Hello,

As you can see I am new here. I've been meaning to try out some camcorders to make some family videos and screw around with friends. Needless to say that I know pretty much nothing about video and camcorders, and I was hoping that some of you could help me out by giving me a crash course of what there is, what does it mean, what to look for and what to avoid. More specific questions of mine are:

1. What are the different types of recording video possible and what are the differences (cons/pros) of them?

2. What are the different brans/models of camcorders out there and what are the pros/cons of them. In case it helps, I am willing to spend around 1000$ on a camcorder (USD).

3. What is P24? I've heard of this, but I don't know what it means, could you pleas help me out.

4. Any other petty and basic information that I should know about the world of video and camcorders.

Thank you all very much for your help.

Stefan

Well, I started a while back where you are now. If I had it to do over, I would buy the Panasonc gs400 at about $1500. 3CCD and most everything else you will want without going up to the next tier.

I opted for a SOny trv-39 at about $600 and am pretty happy with it. The features I think you should look for in a 1CCD camera are an easy manual focus, stereo mic and headphone jacks, good ergonomics, bright LCD, easy to operate. Manual control of exposure and audio are important too. Having real 16x9 mode is cool, but maybe not needed for your plans. Don't even worry about 24p at the level you are talking about.

Things I wish I had but don't:

Manual White balance.
Ability to change tapes without removing from tripod.
Deeper optical zoom (i have 12x)
A zoom ring instead of a zoom button.

Be preoared to spend as much as your camera on other stuff like a GOOD tripod, a GOOD microphone (or two) (or three), lights, cables, case, filters, other odds and ends.

HTH