal.

Don, you wrote:

"The image output is so good that it can easily cut with a GL2 or XL1S with just a wee bit of color correction."

Don, I'm wowed by your impressive endorsement!

Do you think I could use the Optura 500 (and what mike would you suggest) for instructional and experimental/art videos?

Thanks so much!

Dorothy

Correct me if I'm wrong, but all these modes should be available on the Optura 40 too? It also has the 1/3.4" 2.2 megapixel CCD, and it looks like the 1/30 nite mode trick works. I can't try out the direct capture method, as I'm firewireless until the end of the month.