DaveMorales

I am in the market for a good Mini-DV or Digital8 camcorder and looking to spend around $700-800 (less if possible). Image quality and compactness are most important and digital still is not important.

Any recommendations?

Ones I am currently considering are the Canon Ultura and the JVC GRDVL-805


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A free Tibet - Keep Hope alive...

SEH

Anyone with thoughts on the JVCGRDVL 307 and 507, and the Cannon ZR10?

Someone, help us lost in the quagmire that is the mini-dv market.

Mister Beefhead

I've got the ZR-10 in my hand as I write this - I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

SEH

What did you compare it to? What made you buy it? Are you happy with it? Would you buy it again? How much did you pay?

Huh? Huh? Huh?

Actually, a brief review would be great! I can't seem to decide between the two and I want to spend about $800 - 900.

Mister Beefhead

I bought it because it cost me $210 bucks from a dude I work with. (No, I don't want to know where it came from.) I can't compare it to much, cause it's the first camcorder I've ever owned. I know, I guess I'm not much help, but I've been tinkering around with it and can expound on any of the features of it that you want a real life opinion about. We'll have to find an owner of a competing camera if we are going to have a real comparison.

MojoTheHelperMonkey

Allow me to share my insight: I'm a movie-making junkie and my cameras get a work out. First you've gotta choose a format, to me the choice is clear. The mini-dv tapes are the newest technology widely available and affordable to consumers, they are very small, which makes for tiny camcorders, and they give you much longer recording time than Digital 8, generally 60 minutes at SP, 90 at EP; however there are special longer length tapes available as well. Digital 8 uses traditional 8MM tapes, but I think the owners manual generally recommends one to use the more expensive HI-8 tapes . In digital mode, you will cut the tape length in half, i.e. a 60 minute analog tape only records 30 minutes of digital8. The 8MM tapes are significantly larger than mini-dv, which makes for larger, more obtrusive cameras. The only conceivable reason I can imagine you may want to go with digital8 is if you have an enormous collection of 8MM tapes from a previous camcorder that you may wish to veiw using the digital8 camera as a vcr. Even then, why not just use your previous camera for this job. Before leaving the states to go work at a resort in Saipan, Northern Marianas Islands on a six-month contract in late June'00 I purchased the just released JVC GR DVM-90 (msrp $1599), a progressive-scan model also capable of still pictures with a resolution of up to XGA 1024x768 that are stored on an included 8MB memory card. At the time I was really leaning toward a canon but they had not yet released their newer progressive-scan model now available, the Elura 2. The JVC is a nice camera, but all I can do is wonder how much better the picture quality is on the canon. The canons are supposed to have much more vibrant, life-like colors. Another reason for the canons vs. jvc or sony or anyone else is the Image Stabilization system (y'know the feature that rids your movies of hand-held camera jitters and shakes) Canon camcorders utilize "optical image stabilization" an exclusuve technology whereby small motors inside the lens actually counteract the unintentional handheld movement of the camera. All other companies use a "digital image stabilizer" which functions electronically, they often, in fact nearly always make the image look worse. Another feature to think about is zoom technology. All camcorders today provide an optical and a digital zoom. While optical zoom will look comparable on any brand camera, digital zoom quality varies from model to model. When I worked at Circuit City last year as a seasonal employee I spent many days comparing the quality of the zooms, and once again I would have to say canon had a much better looking digital zoom than the jvc's sony's, sharp's and others. Even now I'm thinking of selling my jvc to buy a canon even though it would translate into a nearly $500. dollar loss for me seeing what my madel has been bringing on eBay recently versus the cost of a new Elura2MC. Don't get me wrong here, I like my jvc camcorder, i'm just not 100% pleased with the color saturation it provides. Canon has two available models which fit the compactness you are looking for, the Elura and the Elura MC (Memory Card). If still picture capability on a separate memory card is not worth an extra couple hundred bucks to you (they can both take quite nice stills and store them on the tape, the progressive scanner makes it possible to freeze frame a segment of video without any jitter whatsoever) then I would recommend the Elura2 (msrp $1599), not the MC model (msrp $1399). I believe the canon also comes with a 12/12 warranty for parts AND labor unlike the usual 12 months parts and 3 months labor provide by most all other companies. Either of these can be had for significantly less than the msrp. Just look around a bit. I bought the jvc just after it was released for just under $1200. even though the msrp was/is $1599. I would suggest perhaps you take advantage of the msn passport offer for 20% off at select online retailers. Assuming you can find the Elura 2 not the MC model for around $1000. (I know for a fact the Elura2 MC can be had for around $1200. before discount) minus 20% is $800, a real bargain in my opinion. Hope some of this has been of help, any more questions/comments please let me know.


P-R-A-Y-F-O-R-M-O-J-O "oh dear god mojo, what have they done to you?!"

DaveMorales

Wow... thanks for the lengthy reply...

I went with the JVC GRDVL-805 after I found it for $551 shipped... far better than anything else in its price class.

Thanks for the help.

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A free Tibet - Keep Hope alive...

MojoTheHelperMonkey

That last bit seems a bit confusing. What I mean to say is the Elura2(msrp $1399) and the Elura2MC(msrp $1599) are the two models I would recommend. I would not recommend the just plain Elura/Elura1 as that is last year's interlaced (non-progressive scan mode) model. If you are planning on using the MSN Passport discount it appears mp superstore http://www.mpsuperstore.com has the best price for these models. Frankly, the Sony DCR PC5 would not be a bad choice either if you were looking to hold the title of the "world's smallest mini-dv camcorder" although it has no progressive scanner and utilizes an electronic image stabilizer, and the color saturation is not as vibrant as the canons, the PC5 does include the nifty night-shot mode (makes everything look green like a military night scope) and has a very unique touch-screen lcd for menu acces and camera functions. Okay that's all for now, kiddeee's

Homer Simpon's peronal helper monkey.