Best HD Video Camera to Buy?
 

I'm looking to buy one of these tiny, palm sized HD video cameras. Which ones would you recommend? Any particular ones you would advise to stay away from? Which ones have good picture even in non perfect lighting conditions. I know Sony are notorious for having clear picture outdoors on a sunny day but grainy as all fuck when you take it inside. I made a mistake of buying one a few years back. It was a waste of money. I bought GL2 afterwards which was a complete opposite. Nice crisp picture with vivid colors even if lighting conditions are not perfect.

However even though it's a great camera, I'm done carrying it around on my travels. I need a tiny one, preferably HD. What's a good way to go? Did Sony get their shit straight and have glass that works in lower light as well?

What's the best format to go for nowadays? Are Mini DV tapes obsolete now? Should I be looking for the cam that records on DVD discs, or is one with a hard drive the best way to go?

Thanks for any help :thumbsup

no bumps :(

I shoot a Panasonic HMC150 as my production camera. It's too big for what you want, but I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the recording media. SDHC cards. Same size as a typical SD card, but better and nice and small. Consider something along those lines. I haven't had a problem yet. Don't know how long a card will hold out, but I am going strong so far.

I use the Sony A1U. Its small and compact but still HD. It even comes with a mountable mic.

We use a Sony just upgrading now but won't stay with Sony as we have had so many problems with the HDR-HC1. Had 2 and both gave the same problems with the screen and playback, plus we were always getting Moisture condensation warnings even though we kept them in a sealed bag with moisture grain packets. Going to go back to Canon probably as when we were using Canon a few years back and we had no problems at all for years. Just sucks as we have all the lenses etc for Sony.

We have a little Sony HD here for POV and trips out and never had any issues with it. Superb quality and very simple to use.

Sony HDR-HC3 and beyond. Very stable, lots of accessories, produces great results. I've been using it for 2 years, no problems so far.

I used my friend Sony HD camera last week and it was awesome. Not sure what the model was.

I love my Canon HF11. Got the shotgun mic for it. It's TINY. Uses SDHC cards, so no more tape - yeah! 1920x1080 30p 24Mbps. It does good in low light, especially if you bump the shutter speed down to 30, but I don't ever shoot in low light. Always got everything well lit.

Yep, that's a bump here bro! :thumbsup
Good luck

Have done some research, went to check a few of them out and so far I seem to like this Canon VIXIA HFS10 the best. It has larger sensor so low light footage would be crispier and more colorful than smaller censor cameras. Plus it has a built in 32GB flash memory and an SD slot to expand on storage. Anyone has this one? Likes/dislikes?

PS - thanks for bumpage :thumbsup