What Everybody Ought To Know Before Buying A Camcorder

One of the reasons for starting ProductCritic was that I had just bought two cameras; a digital SLR and a point and shoot (Canon 20D and SD500). Doing all the research before buying both cameras drove me nuts.

The reason that ProductCritic also aggregates camcorders and cell phones is that I was also looking to buy both of those products. I did get a cell phone but am still looking for a new camcorder because my old one feels like the picture included in this post.

I have much more knowledge and experience with cameras than I do camcorders which is probably why I still haven't found a camcorder to purchase yet. I also am not exactly sure about all the features that will fit what I want.

Like my previous post about Macworld's article on How To Buy a Digital SLR, PC World has a pretty good article on How To Buy A Digital Camcorder. It has a good breakdown of all the features to look for and even better, a prioritized list of what matters most when evaluating the features. (e.g. weight is more important than microphone placement).

I've been looking at the new camcorders with hard drives and DVD's but from all my research, it seems like camcorders that use miniDV's still provide the highest quality plus have the cheapest, easiest method of long-term storage.

If you have the camera that is pictured in this post (it's a Fisher Price camera!), leave a comment and let me know how it works. I'm interested in what kind of quality you can get out of what some would consider a toy. Does anyone have footage that their kids took? Put it up on YouTube!