Help Me Buy a Video Camera

ewile · #1 01-22-2006, 11:52 AM

Hi,
I've got two kids, 3 and one and a half and absolutely no video of them yet. My wife and I have never bought a video camera. This is it, we're going to buy one tonight. I don't even know where to begin.
Lots of people are telling us just to get a good digital camera that shoots video too, while other people are telling us to get a regular video recorder. We want to be able to take the video we shoot and put it on the computer to watch it and be able to email it to friends/relatives. We may want to transfer video to DVD but that's not a priority.
So please help us out...do you have some sort of video recording device that you like, and would suggest for capturing video of kids all assistance is appreciated including links for description/purchase.
We're sick of procrastinating and we're going to pull the trigger quickly.

Thanks,
Ed

henrikrh · #2 01-22-2006, 01:27 PM

If you want to put it on a computer find out what plugs your comp has, firewire is best, and is found on almost all Macs, but not on most PCs. If you don't have firewire you have to find a camera that can dump video on to your PC via USB. Just make sure you know what your buying and make sure the kid at the electronics store know what he is tlaking about.

gusmahler · #3 01-22-2006, 02:17 PM

Firewire is the ONLY choice to move digital video to a PC, you can't do it via USB. But it is found on most PCs bought in the last 2 years. And if you don't have a firewire port, you can install one for less than $30.

You probably just need a bottom-of-the-line camcorder,such as the Canon ZR100: http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/con...;modelid=11005

You can just buy a digital camera and use it's video features. Unfortunately, the quality isn't quite as good and the video is not as easily editable. But the video is smaller and can be sent via email easily.