Small Digital Camcorders

[Caleb]

I'm looking for a small digital camcorder. I want HD recording and I'm not sure if I want on-board storage or to use SD cards. I'm looking to take this on my trip to Africa next week so long battery life would be nice.

Any suggestions?

 

[RustEoldtrux]

I ran across this today - I'm looking for something similar too.

http://picsio.jvc.com/

Sounds like a nice unit.

 

[Caleb]

I ran across this today - I'm looking for something similar too.

http://picsio.jvc.com/

Sounds like a nice unit.

I've never really been a fan of JVC, however I do like that it does true HD (1920x1080).

 

[Skylinerider]

I'm in the same boat (well except for the africa part) I've been looking at the Samsung HD cameras as well as sony's offerings after I saw what they can do. There are a few professors that use the handheld Sony HD cameras for documentaries down here at SUU.

 

[Paul R]

Where in Africa are you headed?

 

[rholbrook]

Caleb, I have the JVC HD recorder with a built in 30GB harddrive. I picked up a battery at Batteries Plus and I was able to record two little league football games on one battery and it still had life left. Your welcome to borrow it.

 

[Caleb]

Where in Africa are you headed?

We're heading to Ethiopia.

Some good options. We were leaning toward the Flips but I get a feeling they're lacking something. I also don't like that all their zoom is digital and no optical. However, it's looking like most of the pocket sized camcorders are 100% digital zoom.

 

[Caleb]

Well, I ended up picking up the Sony Bloggie Touch HD. It's the same form factor as the flips but it films up to 1080p, including 720p at 60fps. It also is a 13mp camera too (not that I really care about the camera part). I'll get some video and report back with my impressions. It was only $40 more than the Flip Mino HD ($159 vs. $199). Based on the specs and the feel of it, I felt it was more than worth the little extra, but only time will tell.